Harnessing the Emotional Potential of Video Games

2011 ◽  
pp. 1282-1299
Author(s):  
Patrick Felicia ◽  
Ian Pitt
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Personality Profiles ◽  
Educational Theories ◽  
And Behaviors

This chapter explains the importance of acknowledging users’ personalities, learning styles, and emotions in the design of educational games. It argues that the application of educational theories combined with knowledge of subjects’ personality traits and an increased emotional depth offer a substantive approach to understand and improve the nature of learning in educational games. The authors hope that understanding the underlying motivation and behaviors of learners through the use of personality profiles will not only inform researchers of a better design of educational games, but also assist in understanding the intricate relationship between game design, instructional design, and users’ personality at both cognitive and emotional levels.

Harnessing the Emotional Potential of Video Games

2009 ◽  
pp. 893-910
Author(s):  
Patrick Felicia ◽  
Ian Pitt
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Personality Profiles ◽  
Educational Theories ◽  
And Behaviors

This chapter explains the importance of acknowledging users’ personalities, learning styles, and emotions in the design of educational games. It argues that the application of educational theories combined with knowledge of subjects’ personality traits and an increased emotional depth offer a substantive approach to understand and improve the nature of learning in educational games. The authors hope that understanding the underlying motivation and behaviors of learners through the use of personality profiles will not only inform researchers of a better design of educational games, but also assist in understanding the intricate relationship between game design, instructional design, and users’ personality at both cognitive and emotional levels.

Play Styles and Learning

2009 ◽  
pp. 826-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Heeter
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Educational Game ◽  
Achievement Orientation ◽  
Applied Study ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Play Styles ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Classroom Use

This chapter reviews player types found in commercial MMOs and educational games and a palette of play styles and learning is proposed from which game designers and educators can more easily imagine (or perhaps “paint”) their target audience. Two studies show how the palette might be applied. Study 1 examines the impact of different in-game reward schemas on player types. Study 2 compares classroom play with one child per computer versus paired play of the same educational game. Educational game design and the way a teacher structures in-class educational game play both influence emergent play and learning. Player archetypes (more commonly called player types) help game designers imagine the needs and interests of potential players. Considering learner types would be similarly useful. Learning styles relevant to educational game design and classroom use are described, including intrinsic and extrinsic achievement orientation, motivation, individual traits, and competition and other social factors.

Motivation, Learning, and Game Design

2011 ◽  
pp. 528-543
Author(s):  
Mahboubeh Asgari ◽  
David Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Games For Learning ◽  
Educational Computer ◽  
Specific Learning

While there are thousands of educational computer and video games in the market today, few are as engaging and compelling as entertainment games. Some entertainment games have also been used in classrooms and have proven to produce incidental learning (e.g., Civilization III, SimCity). This has demonstrated that learning can occur through playing computer and video games, although it does not address the question of how to design engaging games for learning that incorporate specific learning objectives. As educators, we generally design instruction by specifying our learning objectives and then developing our learning materials to address these objectives. The authors of this chapter argue that there are a number of elements used in entertainment games that motivate players, and using these elements in the design process for educational games based on learning objectives would create motivational and engaging educational games. This chapter outlines the elements needed to develop such games.

scholarly journals Design Principles for Serious Video Games in Mathematics Education: From Theory to Practice

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Chorianopoulos ◽  
Michail Giannakos
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Diverse Learning ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Evaluation Of Learning ◽  
Serious Video Games

There is growing interest in the employment of serious video games in science education, but there are no clear design principles. After surveying previous work in serious video game design, we highlighted the following design principles: 1) engage the students with narrative (hero, story), 2) employ familiar gameplay mechanics from popular video games, 3) engage students into constructive trial and error game-play and 4) situate collaborative learning. As illustrated examples we designed two math video games targeted to primary education students. The gameplay of the math video games embeds addition operations in a seamless way, which has been inspired by that of classic platform games. In this way, the students are adding numbers as part of popular gameplay mechanics and as a means to reach the video game objective, rather than as an end in itself. The employment of well-defined principles in the design of math video games should facilitate the evaluation of learning effectiveness by researchers. Moreover, educators can deploy alternative versions of the games in order to engage students with diverse learning styles. For example, some students might be motived and benefited by narrative, while others by collaboration, because it is unlikely that one type of serious video game might fit all learning styles. The proposed principles are not meant to be an exhaustive list, but a starting point for extending the list and applying them in other cases of serious video games beyond mathematics and learning.

scholarly journals An Exploration of Ludonarrative Consistent Game Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Richard Dodds
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Prototype System ◽  
User Testing ◽  
Prototype Development ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Design Requirements

