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Background and Aim. Serious games are generally considered to have positive effects on many aspects of learner engagement as well as on cognitive learning gains and subject-related interest. Yet few studies have examined which combination of game elements influence engagement and learning, and how these factors are related. For this reason, an experimental study was conducted to explore these aspects with regard to digital serious games. Method. Twelve primary school classes with 153 students from 9 to 12 years of age participated in this experimental field study using group comparisons. The students were randomly assigned to interact either with an educational simulation or a digital serious game. The results were analyzed using t-tests and hierarchical linear regressions. Results and Conclusion. Results show that there are no group differences in tested learning gains nor in self-reported cognitive learning gains or increase in interest. Although there are also no differences regarding enjoyment, self-reported levels of deep thinking are higher when learning with a serious game. While post-test knowledge is only influenced by prior knowledge, self-reported cognitive learning gains and increases in interest are both positively correlated with deep thinking and enjoyment. These results lead to the conclusion that learning with serious games does not always lead to the expected increases in all aspects of engagement and learning outcomes. Thus, research needs to address the interplay of game elements and their impact on engagement and learning in more detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The serious games community is moving toward research focusing on direct comparisons between learning outcomes of serious games and those of more traditional training methods. Such comparisons are difficult, however, due to the lack of a consistent taxonomy of game attributes for serious games. Without a clear understanding of what truly constitutes a game, scientific inquiry will continue to reveal inconsistent findings, making it hard to provide practitioners with guidance as to the most important attribute(s) for desired training outcomes. This article presents a game attribute taxonomy derived from a comprehensive literature review and subsequent card sorts performed by subject matter experts (SMEs). The categories of serious game attributes that emerged represent the shared mental models of game SMEs and serve to provide a comprehensive collection of game attributes. In order to guide future serious games research, the existing literature base is organized around the framework of this taxonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the observations of successful entertainment games, it is hypothesized that implementing a single-player option may require a different approach from that in a multiplayer option, in terms of game design. To find out whether this could be true and to understand what the specific approaches could entail for educational games, three separate yet related investigations were conducted to examine single- versus multiplayer games: an investigation of two educational games designed and evaluated by the authors, a theoretical investigation from a game and learning perspective, and an empirical investigation of 23 case studies. From these three investigations, it turned out that a “single-player approach” is data intensive, has formal rules, and uses direct transfer and individual learning. On the other hand, a “multiplayer approach” is less straightforward. From a game perspective, it can be characterized as process intensive and having social rules. When related to learning, however, it could be positioned on any dimension. This exploration shows that the approaches differ to a large extent and that designers have to find a fit between what option they choose and approach they take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]