Designing effective serious games: Opportunities and challenges for research

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning

Volumn 5, Issue SPECIAL ISSUE 2, 2010, Pages 22-35

  Bellotti, F ^a   Berta, R ^a   De Gloria, A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GENOA   (Italy)

Author keywords

Cognitive load theory; Human computer interaction; Intelligent tutoring; Serious games; Simulation; Virtual reality

Indexed keywords

COMPUTATION THEORY; DATA HANDLING; DIGITAL STORAGE; EDUCATION COMPUTING; ENGINEERING EDUCATION; HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION; LEARNING SYSTEMS; VIRTUAL REALITY;

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY; COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURES; COMPONENTS OFF THE SHELVES; INTELLIGENT TUTORING; MULTI-MODAL INTERACTIONS; REQUIREMENTS ELICITATION; SIMULATION; TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT;

SERIOUS GAMES;

EID: 84865606015     PISSN: 18688799     EISSN: 18630383     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3991/ijet.v5s3.1500     Document Type: Article

References (108)

1. Prensky, M., Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2000
2. Yessad A., Labat J-M, Kermorvant F., "SeGAE: A Serious Game Authoring Environment", icalt, 10th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2010
3. Greitzer F.L., Kuchar O.A., and Huston K., "Cognitive Science Implications for Enhancing Training Effectiveness in a Serious Gaming Context", ACM J. Educational Resources in Computing, vol. 7, no. 3, August 2007.
4. Gee, J.P. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Palgrave MacMillan: New York. 2007
5. Van Eck R., Digital Game-Based Learning: It's Not Just the Digital Natives Who Are Restless, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2, 2006.
6. Menn, D., Multimedia in education. PC World, 1993
7. LoPiccolo, P. We could be heroes. Computer Graphics World, 28(3), 2005.
8. Klopfer E, Osterweil S., and Salen K., Moving Learning Games Forward, Obstacles Opportunities & Openness, The Education Arcade, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009, available online at: http://education.mit.edu/papers/MovingLearningGamesForward_EdArcade.pdf.
9. Tian, F., Lv, F., Wang, J., Wang, H., Luo, W., Kam, M., Setlur, V., Dai, G., and Canny, J., Let's play chinese characters: mobile learning approaches via culturally inspired group games. In Proceedings of the 28th international Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, Ga, USA, April, 2010
10. Jarvis, S., de Freitas, S., Evaluation of a Serious Game to support Triage Training: In-game Feedback and its effect on Learning Transfer. Proceedings of 2009 IEEE Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009
11. De Grove, F., Mechant, P., Van Looy, J, Uncharted waters?: exploring experts' opinions on the opportunities and limitations of serious games for foreign language learning. In Proceedings of the 3rd international Conference on Fun and Games, Leuven, Belgium, September, 2010.
12. Mitchell, A., & Savall-Smith, C., The use of computer and video games for learning. A review of the literature. London: The learning and skills development agency. 2004, available at
13. Blunt, R., Does game-based learning work? Results from three recent studies. Paper presented at the Joint ADL\Co Lab Implementation Fest, Orlando FL, USA, August, 2008.
14. Clark D., Learning by playing: can computer games and simulations support teaching and learning for post-16 learners in formal, workplace and informal learning contexts? Computer games in education and training. Presentation at LSDA seminar London, November 2003.
15. Tashiro J., What really works in serious games for healthcare education, Conference on Future Play on @ GDC Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2009.
16. Kincaid, J.P., Westerlund, K.K., "Simulation in education and training," Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), Dec. 2009. doi:10.1109/WSC.2009.5429337
17. Iacovides, I., Exploring the link between player involvement and learning within digital games. In Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology, Cambridge, UK, September, 2009.
18. Kirriemuir, J., & McFarlane, A., Literature Review in Games and Learning. Futurelab series, Bristol, 2004. Available online at http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/lit_reviews/Ga mes_Review.pdfEnhanced
