Serious Games
The concept of serious games refers to games designed in order to solve problems in a given field, rather than for pure entertainment. Whilst gamification typically refers to the use of game-like elements in non-game environments, serious games are more like “a simulation to test players’ skills and behaviours” (Reiners and Wood, 2014).
Serious games market share in the Netherlands (Spruijt, 2015)
According to Igi-global.com (2016), training simulations and learning are the most common application of serious games and studies have suggested that this market was worth €1.5billion worldwide in 2010 (Alvarez, J.et al.,2010). Serious games are utilised across fields including education, healthcare, engineering, politics and science (Harz, 2006).
The attraction of serious games to learners is that real-life scenarios can be studied or rehearsed without consequences for making mistakes, with immediate feedback on performance. Moreover, a serious game can be used by a learner from any location (Djaouti et al., 2010), without needing direct access to an expert.
Gamification and Serious Games in Organisational Learning (Etu.ie, 2014)
Bibliography:
Alvarez, J., Alvarez, V., Djaouti, D., & Michaud, L. (2010). Serious Games: Training & Teaching – Healthcare – Defence & security – Information & Communication. IDATE.
Etu.ie, (2014). [INFOGRAPHIC] Gamification and Serious Games in Organisational Learning | ETU SkillSims. [image] Available at: http://www.etu.ie/2014/06/11/infographic-gamification-and-serious-games-in-organisational-learning/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
Djaouti, D., Alvarez, J., Jessel, J. and Rampnoux, O. (2010). Origins of Serious Games. 1st ed. [ebook] France: 1 IRIT, Toulouse III University. Available at: http://www.ludoscience.com/files/ressources/origins_of_serious_games.pdf [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].
Reiners, T. and Wood, L. (2014). Gamification in education and business.
Spruijt, J. (2015). 5 reasons why being a serious games entrepreneur is awesome (and 5 th…. [image] Slideshare.net. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/janspruijt/5-reasons-why-being-a-serious-games-entrepreneur-is-awesome-and-5-things-that-sometimes-get-in-your-way [Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
Igi-global.com, (2016). What is Serious Games | IGI Global. [online] Available at: http://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/serious-games/26549 [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].
Harz, C. (2006). Games for Learning: Serious Entertainment. [online] Animation World Network. Available at: http://www.awn.com/animationworld/games-learning-serious-entertainment [Accessed 20 Jan. 2016].