Gamers on Games and Gaming: Implications for Educational Game Design

Abstract

In the past two decades, there has been a steadily increasing interest in the use of games for educational purposes. This has led to an increased design, use and study of educational games; games where the players learn through playing. However, experiments with the educational use of games have not yet yielded satisfactory results with regards to learning efficacy and leveraging the motivational characteristics of entertainment games. A way of bridging the gap between educational theory and game design is to gain insight into the player’s perspective on games, and see how his opinions about games relate and can be related to learning. Such knowledge can help in constructing educational games that both have a learning impact and as a game succeed at immersing and engaging the player. This study defines critical aspects of entertainment games that cause gamers to play and replay the game, that engage them, and that motivate them to continue playing. To this end, conversations, online discussions and panel discussions were held with expert gamers. These interactions with expert gamers were then analyzed by using the grounded theory methodology. From this analysis, a theoretical framework of a player’s perspective on games was constructed, which could be used to explain which aspects of games matter from the perspective of players. This theoretical framework was then used as the foundation for developing a conceptual framework for educational game design.