This study evaluates the effect of gamification on the engagement and performance of first-year students in the International Supply Chain Management course at a University of Applied Sciences. Several students were exposed to the pilot of The Fresh Connection compact, a simulation game which was implemented between May to June 2025. Based on 350 observations, students are categorized as control group (without exposure to game, n = 217) and treatment group (with exposure to game, n = 133). These groups were further divided based on individual’s final grade: pass (grade ≥ 5.5) or fail (grade ˂5.5). The dataset is supplemented by a survey of students that played the game. Results show significant difference between students who participate in the game and took both exams (78
In this study, we systematically reviewed mental health-related games on the indie games platform itch.io. After initial screening and subsequent gameplay, we arrived at a dataset of 60 browser-playable games tagged with “mental health” on itch.io, which were reviewed and classified along a set of categories: targeted mental health topic, game type, player motivation type, method used, theoretical grounding, references to resources, itch.io genre, interaction style, single-player or multiplayer social presence, and playtime. Analyzing trends in this dataset, we found that anxiety and depression were the most commonly targeted issues, while the game experiences were commonly single-player interactive fictions and visual novels. Only 13.33
Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and gamification in education opens new opportunities for personalized and engaging learning. This paper presents PolyGloT, an AI-powered platform enhanced with gamified elements to support the motivation and adaptability of learners. The system offers AI feedback and adaptive content in real time to maintain engagement. We outline its rationale, core characteristics and pedagogical foundations and report on an empirical study with 48 students using the UEQ-S questionnaire. The results showed moderately positive impressions, especially in hedonic quality, while pragmatic aspects such as clarity require improvement. Lessons learned stress the need to balance innovation with usability and point to future work on interface refinement, broader evaluation, and deeper analysis of the roles of AI and gamification.
The growing use of escape games in education has led to innovative digital tools that support learning and teaching. This paper introduces the Escape Game Chatbot, a ChatGPT-based tool that assists users in co-designing educational escape games through guided narrative planning, puzzle creation, and alignment with learning objectives focused on Sustainable Development Goals. The Escape Game Chatbot aims to lower design barriers for educators and game designers lacking expertise in this context. A formative evaluation with 15 university participants indicates positive impacts on design understanding, creativity support, and the likelihood of the Escape Game Chatbot’s reuse.
Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are essential in serious games for cultural heritage, where their input ensures accuracy and ethical integrity. Designers must collaborate closely with SMEs to encode cultural content into game components, often relying on structured frameworks to support and formalize this process. However, such collaboration is time-consuming, costly, and often out of reach for small or underfunded cultural projects—especially those focused on niche topics with limited audiences. This study explores the extent to which generative AI can reduce this dependency. Using ChatGPT within the Co.Lab framework, we developed Edgar à GoGo, a prototype inspired by Varèse’s Poème Électronique, combining AI-generated content with a human-authored game structure. The experiment examines how general knowledge, enhanced by selected project-specific materials, can partially substitute the traditional SME–designer dialogue. The prototype was reviewed by three SMEs familiar with the heritage item, offering insights into the coherence and completeness of the AI output. Findings suggest a hybrid workflow with AI aiding human design. While not a replacement for expert insight, generative AI may serve as a catalyst for ideation and discussion, especially in low-resource settings.
This qualitative study explores Turkish parents’ perspectives on their children’s digital gaming behaviors, focusing on evaluation criteria, mediation strategies, and ludo literacy levels. Guided by the Parental Mediation framework, responses from 147 parents were analyzed using content analysis. Findings reveal children predominantly favor racing and sports games, indicating preference for dynamic and competitive gameplay. Parents demonstrate predominantly risk-focused and restrictive mediation approaches, with primary concerns centered on violence, inappropriate content, and addiction potential. Positive perceptions of games’ cognitive, social, or creative benefits remained secondary. Parents with higher educational backgrounds exhibited more advanced ludo literacy, evidenced by greater sensitivity to game mechanics and educational potential. Single-child households applied stricter monitoring and content control. The study underscores limited use of active mediation strategies and the need for balanced parental approaches recognizing both risks and educational affordances of digital games, suggesting importance of developing ludo literacy-based parent education programs.
The potential of video games as pedagogical tools for achieving curricular learning objectives remains underexplored, particularly regarding their systematic implementation in classroom contexts. Contributing to recent efforts of making game-based learning and its benefits more accessible for application in educational settings as well as better understandable from an empirical standpoint, this article investigates how game-inherent prompt systems can meet or even surpass external instruction by intrinsically motivating and cognitively activating learners. It provides insight into an empirical study conducted with a sample of 106 students in German Literature classes, focusing on cognitive processes when practicing the participants’ competencies of understanding a narrative video game’s literary characters. In a mixed-methods approach, results demonstrated superior literary analysis and reflection performance when learners were scaffolded by game-inherent prompts compared to externally provided instructional tasks. The study provides insight into effects of video games as catalysts for cognitive activation, identifies beneficial ludonarrative structures, and discusses practical implications for integrating game-based learning in formal education settings.
