Serious Games

Serious games can be described as games that are developed and designed for educational and other non-entertainment purposes. The form of teaching performed by serious video games is referred to as 'game-based learning' and its frequency has grown in the education, health and defence industries. According to the Digital Australia 2020 report 52% of parents say that their children’s school uses video games to aid in their education and, 31% of adults have used games in the workplace for training.

The majority of serious games contain the following five elements, story, gamification, immediate and personalised feedback, simulation and the objective to teach. The plot of a serious game is centred around the games/players main objective, for example this objective may be saving a patient's life or safely landing a plane. The idea behind stories in serious games is the more sophisticated and convincing the given argument, the more motivated the player is to be immersed in the game. This can be particularly important for serious games that heavily use the simulation principle, with the aim being to re-create real-life scenarios using story, believable characters and world building.

Gamification in serious games refers to motivating players through the use of mechanics. Mechanics such as rankings and reward systems are considered to be fairly important to motivate players to improve on they score and track their progress. These mechanics feed directly into the immediate and personalised feedback principle, where feedback is received whilst directly interacting with the game. The player knows they're improving and need work via the rewards and penalties they receive when playing.

Finally, the goal to learn principle involves taking the previously mentioned elements and designing them to be utilised in a process that is used for education and training instead of recreation. Serious games can be entertaining but their main purpose is not entertainment, they ultimately teach something or provide a service.

References

Brand, J., Jervis, J., Huggins, P. and Wilson, T., 2019. The Digital Australia 2020 Report (DA20) The Power Of Games. [ebook] Eveleigh: Interactive Games & Entertainment Association. Available at: <https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/DA20-Report-FINAL-Aug19.pdf> [Accessed 7 September 2020].

GamelearnTeam, n.d. Serious Games Examples That Explain All You Need To Know. [online] Gamelearn: Game-based learning courses for soft skills training. Available at: <https://www.game-learn.com/all-you-need-to-know-serious-games-game-based-learning-examples/> [Accessed 13 November 2020].

State Government of Victoria, 2017. Serious Games. [online] Education.vic.gov.au. Available at: <https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/learningdev/Pages/expired/techgames.aspx> [Accessed 9 September 2020].