<p>Video games are increasingly seen as a meaningful form of art and storytelling. A common critique of video games is that the player’s in-game actions can easily become disconnected from their character and the storyline, referred to as Ludo-narrative dissonance. To date, no published academic research has been carried out on how to avoid Ludo-narrative dissonance from a game systems level. Yet, the development of Ludo-narrative consistent game systems have the potential to enhance gameplay and player satisfaction. The aim of this research was to develop a prototype ludo-narrative consistent game system, and to explore the design requirements, strengths and challenges of this prototype system. This was achieved through the development of a prototype video game. The prototype incorporated a trait system that assigned personality traits to the player character based on their style of gameplay, consequently altering the storyline in a way that was aligned with the player’s actions. This prototype was user tested by twenty-one participants, who were recruited via convenience sampling. The participants played the prototype three times, then completed an anonymous survey on their experience of playing the game. I observed their play remotely via Zoom and was available to them for answering questions. The prototype was updated based on my observations and user testing survey responses. The prototype development process, my observations of user testers, and the survey results, provided unique insights into the design requirements, strengths and weaknesses of the prototype trait system. My research illustrates that narrative systems and game mechanics are closely interconnected in the development of a trait system. Furthermore, my research shows that when implementing a trait-based system it is important to consider the following design requirements, including; trait interaction, action weighting, mechanical cohesion and consideration of player intentions. User testing observations and survey results highlighted some design challenges that provided insights for the improvement of the prototype. One insight was how the mechanical difficulty of the game affected the assignment of traits, making some personality traits easier to achieve than their counterparts. This was addressed by increasing the difficulty and adjusting the action weighting of opposing traits. Another insight was from situations when participants falsely attributed certain play behaviours to the traits they were assigned. These false attributions provided additional ideas for the updated prototype. In conclusion, this research contributes to the overall body of knowledge in game design, by illustrating the design requirements, challenges and strengths of a prototype Ludo-narrative consistent game system.</p>

scholarly journals Student Profiling as a Tool for Inclusive Instructional Design: A Case of a 3rd Year Biotechnology Class, University of Namibia

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. p12
Author(s):  
Timothy Sibanda ◽  
Nchindo R. Mbukusa ◽  
Ezekiel G. Kwembeya
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Instructional Strategies ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Learning Preferences ◽  
The Other ◽  
Home Setting ◽  
Learning Style Preferences ◽  
Style Preferences

Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional strategies that are responsive to the diverse student needs. We here argue that student profiling is a handy tool that the HE teacher can use for inclusive instructional design by thoughtfully selecting learning and teaching strategies, and materials and supports that will maximise student achievement. We designed a student-profiling instrument focusing on capturing students’ biographical information, learning preferences, anticipated learning outcomes, personality traits, and learning related skills-set and administered to students in a 3rd Year Biotechnology class at the University of Namibia. The data on learning style preferences was analysed using the VARK Questionnaire (version 8.01) while a Chi-square (?2) test of association (SPSS software version 24) was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and the other variables. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the students had multimodal learning preferences while 25% were unimodal for kinesthetic learning style. No students preferred visual or auditory learning alone. The ?2 test revealed no significant relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and any of the other variables including age, place of origin, home language, home setting, residence during school semester, pre-course anticipation, skills set, and personality traits (P > 0.05). We conclude that profiling students’ learning preferences prior to teaching and learning helps HE teachers to tailor their instructional strategies to students’ learning style preferences, maximises epistemological access, as well as enhance inclusivity, equality and equity.

scholarly journals NARRATIVE AND STORYTELLING IN THE KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE OF THE EDUCATIONAL BUSINESS VIDEO GAMES AS FACTORS OF THE SYNERGY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND SPIRITUALLY-ORIENTED PEDAGOGY

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-59
Author(s):  
Tetiana Luhova
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Computer Games ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Knowledge Structure ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Managerial Decisions ◽  
Educational Computer ◽  
Educational Computer Games

