Abstract
In the last decades, the popularity of video games has been increasing thanks to their unique ability to engage their audience and create empathy. Among them, serious games have additional purposes besides entertainment, such as learning and behaviour change. Serious games, in fact, have been successfully applied to different fields, including education, health, tourism, and cultural heritage. In this context, the paper describes a novel serious game developed for increasing awareness and promoting the Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH). In particular, the paper focuses on the Dive in the Past Serious Game which allows users to simulate a virtual dive into the Mediterranean Sea to explore accurate and life-sized 3D reconstructions of underwater archaeological sites. The purpose of the game is twofold: to engage diver and non-diver tourists into a virtual interactive exploration of underwater sites through digital storytelling and challenges; to increase awareness and knowledge on Mediterranean UCH. This work has been carried out in the context of the MeDryDive project, an EU co-funded under the COSME Programme, which aims to create personalized dry dive experiences for the promotion of Mediterranean UCH sites as distinctive tourism destinations.
Highlights
Accepted: 24 October 2021By definition, a Serious Game (SG) is a game with a purpose, that is a software belonging to the videogame’s category which is used to accomplish a non-gaming-related objective, through the distinguishing features of the gaming medium
SGs can present users with realistic and compelling challenges, highly stimulating their information processing capabilities and capturing their concentration span for long durations [2,3]. Intrinsic motivations, such as enjoyment or fun, produce deeper engagement and higher persistence in learning activities [4]. This would explain the successful adoption of video games for educational purposes in several domains such as education, training, and the cultural heritage field [5,6,7,8,9]
This paper presents a novel serious game developed for increasing awareness and promoting of Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH)
Summary
Accepted: 24 October 2021By definition, a Serious Game (SG) is a game with a purpose, that is a software belonging to the videogame’s category which is used to accomplish a non-gaming-related objective, through the distinguishing features of the gaming medium. SGs can present users with realistic and compelling challenges, highly stimulating their information processing capabilities and capturing their concentration span for long durations [2,3]. Intrinsic motivations, such as enjoyment or fun, produce deeper engagement and higher persistence in learning activities [4]. This would explain the successful adoption of video games for educational purposes in several domains such as education, training, and the cultural heritage field [5,6,7,8,9]. By playing the game, the user can acquire the dynamics of the game, its basic concepts and Published: 28 October 2021
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have