Why Story Matters: A Review of Narrative in Serious Games

Abstract

Literature has shown that immersive learning environments such as digital educational games and simulations often incorporate storytelling elements in their designs as narrative can be an effective way of making learning more meaningful to students. The purpose of this study is to review the literature on the role narrative can play in the experience of a learner engaging in learning games and to synthesize research on features of story that have demonstrated success in these learning environments. The findings have shown that distributed narrative, intrinsically integrated fantasies, empathetic characters and virtual agents, and adaptiveness or responsivity are four characteristics of game narratives found to be effective. Several learning game analyses were performed to illustrate how these games used narrative to foster greater immersion, engagement, motivation, and learning. Finally, a narrative design strategy for serious games is suggested which integrates the effective narrative features as shown in the example games, along with two analysis frameworks, Game Discourse Analysis and Narrative Centered Informant Design. The findings of this study should provide much-needed insights to designers and researchers who are involved in creating immersive learning environments.

An Engaging Serious Game Aiming at Awareness of Therapy Skills Associated with Social Anxiety Disorder

“…As Thomas gets himself into these anxiety-provoking situations, Sam introduces himself to Thomas and offers his help. Sam served as an empathetic character [27], with the narrative reasoning being that he had attended CBT before.…”

The Impact of Meaningful Game Narratives on Attitudes towards Racial Outgroups

“…Within the context of serious games, narratives are usually designed to be meaningful, which is defined as imparting purposeful learning and relevance to the players [15]. Choices in these games provide players with information to make decisions that may affect the outcome of a game [16] and enable players to feel more connected to the story through their own actions [17].…”

Can narrative cutscenes improve home learning from a math game? An experimental study with children

“…Within contemporary theories of learning, game design elements used to realize the narrative framing are posited to have two main opposing effects on learning processes. On the one hand, they can be viewed as motivational elements (eg, Cordova & Lepper, 1996; Naul & Liu, 2019; Novak, 2015; Parker & Lepper, 1992). Motivational elements have been theorized to have positive impact on learning processes: primarily due to increasing learners’ mental activity (eg, Moreno, 2005; Plass & Kaplan, 2015; see also Brom, Stárková, & D'Mello, 2018).…”

“…However, little is known about what game design elements foster learning (see, eg, Clark et al , 2016; Mayer, 2014a; Wouters & Oostendorp, 2017). A prominent family of game design elements concerns narrative framing (see, eg, Adams, Mayer, MacNamara, Koenig, & Wainess, 2012; Jackson, O'Mara, Moss, & Jackson, 2018; Mayer, 2014a; Naul & Liu, 2019; Novak, 2015; Wouters & Oostendorp, 2017; see also Malone, 1981; Parker & Lepper, 1992). In the context of games for teaching curricular content, such as mathematics, narrative framing elements were posited as features that a) make the learning experience more engaging through contextualizing instruction and b) thereby boost the learning outcomes (eg, Cordova & Lepper, 1996; Naul & Liu, 2019; Novak, 2015; Parker & Lepper, 1992).…”