19. Qin J., Chui Y., Pang W., Choi K., Heng P., "Learning Blood Management in Orthopedic Surgery through Gameplay," Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, vol.30, no.2, March-April, 2010.
20. Bellotti F., Berta R., De Gloria A., Primavera L., "Adaptive Experience Engine for Serious Games", IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, Vol 1, No. 4, 2009.
21. Pannese L, Carlesi M, Games and learning come together to maximise effectiveness: The challenge of bridging the gap, British Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 38, Issue 3, May 2007
22. Petrasova, A., Czanner, G., Happa, J., Czanner, S., Wolke, D., and Chalmers, A., Assessing a virtual baby feeding training system. In Proceedings of the 7th international Conference on Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, Visualisation and interaction in Africa, Franschhoek, South Africa, June, 2010.
23. Aylett R., Vannini N., Andre E., Paiva A., Enz S., and Hall L.. But that was in another country: agents and intercultural empathy. InAutonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Richland, SC, 2009.
24. Rebolledo-Mendez, G., Avramides, K., de Freitas, S., and Memarzia, K. 2009. Societal impact of a serious game on raising public awareness: the case of FloodSim. In Proceedings of the 2009 ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games, New Orleans, August, 2009. doi:10.1145/1581073.1581076
25. Johnson, W. L., "Lessons learned from games for education", in Proc. ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Educators program, Los Angeles, Ca, USA, 2005.
26. Abt C., Serious Games, New York, Viking Press, 1970.
27. de Freitas S., Serious Virtual Worlds. A scoping study. 2008. Available online at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/ publications/seriousvirtualworldsv1.pdf Enhanced Learning Unlimited (ELU) project. Retrieved March, 2008, from http://www.elu-project.com.
28. Zielke M. A., Evans M. J., Dufour F., Christopher T. V., Donahue J. K., Johnson P., Jennings E. B., Friedman B. S., Ounekeo P. L., Flores R., "Serious Games for Immersive Cultural Training: Creating a Living World," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 49-60, Mar./Apr. 2009. doi:10.1109/ MCG.2009.30
29. Kirschner, P.A., Sweller, J., Clark, R.E. "Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: an analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquirybased teaching". Educational Psychologist 41 (2): 75-86, 2006. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1
30. Sweller, J. "Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning". Cognitive Science 12 (2), 1988. doi:10.1207/s1551 6709cog1202_4
31. Rowe, J. P., Shores, L. R., Mott, B. W., Lester, J. C. Individual Differences in Gameplay and Learning: A Narrative-Centered Learning Perspective. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG), Monterey, CA, 2010.
32. Csikszentmihalyi M., Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York: Harper & Row, 1990.
33. Sweetser P. and Wyeth P., "GameFlow: A Model for Evaluating Player Enjoyment in Games," ACM Computers in Entertainment, vol. 3, no. 3, July 2005.
34. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. Beyond Edutainment: exploring the eductional potential of computergames. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, DK., 2006
35. Angehrn A., Maxwell K., Luccini M., Rajola F., Designing Effective Collaboration, Learning and Innovation Systems for Education Professionals, International Journal of Knowledge and Learning (IJKL), Vol. 5 No. 2, 2009.
36. Sweller, J., Kirschner, P. A., & Clark, R. E.. Why minimally guided teaching techniques do not work: A reply to commentaries. Educational Psychologist, 42(2), 115-121, 2007Enhanced Learning Unlimited (ELU) project. Retrieved March, 2008, from http://www.elu-project.com.
37. Ischebeck A. Zamarian L, Egger K, Schocke M, Delazer M, Imaging early practice effects in arithmetic. Neuroimage 36, 2007.
38. Rooney P., O'Rourke K.C., Burke G., MacNamee B., Igbrude C., "Cross-Disciplinary Approaches for Developing Serious Games in Higher Education," vs-games, Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009. doi:10.1109/VSGAMES. 2009.32
39. Djaouti D., Alvarez J., Jessel J-P, "Can "Gaming 2.0" Help Design "Serious Games"? - A Comparative Study", SIGGRAPH 2010, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2010.
40. Aldrich C., A field guide to educational simulations. Learning Circuits, American Society for Training and Development. January, 2003
