An Inclusive Framework for Developing Video Games for Learning

Games are a type of vehicle with which society is changing at present-day. But how the games themselves will be changed by society, is an interesting question to ask for enhancing and initiating better design of games. As participation in gaming upsurges around the world and across a larger part of the population, it is obvious that games are not only an entertainment medium for children or young people anymore. Games can be used to accomplish different purposes for different groups of people in the society. Design and use of games for learning and/or educational purpose has been an important research field for several years. However, this research field is yet to deliver expected achievement and result, despite of many efforts and resources put into it. Factors that are important to consider for designing a game that will motivate users to active involvement in playing a game for active learning, are crucial for the successfulness of the design of such game. The design goal for educational games would be to produce games that motivate users and thereby achieve effective learning. This paper proposes a framework in which the parameters of what users want from a game are considered for the development of games for learning. The framework is based on the previous research and theory of Richard Rouse (2001), who defined different dimensions of game design in terms of learning. The proposed framework is important in order to investigate and assess the success of existing games used for learning. Also the framework can provide better understanding as a requirement engineering tool for game designers, who are to design games for learning and educational purposes in the future. The proposed framework was verified using a small quantitative analysis. It was found that, while some parameters of the framework indeed have significance for designing games for learning, there are additional factors that need to be discovered by further analysis and research to enhance the usability of the framework.