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Interactive digital media, and in particular digital games, are an increasingly prevalent component of museums and other public cultural spaces to help engage visitors. However, despite their growing presence, they remain under-explored in the ways they mediate a wide variety of cultural expressions and interactions through their differing and unique narrative affordances. Such storytelling differences must be accounted for in order to understand how they may be facilitated and curated with visitors/players in mind. The medium is defined by diminished authorial control in favor of free play and individual agency of expression for players. As such games for heritage present interesting challenges for those who may want to develop, facilitate, and curate them in cultural contexts and with historically accurate content. In fact, the lack of control over content once it becomes interactive and playful can present significant challenges to museum curators, pedagogues and guides. As facilitators of cultural knowledge, they often need to strike a balance between informing visitors/players about cultural heritage and history through deliberately crafted narratives - something museums are well equipped to do - while also providing players with more agency to individually express themselves and to re-write cultural heritage stories and histories through narrative play. In this paper, we present three case studies that exemplify how digital games can be used to give children a less restrictive narrative framework in which they can perform and express history and cultural heritage, rather than by merely re-enacting it. Through these three cases, we describe the processes involved in using digital games as a collaborative stage, or performative platform, on which participants can craft their own narratives to experience and express their own histories and build connections to others in a shared community of play.

This paper studies whether a board game can effectively raise awareness of cultural differences and their impacts on everyday life. Furthermore, the paper compares whether a board game might achieve this goal more efficiently, or differently, than more traditional ‘open discussion’ exercises. To conduct this study, a board game that present players with cultural dilemmas was designed and developed based on a comparative model of individualistic and collectivistic cultures. The game’s ability to generate discussion and engagement with cross-cultural topics was evaluated and compared with traditional discussion exercises in a series of experimental studies conducted in SFI (Swedish For Immigrants) classrooms. A follow-up survey was also conducted to compare long-term effects between the board game and the traditional discussion exercise. Results indicate that the game benefited participants’ discussions and reflections regarding cultural awareness directly after the game session, and that they retained their attitudes and perceptions of cultural awareness better than participants of the non-game exercise. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

This report is written as a part of the EU Interreg Öresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak funded project GameHub Scandinavia. The aim of the project is to provide resources and services to developers, educators, researchers, and supporting actors that are involved in the Scandinavian game industry. The report is intended to be a continuation of a series of reports written at the University of Skövde regarding the state of Swedish game educations. The inaugural report, Spelutbildarindex 2011, provided the first inventory of Swedish game educations on the tertiary level, and intended to discuss their rapid rate of expansion and the ways in which universities and vocational schools accommodated for changing demands in the industry. A second report, Game Development, Education & Incubation, delved deeper into incubation and industry, and provided a larger, but rather brief, overview of game educations in Denmark and Norway as a supplement to the Swedish statistics. This report will essentially describe Swedish game education as a tale of two different eras; the pre-2013 proliferation era, and the post-2013 plateau era. Previously produced reports on the topics were written during a period where game educations were rapidly proliferating, and when the games industry was in a more volatile state than it is currently. The state of both academia and industry differs immensely between this millennium’s two inaugural decades. Throughout the ‘00s, game educations grew at a rate that seemed to favour accommodation for student interests rather than processes of quality assurance, deliberation, and programme improvement. In the ‘10s, the amount of programmes have stopped increasing, and most of the statistics regarding student numbers have plateaued, and are in some cases even decreasing. GameHub Scandinavia

The game development industry has historically been strongly associated with a few particularly dominant actors, namely Japan and the US. As a result, video game development processes and game content that have originated from these actors are often used as a benchmark for what game development is and can be. Discussing the games industry from these perspectives can, however, gloss over important nuances that make other game development regions unique. With this in mind, this paper intends to discuss the ways in which different cultural and regional contexts are reflected in the structure of local game development industries and, to some extent, in produced game content. To inform this discussion, the authors use the foundation and growth of game development practices in three different regions: the Nordic region, India, and China. These three regions serve as specific exemplifying cases of how video game industries and praxis can take different shapes depending on what resources and components they have available. The paper concludes that all regional games industries and game development practices are heavily influenced by the precedent set by historically dominant actors. This results in game content and development practices that often mimics pre-established standards. But, over time, the conditions surrounding the formation of regional industries manifest themselves in more locally unique content and development processes. Game Hub Scandinavia