41. Conconi A., Ganchev T., Kocsis O., Papadopoulos G., Fernandez-Aranda F., and Jimenez-Murcia S., "PlayMancer: A Serious Gaming 3D Environment", in Proc. 4th International Conference on Automated Solutions for Cross Media Content and Multi-Channel Distribution, AXMEDIS 2008, Florence, Italy, Nov. 17-19, 2008
42. Darken R., McDowell P., and Johnson E., "Projects in VR: the Delta3D Open Source Game Engine", IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 25, no. 3, pp.10-12, May/June 2005. doi:10.1109/MCG.2005.67
43. Göbel, S., Salvatore, L., Konrad, R. Story Tec: A Digital Storytelling Platform for the Authoring and Experiencing of Interactive and Non-linear Stories. In Nesi, P., Ng, K. and Delgado, J.: 4th International Conference on Automated Solutions for Cross Media Content and Multi-Channel Distribution, IEEE computer society, 2008
44. Peirce N., Conlan O., and Wade V., "Adaptive Educational Games: Providing Non-invasive Personalised Learning Experiences", in Proc. of the Second IEEE International Conference on Digital Games and Intelligent Toys Based Education (DIGITEL 2008), Banff, Canada, November 2008. doi:10.1109/ DIGITEL.2008.30
45. Gunter G., Kenny R. F., and Vick E. H., "A Case for Formal Design Paradigm for Serious Games", CODE - Human Systems, Digital Bodies. 2006
46. Lopes R., Scenario adaptivity in serious games, International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, Monterrey, Ca, 2010.
47. Wenger, E., Artificial Intelligence and Tutoring Systems: Computational and Cognitive Approaches to the Communication of Knowledge. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 1987.
48. Shute, V. J. and Psotka, J., Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Past, Present and Future. In D. Jonassen (ed.) Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology. Scholastic Publications, 1996.
49. Magerko B. Adaptation in Digital Games. IEEE Computer 41(6): 87-89, 2008.
50. Magerko, B., Stensrud, B., and Holt, L. Bringing the Schoolhouse Inside the Box - A Tool for Engaging, Individualized Training. 25th Army Science Conference, 2006. Orlando, FL.
51. Riedl M. O., Stern A., Dini D., and Alderman J.. Dynamic Experience Management in Virtual Worlds for Entertainment, Education, and Training. International Transactions on Systems Science and Applications, Special Issue on Agent Based Systems for Human Learning, vol. 4(2), 2008.
52. Riedl M. O. and Young R. M.. From Linear Story Generation to Branching Story Graphs. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications. Featured article of Special Issue on Interactive Narrative., 26(3), 2006
53. Riedl M. O. and Stern A.. Believable Agents and Intelligent Story Adaptation for Interactive Storytelling. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment, Darmstadt, Germany, 2006. doi:10.1007/11944577_1
54. Rowe J. P., Mcquiggan S. W., Mott B. W., Lester, J. C., Motivation in Narrative-Centered Learning Environments, Proceedings of the Workshop on Narrative Learning Environments, 13th AIED Conference, pp. 40-49, Marina del Rey, CA, July 2007.
55. Si M., Marsella S., Pynadath D.. "Thespian: Modeling Socially Normative Behavior in a Decision-Theoretic Framework", Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents. 2006.
56. Si, M., Marsella, S.C., and Pynadath, D.V. 2005. THESPIAN: An Architecture for Interactive Pedagogical Drama. In AIED 2005.
57. Aylett, R., Louchart, S., Tychsen, A., Hitchens, M., Figueiredo, R., and Mata, C. D. 2007. Managing emergent character-based narrative. In Proceedings of the 2nd international Conference on intelligent Technologies For interactive Entertainment, Cancun, Mexico, January, 2008.
58. Dias, J and Paiva, A. Feeling and Reasoning: a Computational Model. 12th Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence, EPIA (2005). Springer
59. Jepp, P., Fradinho, M., and Pereira, J. M., An Agent Framework for a Modular Serious Game. In Proceedings of the 2010 Second international Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds For Serious Applications, March, 2010.
60. Ortony, A., Clore G.L., Collins A., The Cognitive Structure of Emotions. Cambridge University Press, 1990, British Journal of Educational Technology.
61. Riedl M., A comparison of interactive narrative system approaches using human improvisational actors, International Conference On The Foundations Of Digital Games, Monterey, California, 2010.
