Playfulness-based design in educational games: a perspective on an evolutionary contest game

The effect of uncertainty on learning in game-like environments

“…Instead of administering several correlations or regressions, we examined whether our hypothesized model based on previous research adequately fit the data. Consistent with prior studies (Hong et al, 2009;Howard-Jones & Demetriou, 2009), the results of the path analysis reveal that uncertainty is positively associated with the motivation of learners. The more motivated they were, the more time they tended to spend on answering the questions in the game-like environment and to have higher accuracy in these questions, as suggested by Beck (2004) and Toups et al (2009).…”

“…As a result of high motivation (Liu & Chu, 2010), uncertainty (Howard-Jones & Demetriou, 2009Howard-Jones et al, 2011), accuracy (Shin et al, 2006), and response time (Eagle & Barnes, 2009), the learners performed better in the posttest. (Howard-Jones & Demetriou, 2009;Hong et al, 2009) H 2 : Motivation is positively related to accuracy in the game during learning (Toups et al, 2009) H 3 : Motivation is positively related to the response time to questions in the game during learning (Beck, 2004). H 4 : Accuracy in the game is positively related to the post-test (Shin et al, 2006).…”

“…Whitehall and McDonald (1993) showed that varying payoff in a game increases the persistence of learners in choosing more difficult levels and game performance. Hence, uncertainty (Hong et al, 2009) is an important factor that may affect the flow in games and which has not been studied in detail as far as the available literature is concerned.…”

“…In order to put players in the flow zone during games, game designers and developers mainly focus on improving the motivation and the attention level required for games (Csikszentmihalyi, 1993). Several studies propose guidelines for creating flow in games (Andresen & Ahdell, 2002;Colby & Colby, 2008;Csikszentmihalyi, 1975Csikszentmihalyi, , 1993Ellis, Voelkl, & Morris, 1994;Hong et al, 2009;Kiili, 2005;Koster, 2005;Northrup, 2001;Pilke, 2004;Price, Rogers, Scaife, Stanton, & Neale, 2003;Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005). These studies suggest that there exists a relationship between learning and excitement or flow in games.…”

“…Howard-Jones and Demetriou (2009) also report that gaming uncertainty may improve engagement and may also improve encoding and later recall. It has been suggested that uncertainty deepens the players' interest in a game (Hong et al, 2009), hence, it may play an important role in learning through playing. Whitehall and McDonald (1993) showed that varying payoff in a game increases the persistence of learners in choosing more difficult levels and game performance.…”