A Conceptual Framework for Serious Games

BACKGROUND Serious games for medical education have seen a resurgence in recent years, partly due to the growth of the video game industry and the ability of such games to support learning achievements. However, there is little consensus on what the serious and game components in a serious game are composed of. As a result, electronic learning (e-learning) and medical simulation modules are sometimes mislabeled as serious games. We hypothesize that one of the main reasons is the difficulty for a medical educator to systematically and accurately evaluate key aspects of serious games. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to identify markers that can evaluate serious games and distinguish between serious games, entertainment games, and e-learning. METHODS Jabareen’s eight-phase framework-building procedure was used to identify the core markers of a serious game. The procedure was modified slightly to elicit “diagnostic criteria” as opposed to its original purpose of a conceptual framework. Following the identification of purported markers, the newly developed markers were tested on a series of freely available health care serious games—Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble, Staying Alive, and Touch Surgery—and the results were compared to the published test validity for each game. RESULTS Diagnostic criteria for serious games were created, comprising the clusters of User Experience (UX), Play, and Learning. Each cluster was formed from six base markers, a minimum of four of which were required for a cluster to be considered present. These criteria were tested on the three games, and Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble and Staying Alive fit the criteria to be considered a serious game. Touch Surgery did not meet the criteria, but fit the definition of an e-learning module. CONCLUSIONS The diagnostic criteria appear to accurately distinguish between serious games and mediums commonly misidentified as serious games, such as e-learning modules. However, the diagnostic criteria do not determine if a serious game will be efficacious; they only determine if it is a serious game. Future research should include a much larger sample of games designed specifically for health care purposes.

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Noogames: játékkultúra és civilizációs horizont

Információs Társadalom ◽

10.22503/inftars.xviii.2018.1.4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 49

Author(s):

László Z. Karvalics

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Serious Games ◽

Knowledge Dissemination ◽

Main Argument ◽

Main Cluster ◽

Collective Cognition ◽

Third Stage ◽

New Knowledge ◽

Awareness Raising ◽

Culture Development

A tanulmány a játékkultúra kialakulóban lévő harmadik szakasza legfontosabb sajátosságának a játékok révén fokozódó kollektív megismerő erőt és a civilizációs kihívásokból levezetett célvezéreltséget tartja. Az egyre összetettebb játékvilágot így a nooszférába és a nootechnológiák közé sorolva kínál egy induló tipológiát, amelynek révén a játékok egy új főosztályának (noogames) alesetei is áttekinthetővé válnak. Ennek megfelelően határozza meg az egyes típusokat: az új tudományos tudást és az új információs értéket létrehozó játékokat, a tudományos és egyéb tudást sokszorozó játékokat, s a begyakorló, érettség-teremtő és tudatosság-fokozó játékokat, kijelölve eközben az oktató játékok helyét is ebben a rendszerben. A típusokat összefoglaló táblázat minden egyes celláját oda sorolható játékok illusztrálják. --- Noogames: game culture and civilization horizon The main argument of the paper revolves around the emerging third stage of game culture development. Its most important feature is collective cognition power, improved and augmented by games, and the new purposefulness, which is derived from the current challenges of civilisation. The ever increasingly complex game culture is presented as a part of the noosphere and nootechnologies, providing a taxonomy background for a new, main cluster of games, the so-called noogames. In this brand new conceptual framework the author identifies science games, emergames (games, producing new knowledge), scientific and knowledge dissemination games, launch games, maturity games and awareness raising games. It is also easy to find the place of education games in this system, where every category is illustrated by randomly listed popular games. Keywords: serious games, noosphere, nootechnology, game typologies, human technology

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A Conceptual Framework for Road Safety Education using Serious Games with a Gesture-based Interaction Approach

Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology ◽

10.47836/pjst.30.1.34 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 621-640

Author(s):

Wan Salfarina Wan Husain ◽

Syadiah Nor Wan Shamsuddin ◽

Normala Rahim

Keyword(s):

Primary School ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Road Safety ◽

Serious Games ◽

User Engagement ◽

Road Accidents ◽

Safety Education ◽

Primary School Students ◽

School Students ◽

Negative Effect

Road accidents among children are one of the factors that cause mortality. An interactive manual has been developed to solve the problem. However, reports show that most road safety programs are displayed conventionally and unsuitable for almost all target users. In order to minimise the negative effect of road accidents on primary school students, early prevention programs need to be set up to overcome the problem. The natural user interface is a current technology that could be implemented in road safety education. Thus, this research aims to develop a conceptual framework by integrating gesture-based interaction and serious games towards road safety education, which will hopefully meet the road safety syllabus to tackle primary school students. All the proposed conceptual framework elements are identified through a systematic literature review and existing theories and model analysis supported by the experts’ review. This research’s main finding will be a conceptual framework of user engagement in road safety education through serious games with a gesture-based interaction technology approach. This conceptual framework would be a reference for road safety designers or developers to build an application for road safety by considering user engagement through gesture-based interaction, learning theory, and serious games at the same time.

