Exploring Relevance, Meaningfulness, and Perceived Learning in Entertainment Games

EasyChair Preprint 8472

Abstract

The premise that "good" games embody sound pedagogy in their designs, even indeliberately, suggests that commercial entertainment games may also hold surprising educational potential. However, there is limited research exploring the potential learning experiences that entertainment games can provide, as well as how such unintended experiences could influence players' everyday lives. In this paper, we present an exploratory study surveying thirteen university students to understand their perceived learning experiences from entertainment games, how they applied these experiences to their lives, and why they believed the experiences were personally impactful. We found that participants believed they learned (1) practical skills of collaboration and planning, and (2) a wide range of everyday knowledge and educational content. Additionally, we found all reported experiences were relevant and meaningful to players’ lives outside of the game. Lastly, we utilize findings to inform the design of games beyond entertainment, identifying potential improvements for educational game design.

Keyphrases: Meaningfulness, educational games, entertainment games, learning, relevance

@booklet{EasyChair:8472,
  author    = {Rhea Sharma and Edward Melcer and Dominic Kao},
  title     = {Exploring Relevance, Meaningfulness, and Perceived Learning in Entertainment Games},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 8472},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}