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An Overview of Serious Games

Article  in  International Journal of Computer Games Technology · October 2014

DOI: 10.1155/2014/358152

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Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Volume 2014, Article ID 358152, 15 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/358152

Review Article
An Overview of Serious Games

Fedwa Laamarti,1 Mohamad Eid,2 and Abdulmotaleb El Saddik1,2

1
Multimedia Communications Research Laboratory, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
University of Ottawa, 800 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
2
Division of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Correspondence should be addressed to Abdulmotaleb El Saddik; [email protected]

Received 12 May 2014; Revised 10 September 2014; Accepted 16 September 2014; Published 15 October 2014

Academic Editor: Daniel Thalmann

Copyright © 2014 Fedwa Laamarti et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Serious games are growing rapidly as a gaming industry as well as a field of academic research. There are many surveys in the field
of digital serious games; however, most surveys are specific to a particular area such as education or health. So far, there has been
little work done to survey digital serious games in general, which is the main goal of this paper. Hence, we discuss relevant work
on serious games in different application areas including education, well-being, advertisement, cultural heritage, interpersonal
communication, and health care. We also propose a taxonomy for digital serious games, and we suggest a classification of reviewed
serious games applications from the literature against the defined taxonomy. Finally, the paper provides guidelines, drawn from the
literature, for the design and development of successful serious games, as well as discussing research perspectives in this domain.

1. Introduction Furthermore, links between the military and gaming are

far from new: during World War II, the US army general
The idea of playing a game dates to the ancient past and is staff were the first to use “wargames” and employed them
considered an integral part of all societies. For instance, Dice to improve their image with the population. The advertising
appears to be among the earliest games used by humans, of one of the world’s first commercial home video game
the oldest known example is a 3000 year old game set in consoles, the Odyssey by Magnavox (launched in the USA
south Iran [1]. Some of these games already served a “serious” in 1972), emphasized the device’s potential as an educational
purpose; for example, Mancala (a game designed around tool, and thus it might be considered one of the first serious
1400 BC) was used as an accounting tool for trading animals video games. Later on, in 1973, educational games such
and food [2]. However, most games were based on the as The Oregon Trail [4] and Lemonade Stand [5] were
concept that the game contains and reveals knowledge that produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consor-
is otherwise hidden from the player. tium (MECC). Lemonade Stand, which was created in 1973,
In recent history, several landmarks have marked the focused on business management, while The Oregon Trail,
development of serious games as summarized in Table 1 produced in 1974, intended to teach users about American
and described in this section and can probably be con- colonists and was very popular and is still popular today
sidered milestones in the history of serious games. The through mobile phones and Facebook [6]. It stands as an
concept of serious games was first coined by Abt [3] and example of a successful serious game.
described as follows: “We are concerned with serious games In 1981, a simulation tool known as The Bradley Trainer
in the sense that these games have an explicit and carefully [7] was developed for the American army to train new
thought-out educational purpose and are not intended to be recruits in how to operate a Bradley tank. This application
played primarily for amusement.” He used innovative gaming was developed by a team from Atari and was based on the
approaches to improve education for the physical and social Battlezone arcade game, which is believed to be the first
sciences, occupational choice and training, and planning and virtual reality arcade game. The years 1982 and 1983 saw
problem solving in government and industry. the release of several arcade games such as Pole Position, as
2 International Journal of Computer Games Technology

Table 1: Milestones in the history of serious games.

Year Serious game Application

1970 Serious Games book by C. Abt Academic book
1972 Magnavox Odyssey Education
1973 The Oregon Trail Education
1980 BattleZone Training
1981 The Bradley Trainer Training
1982/1983 Pole Position/Atari VCS 2600 console Training
1996 Marine Doom Military
2002 America’s Army Military
2003 DARWARS Military
2005 VBS1 Military
2006 BiLAT Interpersonal communication
2009 VBS2/Game After Ambush Military
2012 X-Plane 10 Training