62. Rebolledo-Mendez G., de Freitas S., Garcia Gaona A. R., "A Model of Motivation Based on Empathy for AI-Driven Avatars in Virtual Worlds", vs-games, Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2009Enhanced Learning Unlimited (ELU) project. Retrieved March, 2008, from http://www.eluproject. com.
63. Lester, J.C., Towns, S.G., Callaway C.B., Voerman J.L., and Fitzgerald P.J.., Deictic and Emotive Communication in Animated Pedagogical Agents, in Embodied Conversational Agents, J. Cassell, et al., Editors. 2000, MIT Press: Boston.
64. Gatzidis, C., Parry, K., Kavanagh, E., Wilding, A., and Gibson, D., Towards the Development of an Interactive 3D Coach Training Serious Game. In Proceedings of the 2009 Conference in Games and Virtual Worlds For Serious Applications, March, 2009.
65. Hudlicka, E., Affective game engines: motivation and requirements. In Proceedings of the 4th international Conference on Foundations of Digital Games, Orlando, USA, April, 2009.
66. Dormann, C. and Biddle, R. 2008. Understanding game design for affective learning. In Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Future Play: Research, Play, Share, Toronto, Canada, November, 2008.
67. Castellano, G., Pereira, A., Leite, I., Paiva, A., and McOwan, P. W. Detecting user engagement with a robot companion using task and social interaction-based features. In Proceedings of the 2009 international Conference on Multimodal interfaces, Cambridge, Ma, USA, November, 2009.
68. Losh, E. The palace of memory: virtual tourism and tours of duty in Tactical Iraqi and Virtual Iraq. In Proceedings of the 2006 international Conference on Game Research and Development (Perth, Australia, December 04-06, 2006.
69. Johnson W. L., Developing intercultural competence through videogames, International Workshop on Intercultural Collaboration, Palo Alto, Ca, 2009
70. Mascarenhas, S., Dias, J., Afonso, N., Enz, S., and Paiva, A. 2009. Using rituals to express cultural differences in synthetic characters. In Proceedings of the 8th international Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, Budapest, Hungary, May, 2009.
71. Doucet, L. and Srinivasan, V. 2010. Designing entertaining educational games using procedural rhetoric: a case study. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games, Los Angeles, Ca, July, 2010.
72. Bogost, I. Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007.
73. Bogost, I.. The rhetoric of video games. In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games and Learning, K. Salen, Ed., The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008.
74. Swarz, J., Ousley, A., Magro, A., Rienzo, M., Burns, D., Lindsey, A.M., Wilburn, B., Bolcar, S., "CancerSpace: A Simulation-Based Game for Improving Cancer-Screening Rates," Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, vol.30, no.1, pp.90-94, Jan.-Feb. 2010
75. Doucet, L. and Srinivasan, V. 2010. Designing entertaining educational games using procedural rhetoric: a case study. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games, Los Angeles, Ca, July, 2010.
76. Bogost, I. Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007.
77. Bogost, I.. The rhetoric of video games. In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games and Learning, K. Salen, Ed., The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008.
78. Swarz, J., Ousley, A., Magro, A., Rienzo, M., Burns, D., Lindsey, A.M., Wilburn, B., Bolcar, S., "CancerSpace: A Simulation-Based Game for Improving Cancer-Screening Rates," Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, vol.30, no.1, pp.90-94, Jan.-Feb. 2010. doi:10.1109/MCG.2010.4
79. Doucet, L. and Srinivasan, V. 2010. Designing entertaining educational games using procedural rhetoric: a case study. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Video Games, Los Angeles, Ca, July, 2010.
80. Bogost, I. Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2007.
81. Bogost, I.. The rhetoric of video games. In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games and Learning, K. Salen, Ed., The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2008.
82. Swarz, J., Ousley, A., Magro, A., Rienzo, M., Burns, D., Lindsey, A.M., Wilburn, B., Bolcar, S., "CancerSpace: A Simulation-Based Game for Improving Cancer-Screening Rates," Computer Graphics and Applications, IEEE, vol.30, no.1, pp.90-94, Jan.-Feb. 2010. doi:10.1109/MCG.2010.4
83. Alankus, G. M. May, A. Lazar, C. Kelleher. Towards Customizable Games for Stroke Rehabilitation. Proceedings of CHI 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA, 2010.
