Game-based learning (GBL) is an interactive form of training in which instructional elements are combined with motivational elements within one GBL-environment. Under the right circumstances, GBL can contribute to both learning and motivation. It is, however, unclear which elements in the design of GBL-environments …

Active participation in physical activity (PA) is beneficial for teenagers’ physical and mental development [1]. Moreover, it can also prevent childhood obesity and cardiovascular diseases [2]. However, extensive studies have shown that most adolescents (12-15 years) tend to drop out from regular PA …

Videogames have become educational, communicative and social tools among the young, favouring the acquisition of skills, abilities and values, encompassing an endless number of themes, and helping them to experience and to face, in the first person, a great diversity of environmental situations and ecology …

Playfulness intertwined with city-related themes, such as participatory planning and civic media are becoming more popular. In the last ten years, game designers have taken up the theme of play in relation to the urban environment. In this paper, we present a conceptual mapping of “urban play,” through …

This chapter discusses educational aspects and possibilities of serious games. For researchers as well as game designers we describe key learning theories to ground their work in theoretical framework. We draw on recent metareviews to offer an exhaustive inventory of known learning and affective outcomes …

In this chapter, we propose an ethical framework for serious game design, which we term the Ecosystem for Designing Games Ethically (EDGE). EDGE expands on Zagal’s categorization of ethical areas in game design by incorporating the different contexts of design and their use. In addition, we leverage …

An important step in the design of an effective educational game is the formulation of the to-be-achieved learning goals. The learning goals help shape the content and the flow of the entire game, i.e. they provide the basis for choosing the game’s core (learning) mechanics. A mistake in the formulation …

What makes an educational game good? This paper describes three research directions that could provide insight in the underlying principles of effective educational games. These aspects are 1) The importance of distinguishing between types of to-be-learned knowledge, 2) the need to understand the relationship …

Educational game design: integrating learning and playing. Presentation about educational game design models and approaches at the Dagstuhl Seminar on Serious Games.

The role of “mechanics” in the serious game design process. Presentation held during the Sino-Dutch conference, March 2015. In the last few years, there have been many developments in the design and application of serious games, particularly in the field of ‘games for health’. This is possible due …