well as games for the Atari VCS 2600 console, such as Pepsi which was inspired from a classification of entertainment
Invaders, which included elements of advertising (a type of video games; second, the purpose of the game; and third, the
application that today is known as an “advergame”). In 1996, scope which takes into account the market, the audience, and
the Marine Doom game [8] was used to train members of the so forth. The authors use this classification for the educational
US Marine Corps. field to help teachers find games suitable for education.
A first-person shooter game, named America’s Army, was In [16], the authors emphasize the importance of a taxo-
developed by the US army and distributed free of charge nomical approach to the scientific treatment of any subject, in
over the Internet in 2002. The game simulates military particular the science of digital games with a focus on serious
training exercises and combat missions, with the goal of games. The taxonomy they propose is three-dimensional. The
promoting the American army and as a recruitment tool first dimension is that the digital game is computer software.
for young people between the ages of 16 and 24. Sawyer The second dimension considers the genre of the game,
considered America’s Army “the first successful and well- whereas the third has to do with the interaction of players
executed serious game that gained total public awareness” [6]. with the game. Another classification was proposed in [17],
Other breakthrough games were DARWARS [9] introduced where the authors examined a database of serious games and
in 2003 and the VBS1 [10] in 2005. defined four dimensions to classify serious games. The first
In the last decade, serious games grew exponentially. one is the “primary educational content” delivered by the
A recent market study showed that the worldwide serious game, such as academic and social change and health. The
games market is worth 1.5 billion C in 2010, with a growth second one is based on the “primary learning principles,” such
rate, over the last two years, nearly 100% per year [11]. For as practicing skills or problem solving. The third dimension
example, BiLAT, introduced and marketed in 2006, is an is the age group targeted by the game, and the fourth one
immersive learning environment that teaches the prepara- concerns the platform on which the game is played.
tion, execution, and understanding of bilateral meetings in In contrast to existing classifications as discussed previ-
a cultural context [12]. The second generation of VBS1 was ously, in this work, we propose a multidimensional classifi-
introduced in 2009 [13], with capabilities for training, simu- cation that examines serious games more closely by looking
lation, and development. In March 2012, a new version of the into the characteristics that are important in their design and
flight simulator game X-Plane (X-Plane 10) was introduced that have the potential to make a significant difference in
to support various mobile platforms such as Android and the success of a serious game. These criteria are based on
webOS [14]. conclusions drawn from the study of different serious games
Some reviews were conducted in the serious games articles and applications, by analyzing their characteristics
domain, most of them in specific areas of the domain such including the interaction style they offer to the player, the
as education or physical well-being. In [15], a classification of activity, the modalities, the environment, and the application
serious games is proposed following what they call the G/P/S area, as will be explained in a later section. Hence, we believe
model. The authors observed that the existing classifications that the new classification we are proposing will allow a more
of serious games only use one or two criteria and that they are detailed categorization and analysis of serious games.
all based on the purpose served by the serious game and the The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2
market for which the game was designed. But they noted that gives an overview of the growth of serious games over the
the problem with the existing classifications is that they do years. Section 3 focuses on the terminology and contributes
not take into account the gameplay aspect of serious games. a definition of digital serious games. In Section 4, we suggest
So they suggested a classification that uses three criteria: first, a taxonomy for digital serious games. We then review some
the gameplay which is based on the rules of the game and relevant applications of serious games in different areas in
International Journal of Computer Games Technology 3

Section 5 and propose a classification of some of the reviewed

Estimated number
Serious gaming growth in academia

of serious games
1600
applications based on the defined taxonomy. In Section 6, this

in research
1200
paper provides guidelines drawn from the literature, for the 800
design and development of successful serious games. Finally, 400
Section 7 concludes with perspectives for future research. 0

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013
2. Growth of Serious Games Years

2.1. Growth of Serious Games in the Research Field. The field Figure 1: Serious games growth in the research field based on
of serious games has been growing rapidly for over a decade. surveyed papers in ACM digital library and IEEE Xplore.
To have a closer look at the trend of research in this domain,
we carried out a survey of published articles related to serious

Estimated number
games. We used online archives, covering the years from 1995 400

of serious games
in industry
to 2013, of two major publishers: The Association for Com- 300
puting Machinery (ACM) Digital Library and the Institute 200
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore Digital 100
Library. The obtained results are illustrated in the graph of 0

