scholarly journals Game-based Climate Change Engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (CHI PLAY) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Daniel Fernández Galeote ◽  
Juho Hamari
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Systematic Mapping ◽  
Popular Medium ◽  
Social Features ◽  
Statistical Results

Video games have risen as a popular medium with the potential to become a powerful tool for public climate change engagement. However, little is known about how existing digital games can fulfill this role. This study systematically compiles 150 video games that represent climate change, including serious (n = 109) and for entertainment (n = 41). The games are analyzed by adapting an existing framework (15 dimensions: achievable, challenging, concrete, credible, efficacy-enhancing, experiential learning, feedback-oriented, fun, identity-driven, levelling-up, meaningful, narrative-driven, reward-driven, simulating, social) and statistically compared. The analysis reveals that most games comply with most recommended attributes, but credibility, achievability, meaningfulness, and social features are uncommon or rare. Statistical results comparing serious games and games for entertainment associate six attributes with serious games (achievable, challenging, credible, efficacy-enhancing, experiential learning, feedback-oriented), and one (narrative-driven) with games for entertainment. The findings suggest that researchers would benefit from widening their lens to detect previously overlooked opportunities for game-based climate change engagement, communication, and education. The study also provides a systematic mapping of extant games depicting climate change for interested developers, designers and educators.

scholarly journals The Animation of Gamers and the Gamers as Animators in Sierra On-Line’s Adventure Games

Animation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Raz Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Digital Gaming ◽  
Adventure Game ◽  
Adventure Games ◽  
Software Publisher ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Relationship

Produced throughout the 1980s using the company’s Adventure Game Interpreter engine, the digital adventure games created by American software publisher Sierra On-Line played an important and largely overlooked role in the development of animation as an integral part of the digital gaming experience. While the little historical and theoretical discussion of the company’s games of the era focuses on their genre, it ignores these games’ contribution to the relationship between the animated avatars and the gamers that control them – a relationship that, as argued in this article, in essence turns gamers into animators. If we consider Chris Pallant’s (2019) argument in ‘Video games and animation’ that animation is essential to the sense of immersion within a digital game, then the great freedom provided to the gamers in animating their avatars within Sierra On-Line’s adventure games paved the way to the same sense of immersion in digital. And, if we refer to Gonzalo Frasca’s (1999) divide of digital games to narrative-led or free-play (ludus versus paidea) in ‘Ludology meets narratology: Similitude and differences between (video) games and narrative’, then the company’s adventure games served as an important early example of balance between the two elements through the gamers’ ability to animate their avatars. Furthermore, Sierra On-Line’s adventure games have tapped into the traditional tension between the animator and the character it animated, as observed by Scott Bukatman in ‘The poetics of Slumberland: Animated spirits and the animated spirit (2012), when he challenged the traditional divide between animators, the characters they animate and the audience. All these contributions, as this articles aims to demonstrate, continue to influence the role of animation in digital games to this very day.

The older player of digital games: A classification based on perceived need satisfaction

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob De Schutter ◽  
Steven Malliet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
Larger Sample

AbstractThe current study aims to integrate the findings of previous research on the use of video games by older adults by applying the Uses & Gratifications (U&GT) paradigm (Blumler and Katz, 1974). A qualitative study was performed with 35 participants aged between 50 and 74, who were selected from a larger sample of 213. Based upon their primary playing motives and the gratifications they obtain from digital game play, a classification was developed, resulting in five categories of older adults who actively play games: “time wasters”, “freedom fighters”, “compensators”, “value seekers” and “ludophiles”.

Automated State of Play

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Fizek
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Fictional Character

Abstract Automation of play has become an ever more noticeable phenomenon in the domain of video games, expressed by self-playing game worlds, self-acting characters, and non-human agents traversing multiplayer spaces. This article proposes to look at AI-driven non-human play and, what follows, rethink digital games, taking into consideration their cybernetic nature, thus departing from the anthropocentric perspectives dominating the field of Game Studies. A decentralised posthumanist reading, as the author argues, not only allows to rethink digital games and play, but is a necessary condition to critically reflect AI, which due to the fictional character of video games, often plays by very different rules than the so-called “true” AI.

scholarly journals Serious Games and Board Games Versus Cultural Changes

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Jakub Lickiewicz ◽  
Patricia Paulsen Hughes ◽  
Marta Makara-Studzińska
Keyword(s):  
Computer Games ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Board Games ◽  
Human Functioning ◽  
The Impact

The impact of computer games on human functioning has become the sub­ject of many studies and scientific reports. With the development of technol­ogy, games have transcended boards and become part of the video entertain­ment industry. However, technology did not end traditional games. It was only a matter of time before games were extended to other areas of life. Because games were so popular, educators found that students engage quickly with educational games. The article explains the aspects of serious games (SG), which are defined as digital games used for purposes other than entertain­ment. It describes the areas in which games can be used in the educational process, their effectiveness, and controversies regarding their use.