84. van der Spek, E.D.; van Oostendorp, H.; Wouters, P.; Aarnoudse, L. "Attentional Cueing in Serious Games," 2nd International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES), March 2010. doi:10.1109/VS-GAMES. 2010.8
85. Shabanah S. and Chen J. X., "Simplifying algorithm learning using serious games," in WCCCE '09: Proceedings of the 14th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education. Burnaby, BC, Canada, May, 2009.
86. Connolly, T.M., Boyle, E.A., Stansfield, M.H., and Hainey, T., "The Potential of Online Games as a Collaborative Learning Environment", Journal of Advanced Technology for Learning, 2007
87. McLaughlin, T., Smith, D., and Brown, I. A. 2010. A framework for evidence based visual style development for serious games. In Proceedings of the Fifth international Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, Monterey, CA, USA, June, 2010.
88. Pinelle, D., Wong, N., Stach, T., Heuristic Evaluation for Games: Usability Principles for Video Game Design. In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2008), Florence, Italy.
89. Bellotti F., Berta R., De Gloria A., Primavera L., "Enhancing the Educational Value of Video Games", ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 7, No.2, pp. 23-41, 2009.
90. Torrente, J., del Blanco, Á., Moreno-Ger, P., Martínez-Ortiz, I., and Fernández-Manjón, B. Implementing accessibility in educational videogames with . In Proceedings of the First ACM international Workshop on Multimedia Technologies For Distance Learning, Beijing, China, October 23-23, 2009
91. Grammenos D., Savidis A., and Stephanidis C.. Designing universally accessible games. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(1):1-29, 2009. doi:10.1145/1486508.1486516
92. Ashfield S., Jarvis C., Kaduk J., "Serious Games for Geographical Field Skills: An Exploration," vs-games, International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications, 2010. doi:10.1109/VS-GAMES.2010.18
93. Carruthers, M. The Book of Memory. Cambridge University Press. 1990.
94. Carruthers, M. and Ziolkowski, J. The Medieval Craft of Memory: an anthology of texts and pictures. University of Pennsylvania Press. 2002
95. Dudai, Y. Memory from A to Z. Oxford University Press. 2002.
96. Yates, F. The Art of Memory. Trafalger Square. 1994.
97. Squire, K. Open-ended video games: A model for developing learning for the interactive age. In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, K. Salen (ed.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA. 2008..
98. Kelly H., Howell K., Glinert E., Holding L., Swain C., Burrowbridge A., and Roper M., "How to build serious games," Commun. ACM, vol. 50, no. 7, pp. 44-49, Jul. 2007. doi:10.1145/1272516.1272538
99. Sliney A., Murphy D., "JDoc: A Serious Game for Medical Learning," in Proc. International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interaction, pp. 131-136, 2008. doi:10.1109/ ACHI.2008.50
100. Parker J.R., Sonny Chan and Jeff Howell, "OceanQuest: A University-Based Serious Game Project", in Proc. Digital Games Re-search Association Conference (DiGRA 2005), Vancouver, BC, June 16-20, 2005.
101. Slater, M., Khanna, P., Mortensen, J., Yu, I., Visual Realism Enhances Realistic Response in an Immersive Virtual Environment. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 29, no. 3, 2009.
102. Willis, J. A framework for task-based learning. Harlow, U.K., Longman Addison-Wesley, 1996
103. Ellis, R. Task-based language learning and teaching. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
104. Frazer A., Argles D., and Wills G., "Is Less Actually More? The Usefulness of Educational Mini-game", in Proc IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, pp. 533-537, 2007
105. Moshirnia A, The Educational Potential of Modified Video Games, Informing Science and Information Technology, 2007
106. Kuchar O. A., Huston K. and Greitzer F. L., Applying Principles of Gaming, Motivation and Learning to Enhance the effectiveness of CyberCIEGE, Report PNNL-15802, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, WA, 2006
107. Vygotsky L., "Play and its role in the mental development of the child". In J. Bruner, A. Jolly, & K. Sylva, (Eds.) Play- Its Role in Development and Evolution, pp. 537-554. New York: Basic Books. 1976
108. Bellotti F., Berta R., De Gloria A., Primavera L., "Supporting authors in the development of Task-Based Learning in Serious Virtual Worlds", British Journal of Education and Technologies (BJET), Vol. 41, No. 1, January 2010. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01039.x