1980

1984

1988

1992

1996

2000

2004

2008

2012
Figure 1, which provides an estimation of the number of
research articles in the field of serious games for the last two
Years
decades. We tried to eliminate double findings; that is, listing
the same publication in both libraries was considered one hit Figure 2: Serious games growth in industry.
only. The graph in Figure 1 reveals an exponential growth in
the number of research papers published in the field, starting
from the late 90s until 2013, which shows the growth in
interest of the research community in serious games. This is argue that a serious game is simply a computer game and that
accompanied by an important growth in industry as well, as the classification is nothing more than a marketing technique
shown in the next section. The estimated number of papers [22].
presented in Figure 1 was calculated based on the usage of the Probably, the most common definition of serious games
following keywords: “serious games,” “serious game,” “serious is “games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment, or fun
gaming,” edutainment, gamification, and “serious play.” as their primary purpose” [23]. Following this definition,
serious games can be distinguished from video games by
their design objectives in that serious games have a primary
2.2. Growth of Serious Games in Industry. The graph in design objective other than entertainment. However, basing
Figure 2 was drawn from data collected by [6] as well as our the definition of a serious game on its design objective causes
collection of industry-based serious games statistics from the a problem [24]. This problem is that if one wants to decide
Serious Games Association industry directory [18]. Figure 2 whether a specific game is a serious game or not, one would
shows that, similarly to the research field, the growth in necessarily need access to the objectives or intentions of
industry was exponential over the last decade. It is also the game designer while designing that given game, which
estimated that the serious games market will keep growing is far from practical. As put by the authors in [16] “. . .
quickly to reach a value of 10 billion Euros in 2015 [19]. serious games are determined by some developers intention-
a highly esoteric and impractical conceptualization. Develop-
3. Terminology and Definition ers’ intentions are rarely accessible.”
In this study, we contribute a definition of serious games
To start with, a game is defined as a physical and/or mental following our review of the literature. We found that most def-
contest that is played according to specific rules, with the sole initions encountered either in research or industry agree that
goal of amusing or entertaining the participant(s). On the serious games include entertainment dimension [20, 24–26].
other hand, a video game is a special type of games where A serious game also has the potential to enhance the user’s
the game is played with a computer according to certain rules experience through multimodal interaction [27, 28]. This can
with the goal of amusement, recreation, or winning a stake. be in different contexts such as education, training, health,
There are several perspectives of defining serious games or interpersonal communication. Most research agrees that
as seen from the academia and the industry. For example, digital serious games contain different media, which can be
some industry figures believe a serious game must include a combination of text, graphics [29], animations [30], audio
a genuine entertainment element combined seemingly with [31], haptics [27, 32], and so forth. Furthermore, we believe
a practical dimension [20]. Some researchers argue that all that the “serious” term in serious games comes from their role
games have a serious purpose such as gambling, fortune of conveying some message or input, be it knowledge, skill,
telling, or politics. In this case, the term may be used or in general some content to the player. This means that the
to refer to any application produced using development player is exposed to an environment which delivers a content
software from the gaming industry, which means a majority emanating from a know-how or experience. This experience
of simulators would be considered serious games [21]. Others is related to the specific context of the serious game such as
4 International Journal of Computer Games Technology

Experience

Training Sports and

simulation board game
Serious
game

Computer
game

Multimedia Entertainment

Figure 3: Definition of serious games.