This paper explores the diverse ways horror can be conveyed in games by investigating how games that are not associated with the horror genre can produce unsettling or scary experiences. To conduct this exploration, this study uses interaction mapping, as outlined by Consalvo and Dutton (2006), to examine a game that has thoroughly pleasant and cutesy trappings: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo 2013). The interactions were analysed according to three themes prevalent within literature on horror and horror games: the loss of agency, the Freudian uncanny, and the Heideggerian uncanny. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that a game which is not explicitly scary is occasionally made so through its rudimentary simulation of human behaviour and societal constructs as well as its autonomous functions and inclusion of real-world time, showing that games have very diverse means of conveying unsettling or horrifying experiences. The paper also shows how frameworks used to analyse games in the horror genre can be applicable to critical readings of non-horror games in order to understand the unexpected player reactions they can evoke.

This paper examines what roles teachers need to take on when attempting to integrate and use computer games in their educational environments. The task of integrating games into an educational setting is a demanding one, and integrating games as a harmonious part of a bigger ecosystem of learning requires teachers to orchestrate a myriad of complex organizational resources. Historically, the field of digital game-based learning research has had a tendency to focus heavily on the coupling between game designs, previously established learning principles, student engagement, and learning outcomes much to the expense of understanding how games impact the working processes of teachers. Given the significant investments of time and resources teachers need to make in order to conduct game-based learning activities, this research gap is problematic. Teachers needs to have a certain amount of gaming literacy in order to actively supervise, support, and guide their students before, during, and after the play sessions. The teacher also needs to be proficient in setting up play sessions in a limited amount of preparation time and tackle eventual technical difficulties. Beyond these demands, teachers also need to serve as a conduit between the learning context and the play context, and need to know how to continuously contextualize game activities and the content that students experience in the subject matter being taught. This paper describes the outcomes of two five month long studies where Swedish K-12 teachers were introduced to using MinecraftEdu as a classroom activity. The study identifies the different roles that a teacher takes on throughout game-based learning processes, such as technical administrator, game administrator, game tutor, subject matter expert, lecturer, debriefer, and classroom supervisor. Ultimately, the paper highlights the importance of understanding the constraints under which teachers work, and argues that a better understanding of the contexts in which games are to be used, and the roles teachers play during game-based learning scenarios, is a necessary foundation for improving games’ viability as educational tools.