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Gamification, Serious Games, Ludic Simulation, and other Contentious Categories

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations ◽

10.4018/jgcms.2013040101 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 1-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Brock Dubbels

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Case Studies ◽

Serious Games ◽

Feature Analysis ◽

Game Play ◽

Cognitive Feature

This paper provides a conceptual framework for gamification, ludic simulations, and serious games. Central to this framework is the spectrum of design that differentiates work and play. Work and play help define software in purpose as games, productivity software, and entertainment. These categories are informed through cognitive feature analysis of narrative and game play structure. Both can be analyzed to determine the degree of work or play in an activity, as well as issues that influence sustained engagement, which is essential for avoiding game abandonment. To demonstrate the framework for the design and analysis of gamification, ludic simulations, and serious games, several case studies are presented with feature analysis to substantiate the categories.

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Supporting Disaster Resilience Spatial Thinking with Serious GeoGames: Project Lily Pad

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi9060405 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 405

Author(s):

Brian Tomaszewski ◽

Amy Walker ◽

Emily Gawlik ◽

Casey Lane ◽

Scott Williams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Systems ◽

Geographic Information Systems ◽

Emergency Management ◽

Conceptual Framework ◽

Serious Games ◽

Real Life ◽

Geographic Information ◽

Spatial Thinking ◽

Disaster Resilience ◽

Wide Range

The need for improvement of societal disaster resilience and response efforts was evident after the destruction caused by the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. We present a novel conceptual framework for improving disaster resilience through the combination of serious games, geographic information systems (GIS), spatial thinking, and disaster resilience. Our framework is implemented via Project Lily Pad, a serious geogame based on our conceptual framework, serious game case studies, interviews and real-life experiences from 2017 Hurricane Harvey survivors in Dickinson, TX, and an immersive hurricane-induced flooding scenario. The game teaches a four-fold set of skills relevant to spatial thinking and disaster resilience, including reading a map, navigating an environment, coding verbal instructions, and determining best practices in a disaster situation. Results of evaluation of the four skills via Project Lily Pad through a “think aloud” study conducted by both emergency management novices and professionals revealed that the game encouraged players to think spatially, can help build awareness for disaster response scenarios, and has potential for real-life use by emergency management professionals. It can be concluded from our results that the combination of serious games, geographic information systems (GIS), spatial thinking, and disaster resilience, as implemented via Project Lily Pad and our evaluation results, demonstrated the wide range of possibilities for using serious geogames to improve disaster resilience spatial thinking and potentially save lives when disasters occur.

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Conceptual Framework for Developing Cyber Security Serious Games

2019 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) ◽

10.1109/educon.2019.8725061 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

N. Menelaos Katsantonis ◽

Isavella Kotini ◽

Panayotis Fouliras ◽

Ioannis Mavridis

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Cyber Security ◽

Serious Games

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Standardizing the Development of Serious Games for Physical Rehabilitation: Conceptual Framework Proposal (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.25854 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

María Del Pilar Beristain-Colorado ◽

Jorge Fernando Ambros-Antemate ◽

Marciano Vargas-Treviño ◽

Jaime Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez ◽

Adriana Moreno-Rodriguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Framework ◽

Video Game ◽

Serious Games ◽

Supportive Therapy ◽

Physical Rehabilitation ◽

User Centered Design ◽

Rehabilitation Process ◽

Systematic Process ◽

High Level ◽

Design Construction

BACKGROUND Serious games have been used as supportive therapy for traditional rehabilitation. However, most are designed without a systematic process to guide their development from the phases of requirement identification, planning, design, construction, and evaluation, which reflect the lack of adaptation of rehabilitation requirements and thus the patient’s needs. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual framework with standardized elements for the development of information systems by using a flexible and an adaptable process centered on the patient’s needs and focused on the creation of serious games for physical rehabilitation. METHODS The conceptual framework is based on 3 fundamental concepts: (1) user-centered design, which is an iterative design process focused on users and their needs at each phase of the process, (2) generic structural activities of software engineering, which guides the independent development process regardless of the complexity or size of the problem, and (3) gamification elements, which allow the transformation of obstacles into positive and fun reinforcements, thereby encouraging patients in their rehabilitation process. RESULTS We propose a conceptual framework to guide the development of serious games through a systematic process by using an iterative and incremental process applying the phases of context identification, user requirements, planning, design, construction of the interaction devices and video game, and evaluation. CONCLUSIONS This proposed framework will provide developers of serious games a systematic process with standardized elements for the development of flexible and adaptable software with a high level of patient commitment, which will effectively contribute to their rehabilitation process.

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