well-being, education, and health. Hence, we define serious purpose. Indeed, a study was conducted for UbiFit Garden
games as an application with three components: experience, and compared the performance of participants who had a
entertainment, and multimedia, as shown in the diagram display in their mobile phone’s background that is visualized
of Figure 3. The diagram demonstrates also the differences several times a day to the performance of those who used the
between serious games and several terminologies such as same game but were not provided with such a display. The
training simulation, computer game, and sports. study showed that players who had the visible display were
able to sustain their activity level, at the same time when those
without the visible display experienced a decrease in their
4. Taxonomy of Serious Games performance [29]. This study shows that using a display that
Given the significant growth of serious games and even more provides visible feedback to players throughout the day can
future growth expected [19], we need to define a foundational be a success factor of mobile serious games.
taxonomy to classify and characterize the considerable work It is also important to include the right modalities in
dedicated to this domain. order to enhance the user’s experience and thus to increase
In an attempt to classify serious games, we try to define the successfulness of the game. For example, if we consider
here the characteristics that are important in their design and the auditory modality, an investigation was conducted in [31]
that have the potential to make a significant difference in in order to define properties that make a well-being serious
the success of a serious game. We thus suggest the following game successful. One of the most important properties found
criteria that are based on information derived from the study was music incorporation in the game, which helps increase
of different articles and applications related to serious games. players motivation to exercise using the game in question.
Also, integrating haptic feedback in serious games has, among
others, the potential to enhance the learning experience
4.1. Activity. The first characteristic that we define here is through a tactile perception of objects [27] and to provide
the type of activity performed by the player as required by more realism in rehabilitation games for stroke patients [32].
the game. This is the function performed by the player as
a response and/or input to the game. Activity types can be
4.3. Interaction Style. The interaction style defines whether
physical exertion, for example, in games for well-being such
the interaction of the player with the game is done using
as in [33, 34] or games for health to fight childhood obesity
traditional interfaces such as keyboard, mouse, or Joystick or
[35]. The activity type can also be physiological such as in
using some intelligent interfaces such as a brain interface, eye
games for rehabilitation [36] or for the detection of some
gaze, movement tracking, and tangible interfaces. Choosing
health conditions [37]. It can also be mental, for example, in
the right interface during the serious game design may have
games for education [29, 38], training [39], or interpersonal
an impact on the success of the game. For example, for some
communication [12].
games, it is important to use intelligent interfaces instead
of traditional interfaces. Such games include movement
4.2. Modality. Another criterion that is of importance is the tracking such as the one provided by Microsoft Kinect or the
modality, which is here the channel by which information is use of a remote such as the Nintendo Wii remote which allows
communicated from the computer to the human(s) partici- the player to feel more freedom and realism while playing the
pating in the game. This characterizes the sensory modalities game. An example showing that using the right interface can
the player experiences in the game. The most common be a determining factor in the success of serious games was
modalities include visual, auditory, and haptic. There are explored in [41] using a system called Sensor Network for
also some smell attempts that were contributed such as an Active Play (SNAP). SNAP aims at getting players physically
application of using the sense of smell in therapy [40]. It is active and uses a set of sensors attached to the players limbs,
important to use modalities to the advantage of the game’s which allow the system to make sure that the players are
International Journal of Computer Games Technology 5

moving their body as required by the game. This allows dominance decreased to about 26% from 2002 to 2009, while
overcoming shortcomings in systems such as the Wii Fit games for advertising increased from about 11% to 31% in
where players can sit on a couch and move the Wii remote the same period of time [6]. According to these statistics,
and still be able to get through the game without getting the education and advertising are dominant, occupying about
desired physical exercise. So the interface used in a specific 57% of the whole serious games market, while the rest of it
context may actually determine whether or not the game can is shared between other areas. These include, among others,
serve its main goal and how well it serves it. health care, well-being, cultural heritage, and interpersonal
Additionally, for some games, it would not be useful to communication.
use traditional interfaces, for example, if the game needs as Based on the set of characteristics defined above, we
input a kind of biological data such as heartbeat rate, which propose the following taxonomy for serious games, as shown
is in this case collected from the player’s body by means of in Figure 4.
biosensors and sent directly to the game without the user’s
interference. In other areas, it is actually critical to integrate
the right interface in the game, as is the case, for example, in 5. Review of Serious Games Applications in
the rehabilitation domain. Indeed, a game for stroke patient Multiple Areas
seeking help with rehabilitation process will not be useful
unless the appropriate interface between the user and the Many serious games were proposed in research. This section
game is chosen carefully following the specific need of the reviews some examples of relevant serious games applications
targeted users [42]. that have recently been developed in different domains,
including education, training, well-being, advertisement,
cultural heritage, interpersonal communication, and health
4.4. Environment. This criterion defines the environment of care. In each application area, we tried to cover a variety of
the digital game and can be a combination of several criteria. available serious games examples. We first give the reader
(i) 2D/3D: the environment of the serious game can an overview of the game’s main goal and describe briefly
be either 2D (two-dimensional) or 3D (three- how the game goes about serving its purpose, and then
dimensional) or a combination of the two. we use some of the games discussed here to propose a
classification of serious games. In this classification, the
(ii) Virtual or mixed reality environment: virtual real- applications used are described in detail following each of
ity refers to a completely synthetic world. It is a the criteria of the taxonomy that we defined previously, to
computer-generated immersive environment that can allow for the comparison of some existing serious games and
either represent the real world or be purely imagina- to contrast them in terms of their key characteristics. This
tive. Virtual reality is widely used in serious games has the potential to help bring to light where research in
such as in [29, 31, 39]. A mixed reality, such as used in this domain is missing and direct new efforts in the right
[35], includes both augmented reality and augmented way. The description of games in this section, as well as the
virtuality. It refers to an environment that merges real classification that will follow, also serves to give the reader an
and digital worlds, allowing objects from each world idea of how new technology can be applied in different serious
to interact in real time. game areas in order to achieve their goal in a more effective
(iii) Location awareness: it depends on whether or not the way.
game allows the determination of the player’s current
location. 5.1. Education and Training. Many research contributions are
(iv) Mobility: it determines whether the game is mobile or directed towards taking advantage of the success of video
not. games and using them to benefit the educational domain. The
(v) Online: it determines if the game can be played over addictive nature of game play and obsession of the players
a computer network, usually the Internet. with digital games is attempted to be used to facilitate the
learning process of players. As a growing number of young
(vi) Social presence: it depends on whether the game people spend hours playing video games, Quest to Learn, a
is single or multiplayer. This can be an important middle school that opened in September 2009 in New York
criterion to be taken into consideration, as shown in City, is based completely on a game-like learning model.
[43], where some research was conducted specifically In this school, students spend their day learning by playing
for exercise games and concluded that multiplayer games and designing them.
collaborative exercise games are more motivating and Some educational games are developed for classroom
engaging than single-player exercise games. use, and the areas taught by them can vary widely. An
example of such game is Skills Arena [38] that was designed
4.5. Application Area. The application area refers to the specifically for classroom use. Skills Arena uses Nintendo
different applications domains relevant to serious games. Gameboy and teaches students arithmetic skills at vary-
There are many possible application areas. If we consider the ing levels of difficulty. A study was conducted involving
importance of areas in terms of their share in the market, elementary school students and concluded that playing a
educational games were clearly dominant up to 2002 with technology-based game increased students’ performance in
a market share of about 66% [6]. However, this market mathematics. Another example of educational games used
6 International Journal of Computer Games Technology

