Design Better Games: Flow, Motivation, and Fun in Learning Games (original) (raw)

Just a few years ago, the industry was abuzz, demanding statistical proof of what was generally accepted as truth: games could be great teaching tools. Video games obviously created very engaging experiences where many players can play for hours on end. Games could put players 'in the zone' in an experience known as 'flow'. Even still, we needed proof to validate that they could actually teach something. Fortunately, those days are past. In recent years, there have been many great examples of learning games and a variety of studies have shown that fantastic results are possible. Unfortunately, they also show that wonderful results are not always guaranteed and that designing an effective learning game is hard. So, now the question shifts from 'can it work', to 'how do we make it work?' This chapter explores how to design effective learning games by looking at three critical areas: flow, motivation, and fun. For each area, we present important theoreti...