Week 2 Blog
“A serious game or applied
game is a game
designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game
I think this is a "have to"
criteria for a serious game. But, could the definition of a game change
depending on skill level? For example, if I were to engage in the card
game of War, it would be purely for fun. I am not learning or practicing
any skill needed. However, if a 4 or 5 year old were playing, they could
be reinforcing numbers and their value. Therefore, for a young child,
would War be considered a serious game? I guess this is where other
criteria come in. Can a game that is for practicing skills be considered
a serious game? Or not?
A similar definition from The Financial
Times Lexicon at http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=serious-games
is
“Serious
games are games designed for a purpose beyond pure entertainment.”
Also from The Ludus Project, at http://www.ludus-project.eu/seriousgaming.html
“ Serious Gaming is, thus, games that
engage users in their pursuit and contribute to the achievement of a defined
purpose other than pure entertainment.”
Seems like there is pattern here. My thoughts on other criteria that I come
across are “Could a game without this be called a serious game?” If the answer is yes then it can’t be a
criterion. So I am having difficulty with deciding on other criteria.
Here at least two that I believe serious games should have:
Use higher order thinking skills
Challenging yet doable
Donna, I have a question for you. Would you say hierarchical structure refers to well-organized problem solving? In other words the problems build requiring the player to use the skills attained while solving previous problems in order to solve the current problem. I am wondering because I have been looking at our wiki and am trying to organize our criteria into one list.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Sara L.
Donna,
ReplyDeleteI like your question about the card game "War". When is something a serious game and when is it entertainment? How does "mastery" fit into this? Are there game design criteria that fit in with the idea of mastery?
Donna I know where you're coming from. I had a similar conversation with my dad this week about what constitutes a serious game. He suggested that advancing through scouts could be considered a serious game. Your reference to War and the different levels at which players are able to interact with it can define whether or not it meets the criteria.
ReplyDeleteOne paper that I found helpful was The Serious Game: What Educational Benefits? Here's a link http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281202201X