Application area Activity Modality Interaction style Environment

Education Keyboard/mouse Social presence

Physical Visual
exertion

Well-being Movement
Mixed reality
tracking
Auditory

Physiological Virtual
Training Tangible
environment
interfaces
Haptic
Advertisement 2D/3D
Brain interface

Interpersonal Mental Location

communication Smell awareness
Eye gaze

Health care Joystick Mobility

Others

Others Others Online

Figure 4: Taxonomy of serious games.

in the classroom in a case study is Making History [44]. It energy infrastructure, and water management in order to
was used to evaluate its effectiveness in teaching high school design smarter cities that can sustain and encourage the
students about World War II. This case study was conducted growth of a prosperous population in the future. Clean World
for a history class where the teacher used the game for this is a 3D game that also educates about today’s environmental
particular subject instead of traditional learning methods. challenges [50]. It was developed using a design methodology
The study resulted in the students being more interactive that aims at prioritizing the fun aspect of the game, by using
and more engaged in the learning process [44]. Another different learning mechanisms that are related to the game
educational game can be used by computer science teachers but that do not directly interfere with the main gameplay.
to teach computer programming skills to university students In [51], a model of assessment of the player’s motivation
[45]. It is a multiplayer strategy game with the objective to was proposed. It was used in the objective of adapting the
help students overcome the many difficulties they face while educational game to the players’ abilities and to keep the
learning programming. Also, in the context of classroom use challenge element balanced depending on the assessment
of serious games, the research in [46] is focused on the design performed by the game engine.
of tools that allow teachers who have no knowledge of games A game using the haptic technology to teach players
programming to build educational games for use in their about artefacts is Roma Nova [27]. It is a multimodal game
classroom teaching. that uses an affordable off-the-shelf haptic device, Novint
Other educational games are rather used for independent Falcon, which allows players to feel properties of the 3D game
learning. A good example is in the area of language acqui- environment such as texture and shapes of artefacts. Some
sition. For example, Lost in the Middle Kingdom [47] helps educational games efforts are also directed to the medical
the players in learning a second language. Other areas covered domain. A serious game for training was designed for surgery
in the educational domain are social awareness and teaching residents, with the purpose to train and educate them on
players about poverty. In this area, the 3rd World Farmer the total knee replacement procedure [39]. The game uses a
[48] is a simulation and management game, whose goal is background sound captured during a real knee replacement
to sensibilize players to the hardships of maintaining a farm surgery for more realism.
in developing countries. Here, another example to consider Another interesting type of serious games to consider
is IBM CityOne or IBM INNOV8 [49], a city-building here is data games, which are games that allow learning from
simulation game introduced in 2010, to educate players and exploration of real world data. An example of such games
about problems facing today’s cities related to transportation, is Foldit [52], a puzzle game that allows players to learn about
International Journal of Computer Games Technology 7

