Voluntary Play in Serious Games

Voluntariness is an important feature of games. Serious game designers intend to generate engaging gameplay, which implies that voluntary play should be equally important for serious games as for entertainment games. This paper describes the outcome of a study on the impact of voluntariness on learning in a serious game. The results of 19 participants, randomly assigned to voluntary and mandatory gameplay, are analyzed to identify possible differences. The findings of this study suggest that, contrary to the opinion of many game designers, being required to play a serious game does not necessarily take the fun out of the game.