Digital game-based learning has traditionally been examined from an ‘artefact-centric’ perspective that focuses on understanding how game design and principles of learning are, or can be, intertwined. These types of examinations have resulted in many descriptions of games’ educational potential, which has subsequently led to many types of arguments for why games should be used more extensively in formal education. However, comparatively little research has been done to understand the educational settings in which many game-based learning processes and educational games are intended to be applied. The relative lack of research on formal education settings has resulted in a scenario where the educational potential of games is well detailed through theory and understood independently of their actual contexts of use, while successful examples of games “making good” on their promises as educational tools remain rare. This thesis explores and describes the various challenges that the realities of formal education present to developers and educators who attempt to work with educational games. In order to examine the multi-faceted nature of educational games, the research has used a qualitative mixed-method approach that entails extensive literature reviews coupled with several case studies that involve educators, students, and developers. Interviews were conducted in order to investigate these actors’ various attitudes towards, and experiences of, educational games and game-based learning. In addition, more in-depth researcher participation methods were employed during case studies to examine the processes involved in developing, integrating, and using educational games in formal settings. The research revealed obstacles which indicate that processes associated with “traditional” game development are incommensurable with educational game development. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that the use of games in formal education introduces heavy demands on the recipient organisations’ infrastructures, cultures, and working processes. So, while games created for “formal” and “informal” use are superficially similar, the different contexts in which they are used make them distinctly different from one another. The conclusion of this research is that educational games manifest a unique mixture of utility, gameplay, and context-dependent meaning-making activities. Educational games cannot be understood if they are only seen as a teaching utility or only as a game experience. To make educational games viable, both educators and developers need to alter their working processes, their own perceptions of games and teaching, as well as the way they collaborate and communicate with each other and other actors within the educational game ‘system’. The thesis thus argues that a more systems-oriented understanding of educational games, where the game artefact is not treated separately from the context of use, is necessary for both research and practice in the field to progress. To contribute to such an understanding of educational games, a comprehensive model (dubbed the Utility, Gameplay, and Meaning Model) of the ‘educational game system’ is presented, as well as a series of recommendations and considerations to help developers and educators navigate the complex processes involved in creating and using educational games. I denna avhandling presenteras en djupgående undersökning av digitala lärospel och hur de utvecklas för, och används inom, skolutbildning. Lärospelsforskning har traditionellt sett främst fokuserat på att undersöka spels utbildningspotential ur ett produktcentrerat perspektiv där spel och spelare sätts i centrum. Detta perspektiv har bidragit till en högre förståelse av sambandet mellan olika typer av spelmekanik och pedagogiska principer, samt vad spelare lär sig av sina interaktioner med spelinnehåll. Allteftersom denna typ av forskning påvisat olika typer av positiva sammanhang mellan spelande och lärande har således även argumenten och trycket för att använda spel i skolan ökat. Men trots att vår förståelse för vad som händer i förhållandet mellan spel och spelare stärkts, så är förståelsen av de krav och förutsättningar som spel ställer som utbildningsverktyg fortfarande väldigt begränsad; prioriteringen av att förstå spelens inneboende potential har lett till ett synsätt som inte tar utbildningsmiljöers realiteter i beaktande. Resultatet av detta är att det i dagsläget finns en stor mängd argument för varför digitala spel har stor potential för lärande och därmed bör användas mer i skolutbildning. Men det finns få studier som påvisar hur denna potential faktiskt kan uppnås, eller om den ens uttrycker sig som förväntat när spel används i verkliga utbildningssammanhang. Med denna kunskapsbrist i åtanke undersöker och beskriver denna avhandling hur formella utbildningssammanhang och digitala spel förhåller sig till varandra både konceptuellt och praktiskt. Genom fältstudier som inkluderat både utvecklare, utbildare och elever har utmaningar som uppstår i det unika mötet mellan utbildning och spelande identifierats. Observationer från fältstudier stöds även av intervjuer där lärare och utvecklares arbetsprocesser och synpunkter kring utbildning och lärospel undersökts. De huvudsakliga utmaningarna som uppdagats i dessa studier är att den ”traditionella” synen på spelutveckling, spelande och spelare är svårförenlig med skolutbildnings realiteter, pedagogiska principer och skolan som marknad för spelkonsumtion. Kort sagt så delar spel skapade för informellt och formellt spelande (till exempel för hemmabruk respektive klassrumsanvändning) många ytliga likheter, men användningskontexterna introducerar så pass olika krav och förutsättningar att informella och formella spel och spelsituationer inte är jämförbara. I avhandlingen konstateras slutligen att lärospel utgör en unik blandning av användbarhet, spelupplevelser och kontextberoende aktiviteter för meningsskapande. Lärospel kan inte förstås till fullo om de endast ses som läroverktyg, eller endast som spelupplevelser. För att lärospel ska mogna och bli användbara och effektiva inom skolutbildning i större utsträckning behöver både utvecklare och utbildare förändra arbetsprocesser i sina organisationer, och metoderna genom vilka de skapar och använder spel som läromedel. Lärospel kan inte förstås som ett förhållande mellan spel och spelare då de i själva verket utgör ett stort system av aktörer, processer och användningskontexter, som var och en påverkas av individuella och lokala krav och förutsättningar. Med detta i åtanke yrkar denna avhandling för en mer systemorienterad förståelse av lärospel där spelobjektet inte separeras från kontexter och arbetsprocesser. Avhandlingen bidrar till detta systemperspektiv genom att presentera modeller som beskriver systemet som lärospel utgör, samt en serie rekommendationer som kan hjälpa utbildare och utvecklare att navigera de komplicerade processerna involverade i användandet och utvecklingen av lärospel.