proteins and contribute to scientific research with innovative 5.3. Advertisement. Serious games designed for advertising
ways of protein folding. aim at promoting a particular brand, product, or a service to
the users while they play a game, a term commonly known
as advergames [20]. Examples of commercial advergames
5.2. Well-Being. A sedentary lifestyle is a well-known con- include advergames funded by Pepsi, 7 Up, NFL, Formula
tributing factor not only to obesity, but also to many diseases One, and Burger King [57]. Even though America’s Army
such as diabetes and heart disease. Increasing physical activity game is intended mainly for military training, it also intends
works as prevention against these problems. Serious games to boost recruitment for the United States Army and thus can
for well-being aim at motivating players to be physically be considered an advergame [20].
active by the means of an entertaining and engaging game The authors in [58] found that 35% of players could recall
play. The authors in [53] explored how the intention element advertised brands in a controlled study of car racing games,
of players may affect how they will benefit from the exercise thus promoting adverting within the game itself. For instance,
game. They used a popular game for Xbox Kinect and found an Adidas billboard is displayed in the foreground of the 2011
that players who were primed with the intention to use the video game FIFA International Soccer (also, the electronic
game primarily for health benefits and who received health board that appears with every goal scored sometimes reads
feedback while playing the game ended up using the exercise “Panasonic”).
game for longer periods of time than other players who were
not.
Another example of an exercise game is a mobile game, 5.4. Cultural Heritage. Advances in gaming technologies
Heartlands where players walk around an area of their choice, allow the real-time interactive visualization/simulation of
wearing a heart-rate monitor and carrying a Pocket PC realistic virtual heritage scenarios, such as reconstructions
with GPS. A landscape is built on the Pocket PC screen of ancient sites and virtual museums, while using basic
as the player moves around. The resulting landscape is a consumer machines (such as mobile phones or personal
representation of the player’s heart performance as well as computers). Although games for cultural heritage provide
his location [54]. Another mobile fitness game also uses some cultural education, they differ from other games for
a wearable heart-rate monitor and a GPS device, called education in that they aim at supporting the preservation of
Monster and Gold, and includes a set of rules to motivate artifacts and their reproduction. They also promote cultural
players to jog outdoors at their optimal heart-rate level [33]. awareness and allow for the appreciation of artifacts.
UbiFit Garden is another mobile application that turns the This section provides an overview of recent work in
background screen of a mobile phone into a virtual garden. cultural heritage, which can be classified into three types
This garden flourishes following the amount of daily physical of applications: reconstruction of history, virtual museums,
activity of the individual, which is collected using a worn and cultural demonstrations. The most popular commercial
fitness device. A three-month experiment concluded that the examples of serious games for cultural heritage come from
background display had a positive effect on participants and the nineties “Cultural Entertainment” wave, including The
helped them sustain their level of activity [29] during the Amazon Trail from Minnesota Educational Computing Con-
winter months when the physical activity tends to decrease sortium (MECC) in 1993, Museum Madness from Appaloosa
[55]. Life is a Village is an example of how two players with Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) in 1994, Ver-
different fitness levels can collaborate to play an exercise game sailles 1685, Egypt 1156 BC Tomb of the pharaoh, and China
at the same time [31]. the Forbidden City by Cryo Interactive in 1997, 1997, and 1998,
In another multiplayer exergame, Fish’n’Steps, players respectively, Byzantine: The Betrayal by Discovery Channel
wear a pedometer, which provides the account of their daily Multimedia in 1997, Pilgrim Faith as a Weapon by Axel Tribe
footsteps. The game can also be played both competitively in 1998, Vikings by Index+ in 1998, and Rome: Caesar’s Will
and cooperatively as a way to further motivate the players. by Montparnasse Multimedia in 2000.
A fourteen-week study showed that participants developed Cultural demonstrations educate people about tradition,
healthier daily activity patterns [30]. Sensor Network for beliefs, and social values via techniques such as folktales
Active Play (SNAP) is an exergame system where players have and storytelling. For instance, the authors in [59] presented
sensors attached to different parts of their body to make sure the design and development of a mobile game, named m-
their whole body is moving. In a game using this system, MyTale, based on popular Malaysian folktale stories (such
players have to reproduce a set of dance positions, and their as “The Princess of Mount Ledang”) to promote children
performance is then evaluated by the sensor network. A education about their culture and heritage. However, no
comparative study was carried out and showed that SNAP evaluation of the game was presented in the paper. Another
outperformed some commercial games such as the Wii in interesting work involves teaching Thai sword dance as a
terms of energy expenditure as well as heart-rate adjustment presword fighting match tradition [60]. The game is designed
[41]. The study also showed that the fun factor was rated by combining acquired animations with gesture recognition
high. The authors in [56] designed a cycling-based game for (supported by the Nintendo Wii controller).
children with cerebral palsy. Based on a year-long study, they An online multiplayer serious game called ThIATRO that
found that, despite their motor disabilities, these children helps students learn art history is proposed in [61]. The game
were able to enjoy and benefit from a fast-paced action is part of a big project “The Virtual 3D Social Experience
exercise game. Museum” that seeks to develop an instrument to support
8 International Journal of Computer Games Technology