The prevalence of chatbot systems is on the rise globally. However, it remains challenging to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of their use cases outside of the domain of so-called service chatbots. This is particularly evident in the context of air traffic control, where safety concerns necessitate a high degree of reliability and accuracy. In this domain, the validation of a chatbot solely based on its performance is impractical and difficult to execute, given the limitations of current large language model technologies, which lack deterministic behavior. To address this challenge, this study proposes a novel approach to validate air traffic control chatbots through the use of serious gaming. By simplifying the real-world scenario, serious gaming offers cost-effective and safe means of testing unproven designs without the need for operational experts. To this end, a methodology integrating standard chatbot evaluation strategies with the european operational concept validation methodology is developed. This methodology was applied to assess the quality of a chatbot that assumes the role of a tower controller. It was found that a chatbot system could be validated with reduced effort using serious gaming. A total of 107 students took part in three distinct studies. The air traffic control chatbot was usable, achieving an above-average system usability score of 85 of 100 when tested with the latest version of the game designed for the proposed validation environment.
As machine learning (ML) instruction is dramatically widened its audience, new tools and methods are needed to allow an effective comprehension also by students without a strong mathematic/programming background, who may have more difficulty in districting among the fundamental theoretical concepts. To address this gap, we propose MLopoly, a Monopoly-inspired serious game designed to support interactive and experiential learning of core ML topics. The game maps decision-making challenges across realistic scenarios (e.g., restaurant, farm, bank) where players iteratively build, tune, and evaluate ML models. Game mechanics such as property upgrades, rent calculations, and challenge cards are directly tied to players’ performance on ML tasks. We discuss game design, gameplay dynamics and implementation issues, A preliminary validation study has been carried out conducting a 20-item questionnaire based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) Motivation Model to assess learning and motivation. Results indicate that MLopoly offers an engaging, low-barrier environment for understanding and applying ML, also encouraging disciplinary deepening of the covered topics.
Mental health issues are a major challenge for college students, with social anxiety disorder being common, leading to avoidance and fear of negative judgment. Digital interventions using virtual reality (VR) show promise by providing immersive and controlled environments. This work explores how a VR-CBT (Virtual Reality Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) game can effectively convey CBT concepts while addressing design challenges. Twelve college students aged 18–25 tested the artifact, completing pre and post-intervention questionnaires and a semi-structured interview. Findings indicate positive experiences, improved CBT knowledge, and increased mental health literacy. While refinements and long-term evaluation are needed, this study highlights the potential of VR-CBT as a tool for social anxiety in college contexts.
In medical education, it is often challenging to ensure that students encounter patients with specific clinical conditions during their placements. This study examines the use of a digital human patient simulator designed to replicate cranial nerve conditions, providing students with repeated and consistent opportunities to develop their skills in clinical identification and diagnosis for further management. The simulator enhances students’ understanding of cranial nerve anatomy and enables them to perform virtual examinations to assess potential nerve damage. As a fully accessible tool, the digital patient allows for unlimited, self-paced practice within a supportive and non-judgemental learning environment, facilitating both formative learning and assessment.
As serious games, as well as entertainment games, evolve along a continuum ranging from analog to digital, including hybrid solutions, the design and role of game interfaces have become increasingly complex and central to the player experience. This position paper proposes a conceptual shift, considering the interface not merely as a structural or aesthetic layer, but as a key mediator between game mechanics and the mental and emotional models formed by players during the game. Building on insights from previous research on interfaces and on player experience, we introduce the Human-Game Interaction (HGI) framework as a lens to systematically analyze how interfaces shape the player’s experience both in serious games and in entertainment games. By referencing design heuristics, the tripartition of the mind, and Gestalt principles, we argue for a holistic understanding of the interface and we offer new perspectives for cross-disciplinary research and practical applications, particularly in the design of serious games where usability and meaningful engagement are essential.
The use of virtual reality (VR) applications for knowledge dissemination in museum exhibitions remains a relevant and evolving topic. As VR becomes more common as a medium in museum didactics, open-source alternatives have begun to emerge alongside high-budget, expert-developed applications. While these lower-cost solutions may not support every creative concept, they enable museums with limited budgets to independently create VR exhibitions that closely mimic real-world settings, including interactive showcases and embedded media such as text, audio, images, and (animated) 3D models. To investigate which media types are most effective within such VR environments, we conducted interviews with three museum curators from south-west Germany to gather insights into their experiences and expectations regarding real-world–mimicking VR exhibitions. Additionally, we carried out a field study, based on a prototype VR exhibition on the history of the dragon myth to collect quantitative data on visitor interaction preferences with different media types and user behavior patterns. In this paper, we present and analyze both datasets and offer practical recommendations for curators interested in developing VR exhibitions for their didactic portfolios.