This paper examines how the heterogeneity of K-12 students, as game audiences, affect the way games can beused as educational tools in formal education. When discussing the application of games in educational contexts, the realitiesof the formal educational environment are seldom brought to the fore. There has been a lot of discourse and studiessurrounding the theoretical viability of games as engaging educational tools and their properties as learning environments,but the practicalities of inserting games into classroom environments are comparatively rarely the subject of game-basedlearning research. This paper presents two five month long studies using participatory observation that details the processof putting a commercial of-the-shelf game to use in two different types of formal educational K-12 environments: a computerlab and a classroom. More specifically, this paper focuses on examining how students receive and work with a well-knowncommercial off-the-shelf game when it is introduced as a tool in their ordinary curriculum work. The study revealed severalchallenges that put many of the axiomatic assumptions practitioners and scholars frequently make regarding games’ virtuesas educational tools into question. The challenges relate to students’ perceptions of games and gaming, variations instudents’ efficacy while playing, and of exclusionary behaviour during collaborations. Commercial of-the-shelf games, whilethey might be more equipped than educational titles when it comes to living up to player expectations as far as productionvalues are concerned, can instil a certain set of faulty expectations of how the game will actually be used. If the used gameis widely recognisable by the classroom audience, the important distinction between gameplay intended for active directedlearning rather than unguided leisure activity can be difficult to establish, which can make it difficult for teachers to keepstudents in a reflexive and analytic mode of play. The classroom as a game audience also puts the educator in a tricky positiondue to the wide variation of preferences and gaming literacy among students, and creating engaging play-sessions that areinclusive to everyone in classroom environments can be an immense undertaking for teachers. While the study revealsseveral issues produced by the tension between games and the heterogeneous nature of the classroom as an audience, italso highlights the importance of managing students’ expectations, framing the play activity correctly, and fosteringcollaborative work where subject matter knowledge and gaming literacy are intertwined.

This short guide to using and developing games for use in classrooms was written during the European Union Interreg IV A funded project Scandinavian Game Developers. Scandinavian Game Developers is a collaboration between researchers (the University of Skövde), educators (Århus Social- og Sundhedsskole), and developers (Arsenalet and The Ranch Game Incubator), and this guide is an abridged overview of some of the important conclusions our group has reached during our work in the project. Whether you’re a game developer, teacher, or principal interested in educational video games, we hope that this guide will serve as a good tool for you to improve your understanding of what educational games are. As an educator, you’ll get some insight into what a game might bring to a classroom environment as well as the different challenges you might face when trying to use games in your regular teaching environment. For developers, we’ve put together some guidelines that will hopefully make your first educational game projects flow smoother and properly prepare you for some of the more common challenges that many educational game projects encounter. Scandinavian Game Developers

The aim of this paper is to highlight the lack of studies examining the contexts in which learning games are used. Learning game research tends to focus heavily on the game artefact by examining how different types of designs foster both engagement and learning and how well the axiomatic definitions of good game design correspond to sound learning principles. While the dissection of the anatomy of games is important, there is an overabundance of studies on learning games as isolated systems at the expense of examinations of the constraints, possibilities, and requirements imposed by their real-world context of use. Learning games that are intended to work in formal settings like K-12 classrooms constitute systems that significantly differ from the traditional game scenarios between game artefacts and their players. As of yet few researchers have set out to survey these systems in their entirety. This paper presents a small literature review of learning game research that highlight the absence of studies focused on understanding the practicalities of the development and use of learning games. The paper also juxtaposes the results of the review with outcomes of a study conducted “within” the identified gap to present arguments for why the current lack of practical research is problematic. Scandinavian Game Developers, EU Interreg IV a