the bidirectional interaction between museums and visitors Several serious games for health monitoring can be found
using Web3D. Another game introduced by [62] aims at in the literature. The Home Automated Telemanagement
improving cultural heritage awareness during the museum (HAT) system is proposed in [71] to help patients with
visit. The game, called Solis Curse, uses multimodal inter- congestive heart failure (CHF) monitor their symptoms,
action (audio, video, 3D graphics, etc.) and presents a series weight changes, and quality of life while teaching the patient
of questions with progressional levels of difficulty where the the characteristics of their disease. The system runs on the
player score is calculated accordingly and compared with a Nintendo Wii console and requires Internet connection to
global ranking ladder. execute. A similar medical diagnostic gaming system, which
is used to gather information about the patient’s condition in
a causal, nonintrusive manner that is relaxing for the patient,
5.5. Interpersonal Communication. Good communication
is introduced in [72]. Another u-health monitoring system
skills are very important in all aspects of life. We communi-
with a Nintendo DS is presented in [73]. The system displays
cate all the time, and the efficiency with which we communi-
the biosignals onto a monitor of personal computer and LCD
cate highly influences our success whether it is in personal
of a Nintendo DS using a biosignal measurement device.
relationships or professional career. A number of cultural
The research and development related to the detection
learning systems that take advantage of serious games can
and treatment of various health conditions using serious
be found in the literature. The Tactical Language and Culture
games have grown significantly in the last few years. 21 Tally
Training systems provide a mission practice environment that
is a collection of 2D games used to detect divided attention
enable learners to explore a virtual town while speaking to
unobtrusively, using a game designed to force players to
locals in Arabic, learn how to make culturally appropriate
attend to different dimensions simultaneously in order to
gestures, and accomplish goals such as getting the names of
succeed [37]. Two EEG-based concentration games, namely,
contacts and/or directions [63]. VECTOR is another cultural
Brain Chi (2D) and Dancing Robot (3D), were developed for
learning system that provides similar training in foreign town
concentration level control [74]. Match-3 is a serious game
but uses English language and American culture [64].
designed to combat childhood obesity using the Wii-mote
The Enhanced Learning Environments with Creative
[35]. Other examples include a medical gaming environment
Technologies for Bilateral negotiations (BiLAT) is a serious
for diagnosis and management of Parkinson’s disease using a
gaming immersive learning environment that teaches the
Novint falcon haptic interface [75] and a 3D game that can
preparation, execution, and comprehension of bilateral meet-
analyze the behaviour and promote certain social skills (such
ings in a cultural context [12]. An intelligent tutoring system
as conversation and negotiation) of people with neurological
that focuses on face-to-face meetings between learners and
development disabilities [76].
virtual characters to teach cultural social conventions is
The area of therapeutic education and prevention also
introduced in [65]. StoreWorld is an educational game that
benefits from the use of serious games for health. Therapeutic
teaches students business principles and explores how social
education games can educate either patients themselves or
interaction can improve simulation in business games [66].
the people around them about therapy for a specific illness.
Another management game facilitating interpersonal com-
For example, Elude [77] is a game that targets relatives or
munication is SimParc [67]. It is a game prototype designed to
friends of patients suffering from depression. This game is
support intercultural participatory management of protected
designed to inform them about this illness and allows them
areas in order to promote biodiversity conversation and social
to be involved in the therapy process of the patient.
inclusion. DeLearyous is a serious game that focuses on the
One of the health areas where serious games can have a
improvement of interpersonal communication skills [68].
pronounced positive impact is rehabilitation. The National
The game is an attempt to substitute for personal coaching
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
which can be costly. Furthermore, using a virtual environ-
estimates that neurological disorders affect about 50 million
ment to work on communication skills has the advantage of
people every year in USA alone [78]. Many patients afflicted
allowing players to safely make mistakes, without fearing the
by such disorders need rehabilitation to help them regain con-
consequences.
trol over their motor skills. Using games for rehabilitation has
been proved to be a good solution to the lack of motivation
5.6. Biomedical and Health Care. We limit health care appli- that results from the repetitiveness of exercises in traditional
cations to a simple definition that requires being free from physical therapies [79]. The Rehabilitation Gaming System
illness or injury (note that a broader definition includes (RGS) [36] was designed in this context, to help with the
well-being application that was discussed earlier in this recovery of patients who suffer from brain legions. The RGS
section). The main goal of games for health care is to pass uses data gloves to detect finger movement, as well as a video
on knowledge and/or skill to players and to serve a medical camera to follow the movements of the wrists and elbows, and
purpose by simulating a situation to avoid risk, safety, budget, the system can be used by patients either in clinic or at home.
and so forth. Accordingly, we classify serious games for health A 12-week study of the use of games in falls rehabilitation at
care into four categories: (1) health monitoring, (2) detection home concluded that games were used with more consistency
and treatment, (3) therapeutic education and prevention, and comparing to conventional rehabilitation [80].
finally (4) rehabilitation; we provide a summary of related
work in each of these classes. Comprehensive reviews for 5.7. Putting It Together. Table 2 suggests a classification of
serious games in health care can be found in [69, 70]. examples of serious games examined earlier in this section.
 Table 2: Classification of serious games.
Environment
Game Application area Activity Modality Interaction style Location
Real/virtual/mixed Mobility Single/multiplayer 2D/3D Online
awareness
Pocket PC and
Single- and
Heartlands Physical exertion Audio/visual heart-rate Virtual Yes 2D Yes No
multiplayer
monitor
Exercise bike and Single- and
Life is a Village Well-being Physical exertion Audio/visual Virtual No 3D No No
Wii remote multiplayer
Mobile phone
Monster and Gold Physical exertion Audio/visual and heart-rate Virtual Yes Single 2D Yes No
monitor
Sensor Network for Sensors Single- and
Physical exertion Audio/visual Virtual No — No No
Active Play (SNAP) (accelerometers) multiplayer
Single- and
International Journal of Computer Games Technology

