Introduction to the impact of serious games

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En provenance du cours de Erasmus University Rotterdam

Serious Gaming

166 notes

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Serious Gaming

166 notes

Have you ever wondered how playing games can help us to train people, deal with societal challenges or raise awareness of contemporary social issues? In this MOOC you will learn the ins and outs of games that are designed with exactly those purposes in mind: serious games. We will define serious games and discuss the different types that have been developed. We will explain why people like to play them and what impact they may have. State of the art theories from game studies, philosophy and media psychology will be used to help you understand how serious games work and how they appeal to players. The potential impact of gaming is addressed in detail by discussing persuasive games, which aim at changing the player's attitude. Throughout the MOOC, theoretical insights will be illustrated with playful animations and case studies of serious games that are developed by world-class companies in the city of Rotterdam. This MOOC is particularly interesting for you when you are a student considering to study digital media such as serious games, a professional interested in the opportunities these games may create for your organization, or a game developer who wants to know more about the impact serious games can have. Are you ready to broaden your vision on serious games? Join this course and be inspired!

À partir de la leçon

The Impact of Serious Games

By now you probably wonder to what extent serious games actually reach their desired outcome. This seems to be the million-dollar-question, because when an organization invests serious money in a serious game, they would like to be sure it works. But the answer is not that simple. To know more about impact, you need to know more about how it is measured. Therefore, this module is about research methods. We will discuss two of them in more depth: survey research and experiments. Put on your lab coat!

Introduction to the impact of serious games3:44

How to determine impact6:55

The survey method7:10

The experimental method9:45

Rencontrer les enseignants

Jeroen Jansz
Full Professor
Media & Communication
Mijke Slot
Dr.
Media & Communication

[SOUND] Have

you ever lost in a video game and felt frustrated about it?

Or did you fell very happy when you beat your brother, sister, or

friend in a board game?

This can be seen as a simple form of impact that playing games can have on us.

They can have an effect on our mood, usually for a short period of time.

Game researchers understand impact in a more complex way.

They try to determine the effects games can have on the ideas Intentions or

behavior of players.

Both immediately after play, but also after a longer period of time.

In this module, we'll discuss the impact of games with you.

In previous modules of this MOOC,

we talked about the goals developers of serious games have.

They use simulation games to train complex behavior a nd

persuasive games to get a message across.

Thus far, we've only briefly addressed the question of impact.

That is, whether these serious games actually have an effect on their players,

and what kind of effect that would be?

For example, does the inclusion of the ABCDE sim in medical training

result in more accurate behavior in the emergency room?

Or, to address another case we have discussed before,

does playing my Cotton Picking Life increase awareness of child exploitation

in the cotton industry and the players' willingness to do something about it?

Research on the impact of serious games is scarce, but

the effects of entertainment games have been investigated on a large scale.

>> Especially the effects of violent games have been addressed in many studies.

It became a hot topic in scientific debates.

One group of researchers argues that playing violent games implies a risk for

some players.

In particular, for the ones that are vulnerable.

For example, because of their age.

Other researchers defend the position at the other extreme

by arguing that violent games do not have any effect.

Or by stating that the evidence of the first group is largely inconclusive.

They reason that there might be other factors besides the content of the games

that play a part in getting the players frustrated or aggressive.

>> The impact of serious games is the focus of this module.

Serious games are designed to bring about a certain learning outcome.

But our relatively new and

still require a pretty big investment in development costs.

Many organizations just want some proof of the effectiveness of serious games.

They need the answer to the question whether a serious game can really

contribute to learning something or understanding an issue.

Thus, researchers in this domain are primarily concerned with researching

the potential positive impact of serious games.

It should be noticed that's a pretty different angle compared to

researching the negative effects of violent entertainment games.

>> In this module, we will first discuss various forms of impact and

explain why researching impact is so complex.

Furthermore, we will show you what was found in previous research

about the effectiveness of serious games.

You will learn that this kind of research is still scarce internationally.

Lastly, we will discuss the research on impact we are currently conducting at

Erasmus University.

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