scholarly journals The perception of Nigerian students of German about serious games: Using ‘Secret of the Sky Disc’ as a case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-200
Author(s):  
Olajumoke Oyedele ◽  
Waliyat Kola Aderoju
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
University Students ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
The University ◽  
Nigerian Students

The use of serious games is usually common, but digital games are not used in the teaching of German. This study aims to find out the attitude of students of German to the possible use of serious games in the teaching of German at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and their impression of the game ‘secret of the sky disc’ introduced by the Goethe Institute for the learning of German as a foreign language. Two different sets of questionnaires were administered to the students of German of OAU. The resulting data were analysed, discussed and conclusions were drawn. The results show the readiness of students of German for the use of digital games in teaching German at the university. The study adds to the limited literature on the use of serious games in teaching German as a foreign language   Keywords: German, Nigeria, perception, serious games, Obafemi Awolowo University, students.

Flip-Game Engineering and Technology Methodology

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milagros Huerta Gómez de Merodio ◽  
Juan Manuel Dodero ◽  
Nestor Mora Núñez ◽  
José Mª Portela Núñez
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Experimental Evaluation ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Engineering Studies ◽  
Engineering And Technology ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Experimental Group

Flip-GET has been developed with the objective of optimizing engineering practicals. The innovative element of this methodology is the use of serious games, as a complement to the flipped classroom method, in the teaching-learning process of engineering studies. This methodology uses serious games to take advantage of the capacity of motivation that video games have for the current generation of students, who have been involved with digital content, software, and electronic devices. This methodology has been evaluated using the method of case studies and by an experimental evaluation carried out in different stages, each of which has been developed during an academic course. In the experimental evaluation of the methodology, the control group carried out the practicals dividing the students into subgroups, without using the Flip-GET methodology, while the experimental group performed them with the methodology.

Games and Their Embodied Learning Principles in the Classroom

2018 ◽  
pp. 554-582
Author(s):  
Sam von Gillern
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Embodied Learning ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Meaningful Engagement ◽  
Learning Principles

This chapter explores how educators can use games and their embodied learning principles as a source for student learning, motivation, and engagement. It begins by highlighting important educational issues, such as lack of motivation and how technology has affected students and communication (Prensky, 2005). It then illustrates how digital games can address these issues and support learning and foster meaningful engagement by exploring Gee's (2007) learning principles and Prensky's (2005) activities and learning techniques. Each learning principle and activity is addressed with a summary of the concept, an example of how video games exemplify the concept, and practical methods for integrating the idea into classroom instruction through games and activities. The chapter concludes with an overview of main concepts and highlights future directions for research connecting learning theories to digital games.

Educational and Democratic Potential of Digital Games in e-Government

2012 ◽  
pp. 706-720
Author(s):  
Erkki Patokorpi ◽  
Sami Leppimäki ◽  
Franck Tétard
Keyword(s):  
Virtual World ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Learning Support ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Civic Skills

Digital games have, or can be made to have, certain characteristics that make them suitable for education, communication, and the promotion of civic skills in e-Government: hypertextuality, interactivity, reusability, updateability, object-likeness, reprogrammability, personalizability, multimodality, and so forth. From the citizens’ point of view, the functions of societal games can be divided into learning support and the enhancement of participation in society. Enlightened participation in the civic society requires both. Learning by games should promote the understanding of complex social issues and their mutual relationships. For learning to act as a springboard to informed action, one would also have to understand the consequences of actions and events. Consequently, learning by playing serious games is best understood as reasoned practical action in a virtual world.

The Way Ahead for Serious Games

2010 ◽  
pp. 305-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Cannon-Bowers
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
End Users ◽  
Design Features ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Community Of Researchers ◽  
Video Game Technology ◽  
The Way

Despite the fact that people have been playing games since before recorded history, the field of Serious Games—as a scientifically valid and viable area of investigation and application—is really in its infancy. In fact, the rise in availability and popularity of video games is a relatively recent phenomenon and actual applications of video game technology to serious pursuits are relatively rare. That said, I believe that Serious Games are coming into their own, and predict that the next few years will witness an explosion of new games, design features and guidelines, success stories, and scientific findings regarding their effectiveness. How quickly and fruitfully this happens depends, in part, on how well the community of researchers, designers, developers, evaluators, and end users can come together to systematically conceive of, and deploy games for serious purposes. Haphazard attempts—i.e., those that do not build on the findings of others’ experiences—will retard the speed at which viable games are consistently produced. Likewise, rigorous evaluation of those games that are developed cannot be neglected or future developers will likely fall prey to the same problems and pitfalls as their predecessors.

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