The article touches on the issues of humanization of modern technologically advanced education, analyzes the synergy factors of information technology and spiritually-oriented pedagogy to prepare a new generation of humanist managers. For this, the role of narrative and storytelling in the process of creating educational computer games that form the competence of making managerial decisions is determined. An analysis of the knowledge structure of educational games on the basis of the proposed methodology for developing their plot shows the need to balance the processes of formalization of educational processes in the game, preserving narrative by referring to works of folk art, classical fiction as sources of implicit knowledge. The threats of formalization and automation of modern education are described. It has been found that “relay” learning is superficial, it does not contribute to the formation of critical and systemic thinking. As a result, this leads to the emergence of a generation of techno-button-managers. It is indicated that the preservation and effective translation of deep narratives containing educational humanistic meanings is a priority for designers of educational video games. The components of the game by D. Gray, game history and pedagogical strategies in the MDA model are compared, which made it possible to clarify the meaning of the terms “narrative”, “plot”, “storytelling”, to determine the place of their greatest actualization in the process of creating educational computer games. Considering the general tendency of the techno-environment to reduce, optimize and formalize, the task of preserving tacit knowledge, correct translation of it into over-formalized knowledge (morals, formulas) through effective storytelling, embodied in "active learning" of computer games, is crucial. In this case, the narrative plays the role of a base of spiritual-oriented knowledge, and with the help of storytelling it balances the spiritual-ethical meanings and educational results of a business video game. The meaning of the terms "narratives" and "storytelling" is considered, the Ukrainian-language terms-analogues are proposed. The importance of adhering to the principle of non-linear game plot for increasing the effectiveness of business games is revealed. The close relationship of business games with case studies, project- and problem-based training was emphasized. The correlation of narratology and ludology of the game is shown in the matrix of transformation of professional competencies and procedures for making managerial decisions into the rules of the game, their metaphorization and translation into script phrases. It is shown that the gamification of training exercises and situations is a synergy of creative and information-analytical work with databases and game design project documents. The core of educational game design is the balance of narrative and storytelling, explicit and implicit knowledge. This balance is achieved through effective collaboration and communication between all participants in the educational and business processes. Creation of virtual learning environments in which a future leader has an opportunity to formulate and comprehensively develop the competencies of business communication and managerial decision-making in situations of uncertainty and ethical dilemmas is a promising area of digital education.

Motivation, Learning, and Game Design

2009 ◽  
pp. 1166-1182
Author(s):  
Mahboubeh Asgari ◽  
David Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Games For Learning ◽  
Educational Computer ◽  
Specific Learning

While there are thousands of educational computer and video games in the market today, few are as engaging and compelling as entertainment games. Some entertainment games have also been used in classrooms and have proven to produce incidental learning (e.g., Civilization III, SimCity). This has demonstrated that learning can occur through playing computer and video games, although it does not address the question of how to design engaging games for learning that incorporate specific learning objectives. As educators, we generally design instruction by specifying our learning objectives and then developing our learning materials to address these objectives. The authors of this chapter argue that there are a number of elements used in entertainment games that motivate players, and using these elements in the design process for educational games based on learning objectives would create motivational and engaging educational games. This chapter outlines the elements needed to develop such games.

scholarly journals A Theoretical Background for Educational Video Games

2011 ◽  
pp. 215-238
Author(s):  
Nicolas Szilas ◽  
Martin Acosta
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Educational Video ◽  
Educational Video Games

This theory is then put into practice by analyzing three commercial educational games. It constitutes a first step towards Instructional Game Design.

Profiling Users in Educational Games

2009 ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Felicia ◽  
Ian Pitt
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Learning Styles ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Educational Games ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Educational Content ◽  
Emotional Environment ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The One

For a long time, users’ emotions and behaviours have been considered to obstruct rather than to help the cognitive process. Educational systems have based their learning strategies almost solely at a cognitive level and the internal state of the learner has often been ignored. Even if it is now recognized that learners’ personalities and learning styles influence greatly their cognitive process (e.g. Multiple intelligences), very few systems have managed to profile users and adapt the educational content accordingly. Part of the reason for this is the difficulty to measure learning styles reliably and to establish a valid model that accounts for most of the major factors contributing to learning. Furthermore, since the introduction of formal education, it can be argued that learning has lost its playful and emotional aspect, whereby information was transmitted through story telling and play. On the other hand, video games have become a very popular medium among our digital natives. They provide a rich sensory and emotional environment in which they can experience a state of flow and are willing to stay for extended period of time. Despite of initial preconceptions on the negative effect of video games on young adults, it is now admitted that video games implicitly include many instructional design strategies (collaboration, exploration, Socratic dialogues, zone of proximal development, etc.) that could be harnessed to make formal education an experience that is more interactive and rewarding. One of the key features of video games is the ability to provide a content that matches players’ emotional needs (e.g. recognition, social bounding, self-esteem, etc.) and that provides a wide range of interaction. The authors believe that this potential can be harnessed to create an educational content that matches users’ learning styles and motivations. They propose the PLEASE model (Personality Learning styles, Emotions, Autonomy, Systematic Approach and Evaluation). This model addresses some of educational games design issues (e.g. choice of instructional strategy, type of feedback required, etc.); it categorizes and profiles users’ learning styles in the light of educational and personality theories and defines a set of practical strategies for educational games designers in order to match students’ learning styles and provide a user-centred content that is both motivating and educational. The authors explain how the Big-5 can be a more reliable alternative to measure learning styles, how emotions and personalities can be accounted in the cognitive process (e.g. information retrieval, memory retention, etc.) and also describe experiments they carried out in Cork to assess the effect of user-centred approaches in educational game design. Results are analysed and contrasted with current practices to show that unless personalities are accounted for in educational games, the educational outcomes could be different or even opposite to the one expected.

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