Serious games represent the state-of-the-art in the convergence of electronic gaming technologies with instructional design principles and pedagogies. Despite the value of high-fidelity content in engaging learners and providing realistic training environments, building games which deliver high levels of visual and functional realism is a complex, time consuming and expensive process. Therefore, commercial game engines, which provide a development environment and resources to more rapidly create high-fidelity virtual worlds, are increasingly used for serious as well as for entertainment applications. Towards this intention, the authors propose a new framework for the selection of game engines for serious applications and sets out five elements for analysis of engines in order to create a benchmarking approach to the validation of game engine selection. Selection criteria for game engines and the choice of platform for Serious Games are substantially different from entertainment games, as Serious Games have very different objectives, emphases and technical requirements. In particular, the convergence of training simulators with serious games, made possible by increasing hardware rendering capacity is enabling the creation of high-fidelity serious games, which challenge existing instructional approaches. This paper overviews several game engines that are suitable for high-fidelity serious games, using the proposed framework.

This paper reports on a study that is concerned with the cognitive aspects of reading in a hypertext environment. The study focuses on text based electronic documents. A cognitive model for hypertext document reading proposed in an earlier work is here developed and validated with the use of think aloud protocols. Navigational strategies that readers employ in hypertext reading and hypertext links' selection are also under study. The results indicate that 100% of the task related data correspond to the components of the cognitive model, allowing us to conclude that the proposed model sufficiently describes the cognitive processes involved in hypertext reading. In addition, three navigational strategies are revealed: linear, mixed, and mixed review. The quantitative data show no significant differences between different reading goals and comprehension.

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Abstract:The effect of gender in learning has often been the focus of research because of its potential implications in academic achievement. However, the effect of gender in hypertext reading has not been thoroughly investigated. The Web in general and the hypertext in particular has modified the way people access and use information. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study into gender differences in hypertext reading. The study focuses on text-based electronic documents. The study is a mixed method design, with the use of the think-aloud protocols and a between subjects experiment. It examines some original variables not previously studied comprehensively, such as coherence of transactions, sum of selected hyperlinks, and hyperlink location. Forty two participants (30 males and 12 females) read a hierarchically structured hypertext and then, all answered the same set of questions. The data consisted of reading times, comprehension scores, reading strategies, coherent links, hyperlink location, sum of hyperlinks, and the sum of read nodes. The results show that gender did not significantly affect any of the measured variables.

This paper investigates a range of challenges faced in the design of a serious game aimed at teaching history in situ, through the use of an immersive, open virtual environment. In the context of this paper, such an environment is described as an exploratory, expansive virtual world within which a user may interact in a non-linear and situated fashion with the virtual characters that populate it. The main contribution of this paper consists of the introduction of the Levels of Interaction (LoI) framework, designed to assist in the creation of multiple forms of interaction between a user-driven avatar and synthetic characters. The LoI approach addresses the necessity for balancing computational efficiency with the need to provide believable and interactive virtual characters, allowing varying degrees of visual, interactive and behavioural fidelity. The Roma Nova project demonstrates a first implementation of the concept, showing in practice how the LoI are likely to foster more natural interactions between the player and the non-playing characters.

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