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The meaning of social dimension of gaming for enjoyable and engaging game experiences is supported by an increasing amount of research. Nonetheless, this issue has rarely been studied in the context of serious games. This study attempts to narrow the knowledge gap in the understanding of collaborative serious game experiences and the relationship between the social dimension of gaming and core game experiences. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate what kinds of game experiences are generated when playing collaborative serious game and how the sense of social presence and the sociability of the environment are connected to the core game experience. Findings reinforce the idea that social presence is an essential part of game experience in multiplayer games. Results also showed that the sociability of the game and a sense of social presence are strongly connected to the various dimensions of the core game experience, including engagement, in the forms of flow and immersion. Thus, results indicate that the sociability of the game and sense of social presence seem to be potential factors in the emergence of positive and engaging game experiences, at least in the context of collaborative games.

Background This article investigates the potential of utilizing game mechanics in designing 3D serious games for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and attempt to produce new information about designing collaborative serious games. Aim This article has two aims: First, to clarify how theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning was related to game design in previous studies; and, second, to design a collaborative serious game based on theoretical knowledge of collaborative learning and game design. Results The reviewed studies revealed the potential of using collaborative games in education. However, they showed that collaborative learning games were typically designed only from pedagogical perspective. Thus, integrating educational theory and game design perspectives was rare. Therefore, we argue that collaborative serious games do not necessarily take full advantage of their potential. Conclusion The main contribution of this article is to present seven ways to utilize game mechanics in order to create favorable conditions for collaborative learning and to structure players’ actions to boost social interaction and collaborative activities. This article concludes with an example of taking advantage of game mechanics in the design of a collaborative serious game. This article also uses event-charts to demonstrate the practical implementation of game mechanics in three multiplayer puzzles.

Collaborative serious games have proven to have the potential to support joint knowledge construction, and there is a growing interest in applying such games to promote high-level learning. However, most of the existing studies have focused on the effects of functional, task-specific support while ignoring the social aspects of collaborative learning. This study is one aim to fill in the knowledge gap in order to understand how learners experience educational games as a means of social interaction and collaboration. The findings indicated that the game environment facilitated and supported players’ socio-emotional processes by eliciting students’ social presence and sociability. This has been further shown to play an important role in the emergence of social interaction and collaborative learning. These results can be applied in the design of collaborative educational games that support social aspects of collaborative learning.

Background. Designing collaborative three-dimensional (3D) learning games is one way to enhance the quality of learning and respond to the needs of working life. However, there is little research on how to apply different game mechanics to support different educational aims. Aim. This study determines how game mechanics implemented within computer-supported collaboration roles (scripted vs. emergent) are associated with the emergence of collaboration. Method. The research at hand applies both qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The target group consisted of 15 vocational school students. The data were gathered by recording the groups’ discussions and saving the game logs. A total of 8,128 transcribed utterances were eligible for content analysis to shed light on the characteristics in knowledge construction under scripted and emergent role situations. Results. We found differences between the players’ utterances in tasks with scripted and emergent roles. At the scripted-role level, providing knowledge was the most dominant type of utterance. Further, students with similar roles performed actions and applied similar activities. In the level based on emerging collaboration processes, shared problem solving was the most actively used speech activity. Conclusions. Emphasizing and applying different game mechanics with different collaboration roles (scripted vs. emergent) can be used to support different educational aims of games. Recommendation. Collaboration is needed among professionals from technological and educational sites of game research to fully understand how to apply game mechanics in educational games.

Assessing game experience by means of recordings of physiological reactions elicited during game play is a technique that has gained popularity in recent years in the field of digital games research. However, since physiological signals are typically linked to several psychological processes, the use of some measures such as cardiac activity or heart rate (HR) remains problematic. The goal of the present study is to investigate to what extent game logs and self-report measures of game experience have a predictive value for heart rate variability during game play. Our results showed that the accurate registration of in-game behaviors by means of game logs carries the potential of providing richer information for the interpretation of variations in cardiac activity than only post-hoc self-report measures.

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