What are Serious Games?
Serious games are particularly useful for teaching some disciplines; these include stress management, bullying prevention, and learning a new language (like English) or mathematics.
Serious games are those that are made with education in mind as opposed to enjoyment. The term “serious” mostly applies to video games utilized in the fields of education, science, medicine, engineering, urban planning, and politics.
The phrase was first used in 1970 by American scholar Clark C. Abt, who also wrote the book Serious Games. In the book, Abt explores the various ways that games might be included into the teaching-learning process without sacrificing joy or fun.
Why have they been called “serious games”?
The answer may seem obvious, but as I indicated earlier, video games still carry a lot of stigmas. To promote them to the role of a training tool, they are defined as serious, as though to convey an appreciation for formal education. Yet, even though video games aren’t intended to be educational, you can still learn from them.
It appears that serious games have an educational purpose.
They make up an extremely effective teaching tool.
They make it possible to gain the knowledge and abilities that the twenty-first century demands.
They give you a secure setting in which you can practice various circumstances.
They allow universal access for all users and are multi-device compatible.
Serious games create highly didactic teaching and learning experiences through the use of aspects of gamification, which is the implementation of game mechanics and dynamics in non-playful situations like an English class.
In accordance with the preceding remarks, we have evidence that serious games have a significant training component along with to their enjoyable component, making them an extremely effective teaching tool; Lastly, the word “serious” was chosen to reduce the psychological effect of indicating that the players are playing a video game, keeping in mind that learning environments are in fact a “serious” matter—one that is not too far from reality, given that we learn through the game—and that there are expectations of both success and failure, but that failure provides a lesson that motivates us to keep trying until we meet the goals we set for ourselves.
What is the special quality of the serious game?
In contrast to previous pedagogical approaches, psychology—and particularly motivation—may hold the key to the solution.
The ACRS model, developed by Keller in 1979, is an interesting model that explains the correlation between psychology and serious games. The abbreviation stands for
A-Attention
C-Trust
R-Relevance
S-Satisfaction
Its widespread use in e-learning could be the reason for the focus on it as a means of putting psychology and serious games together. All of its parts make it evident that serious games not only substantially engage students but also help them develop other skills that would take time to acquire in non-playful environments.
Do serious games have advantages?
Prior to defining the advantages of serious games, it is necessary that you understand that: these training models are backed by a variety of psychoeducational methodologies and theories, with pedagogical objectives drawn from the expertise of the experts who develop these kinds of learning experiences; just remember that “your students are not playing a little game” or “they will not waste their time in that game either.”
Among the advantages of using serious games that we have seen are:
Error is a necessary component of learning; by analyzing your mistakes, you will become better.
You are in a secure virtual or practice environment.
The process of providing feedback happens instantly.
There is a strong level of motivation.
They are interactive.
They can be autonomous or collaborative based on their design.
They make it easier for you to understand technical ideas.
They drive decision making.
They provide you the chance to investigate and look for fresh methods of resolving problems. In addition to these advantages, there are several more benefits to using serious games for educational purposes. However, if you opt for teaching individuals using this approach, keep in mind that creating a serious game requires significant funding and the cooperation of individuals from various disciplines, for example in English, you will need a teacher of languages and a game developer, and I happen to be both, so check my videogames to learn more vocabulary.
