Flow framework for analyzing the quality of educational games
- Submitting institution
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Coventry University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 11582397
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1016/j.entcom.2014.08.002
- Title of journal
- Entertainment Computing
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 367
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 1875-9521
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- August
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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3
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- In gaming, flow theory provides valuable insights into players’ immersive experience during gameplay. The original dimension of the flow theory states that all flow inducing activities become spontaneous and intuitive, which is not desirable from a learning point of view.
This peer-reviewed journal article is based on Arnab’s collaboration with Professor Kristian Kiili (Tampere University) under the €7.5 million EU-Funded GALA project, where the flow theory was extended to include ‘playability’ aspects, replacing Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘action-awareness merging’ dimension. The new framework emphasises that it is possible to make a distinction between activities related to learning and game/play control – meaning controlling a game should be automatic but the learning of the educational content should be consciously processed and reflected upon.
This article discusses how the framework with the ‘playability’ aspects could be used to analyse the quality of Serious Games. Based on an empirical study of the gameplay experience of 98 students at Turku School of Economics, Finland with ‘RealGame’ (a commercial business simulation game), the framework was demonstrated to be useful for analysing the overall quality of the playing experience. The analysis showed that the students' flow experience in the game was high, indicating high sense of control, clear goals and challenge-skill dimensions. Overall, the proposed framework has the potential to inform the design of new games as well as to provide insights into the redesigning of existing games based on the analysis of the attributes included in the framework.
The research discussed in this article was part of the overarching research into Serious Game design that Arnab led as the GALA project’s Research Work Package leader. Findings have been disseminated via conference presentations and publications (including the 4th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications in Italy and the Serious Games Society’s GALA Conference in France).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -