Serious Games Are Not All Serious

Abstract

In a recent article that was a part of a symposium in Simulation & Gaming, Klabbers (2018) found issue with the classification or term, serious game. He suggested that "if there is a class of games, called serious games, then there should also be a distinct class called non-serious games" (p. 230). He goes on to state that, "strictly speaking, the term serious game excludes play, and serious games may not be playful (p. 230). I was surprised that neither the authors responding to his article nor the reviewers found issue with his argument. I disagree that the terms playful and serious gaming need to be separate. A game may have serious consequences or ramifications that leads to such things as credentialing and continued professional practice; however, they may still be playful or enjoyable. Serious games serve a unique purpose. Very often, this purpose is to teach a professional or life skill. Although they can be entertaining, enjoyable, and fun, the primary purpose of serious games is to educate, train, and inform (Khenissi, Essalmi, & Jemni, 2015, p. 488; Michael & Chen, 2006). Understandably, the accuracy of whether and what the game is actually teaching is another concern in serious games (Michael & Chen, 2006, p. 43). That is, "if the player learns to beat the game but can't usefully apply what he's learned in the real world, then the serious game has failed its mission" (p. 43). An example of a serious game is one that occurs on occasion during our emergency medical resident theme day as part of our institution's residency education program. One of the events is modeled after the Jeopardy television show (Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc). Medical residents respond to emergency medicine category questions competing with one another in a playful manner. There certainly is an entertainment, enjoyment or fun component to this activity, but it is primarily a serious event as the intended goal is to educate, train, and inform these professionals that will return to the emergency room, treat patients, and save lives. So with all due respect to Jan Klabbers and his view, serious games are not all serious. For the most part, the terms, for pleasure, or for playful reasons describes the objective of most of my gaming experiences. There is not a serious component in my entertainment gaming practices and that is a good thing. The only learning component to my entertainment-focused gaming activities are the reflection and experience combinations that I wrote about recently (see Clapper, 2018) where I am trying to navigate the game and beat my opponents. We can refer to my entertainment games as nonserious games, but this is not necessary. Some terms and phrases are perfectly fine as stand-alone expressions. For example, the business community understands the term, 789763S AGXXX10.

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