From the perspective of educators, games are viewed as a medium in which the younger generation both thrive and excel. Students navigate game environments with ease and regularly solve problems, engage in advanced collaborative efforts, and communicate complex concepts and strategies to one another during their private gaming sessions at home. Games invite the player to form an understanding of intricate systems and mechanics based on participation and experimentation rather than mere observation, and on these merits games are often prophesized as a medium that will significantly change the face of education as we know it. However, while teacher interest in using games is increasing, wide-spread and successful examples of games being implemented in formal educational contexts (e.g. schools and university courses) remain rare. This thesis aims to examine why this is the case and identifies some of the more prevalent obstacles educators and developers both face when embarking on learning game projects as users and creators. In order to examine the situation from both of these perspectives, the research takes a mixed-method approach that entails extensive literature studies coupled with several studies with both educators and developers. Interviews were conducted in order to investigate attitudes and experiences, and more direct researcher participation and case studies were used to examine the processes of implementing and developing learning games as they were carried out. The studied cases and literature have revealed obstacles that indicate that “traditional” entertainment game development is incommensurable with learning game development, and that the use of games in formal educational settings introduces heavy demands on the recipient organization’s infrastructure, culture, and working processes. The conclusion of this research is that learning games embody a unique mixture of utility and game experience, and the formal context which they are to be used in significantly influence the process of developing and using them. Learning games can’t be understood if they’re solely seen as a teaching utility or solely as a game experience and to make them viable both educators and developers need to change their internal processes, their own perceptions of games and teaching, as well as the way they collaborate and communicate with each other. There are also several obstacles that are outside individual institutions and developers’ control, for example the practicalities of the economic constraints that both developers and educators work under that put the sustainability of pursuing learning games for formal education as a business into question. However, the continuous incremental improvements on the infrastructure of educational institutions (e.g. availability of technology and teachers’ familiarity with technology) can likely alleviate many of the obstacles currently inhibiting the impact learning games can potentially have in formal education. Scandinavian Game Developers

This brief inventory and analysis of the state of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian game development aim to highlight past and current trends within the regions’ industries and supporting structures. In a short period of time, the situation for game developers has been severely altered as a result of the closure of big players and the rapid evolution of the marketplace. The industry in each country has been able to adapt to these changes well, and we’ve seen a dramatic industry expansion in the past couple of years as the main turbulence has subsided and new companies are given space and opportunity to establish themselves. Scandinavian Game Development

The purpose of this project is to examine how collaboration in groups of children change from a face-to-face emergent environment to a computer mediated emergent environment. To examine this, a methodology was devised in order to track individual group members‟ contributions to exercises performed by the group. Groups of five children built structures out of LEGOs and in the game Minecraft, and through the devised tracking method, data from the different exercises were juxtaposed with each other and compared in order to determine how the collaborative patterns within the groups varied depending on what exercise they were partaking in. The results of this research is that the computer based emergent system was experienced as more engaging and immersive, and that it fostered continuous discovery and problem solving throughout the game session, which wasn‟t the case in the LEGO exercise.

Detta arbete syftar till att undersöka hur Csikszentmihalyis teorier kring optimala upplevelser, eller flow-upplevelser, kan appliceras på praktisk speldesign. I arbetet kombineras Csikszentmihalyis definition av begreppet flow med Jenova Chens riktlinjer för flow-uppmuntrande design i singleplayerspel för att ge underlag för framtagandet av ett brädspel i vilket applicerbarheten hos deras teorier och riktlinjer på multiplayerspel undersökts. För att teorierna och riktlinjerna effektivt skulle kunna undersökas utvecklades det tre olika versioner av brädspelet som alla innehåller olika element som, enligt Csikszentmihaly och Chen, bör alstra flow. Ett flertal spelgrupper fick spela dessa tre versioner och via enkätundersökningar och intervjuer förmedla hur de upplevde de olika versionerna, både som individuella produkter och i jämförelse med varandra. De data som erhålldes från dessa undersökningar indikerade på att nivån av kontroll spelaren har över sin spelsituation spelar en väldigt avgörande roll i hur han eller hon upplever spelaktiviteten i sin helhet.