Maintaining student focus is a key challenge in modern history classes. While serious games have shown potential to enhance engagement and learning, research on using virtual companions as the primary medium for delivering educational content remains limited. This study investigates whether a virtual companion guiding players through a serious game can increase motivation and knowledge acquisition. Twenty-one participants played the prototype and completed pre- and post-questionnaires. Results indicate that the companion fostered a strong emotional connection, supported learning, and, through interactions within detailed game environments, significantly enhanced immersion.
In today’s fast-paced world, museums must evolve to meet the growing demand for immersive and interactive visitor experiences. This study explores how touchscreen kiosks and Simulated Reality (SR) technology support user experience in museums. Through a user study with 104 visitors we identify the strengths and limitations of both technologies. Our findings show, for example, that touchscreens offer more control whereas SR offers more enjoyment. Adopting adequate technologies can make museum experiences more engaging.
In this study, we examined the spontaneous use of an educational game at home after pupils were exposed to it during a six-week game-based learning intervention in school. We investigated what influenced this decision, focusing on two factors—maths anxiety and gender—that are known to potentially act as barriers to both maths engagement and video game engagement. The game interactions of 1,900 primary school students were monitored for three months after the classroom intervention. We found that half of the students played the 7 Spells game at home. As expected, game performance and game enjoyment significantly predicted the decision to continue playing from home. Notably, however, maths anxiety did not limit home play, and no gender effect was found—girls played as much as boys. Our findings underscore the potential of educational games to foster spontaneous practice, making maths practice more inclusive and sustainable beyond the classroom.
Games hold promise as assessment tools, but the mechanics used must first be validated. Accordingly, we examined a novel implementation of an unbounded number line estimation task to assess students’ fraction comparison competence, laying the groundwork for designing a stealth assessment for math games. Sixty-eight Finnish 6th graders played a math game in which they estimated fraction magnitudes on an unbounded number line. Additionally, the students completed a non-game assessment based on a traditional fraction comparison task using the same fractions, as a part of a counterbalanced design. Overall, the results showed many similarities between the assessment conditions, including a typically observed distance effect, a similar correlation with general math achievement, and a moderate positive correlation between the conditions. However, comparison performance was lower in the game assessment. Further, the performance classifications based on whole number ordering consistent and inconsistent comparison tasks showed only a slight agreement between the game and non-game assessments. This suggests that the two approaches may capture different aspects of performance, with the game assessment potentially yielding misleading learning analytics and inappropriate pedagogical decisions. Also, motivational measures suggested challenges with the unbounded tasks, as students’ flow experience was significantly lower in the game condition. The results underscore the need to carefully evaluate theoretically informed assessment mechanics and highlight the importance of further research to establish the unbounded number line task as a valid measure of fraction comparison competence.
Serious games are a powerful way to explore complex problems and promote critical thinking and decision-making in uncertainty. However, designing such games remains a challenge, particularly when integrating real data, modeling domain complexity, and aligning gameplay with learning outcomes. This paper introduces a framework designed to support the structured co-creation of serious games. The co-design process is structured around a formal foundation of interconnected metamodels, each capturing a key dimension of serious game design, such as threats, actors, functional roles, territorial contexts, and event dynamics. These are grouped within a central Megamodel to ensure coherence and traceability throughout the scenario. Although not all aspects are fully implemented, this work lays the groundwork for an assisted design vision, in which AI tools support designers through model validation, reuse of game components, and guided content generation. We outline how the framework, instantiated through the Jjodel platform, can be used to rapidly prototype new game scenarios by adapting and extending a reference game structure across different domains.
Computational thinking (CT), as an overarching problem-solving skill, and creativity, as a drive for innovation are both considered essential 21st-century skills and recommended to be acquired early on in education. However, tools to assess their relationship still remain limited. This pilot study (N = 125) presents the development and piloting of a new gamified assessment tool, the Computational Creativity and Computational Thinking test (CCCT), for primary school children. Results show that the CCCT is feasible to measure domain-specific creativity in the context of CT and provide initial insights into their relationship. Our findings support the CCCT as a promising instrument for holistically assessing the complex and synergistic relationship between CT and creativity.
This study examined the design and effects of cognitive activities that induce older adults’ continuous enjoyment and participation. We used “Sancoro Bingo”—a competitive interactive game that combines calculations and bingo. Experience sessions were held from May to July 2025, and evaluations were conducted based on participant attendance and repeat rates, questionnaires measuring subjective changes, game play logs, etc. The results revealed that participants had a positive experience with the game, and improvements were reported in “enjoyment,” “concentration,” and “self-efficacy.” Game performance exhibited a logarithmic improvement, indicating that intuitive controls and explicit rule design fostered rapid mastery. Furthermore, interactions and spontaneous cooperative behavior among participants were observed, confirming that the game promotes social connections. The study indicates that Sancoro Bingo is both psychologically and socially acceptable to older adults and may effectively encourage continuous participation. It provides insights for future development in local communities and application to diverse groups.