Fish “n” Steps Physical exertion Visual Pedometer Virtual No 2D No —

multiplayer
Mobile phone
UbiFit Garden Physical exertion Visual Virtual Yes Single 2D No No
and fitness device
Rehabilitation Data gloves and
Physiological Audio/visual Virtual No Single 3D No No
Gaming System camera
HAT Health care Mental/physical Audio/visual Nintendo Wii Virtual Yes Single 3D No No
Biofeedback
21 Tally Mental/physical Audio/visual Virtual Yes Single 3D No No
sensors
Match-3 Physical exertion Audio/visual Wii-mote Mixed No Single 3D No No
Traditional Single- and
Making History Mental Audio/visual Virtual No 3D No Yes
interfaces multiplayer
Traditional
Audio visual and
Roma Nova Education and Mental interfaces and Virtual No Single 3D No Yes
haptic
cultural heritage haptic device
Ayiti: The Cost of Traditional
Mental Audio/visual Virtual No Single 2D No Yes
Life interfaces
Traditional
3rd World Farmer Mental Audio visual Virtual No Single 2D No Yes
interfaces
Lost in the Middle Traditional
Mental Audio/visual Virtual No Single 3D No No
Kingdom interfaces
Skills Arena Mental Audio/visual Gameboy Virtual Yes Single 2D No No
Traditional Single- and
IBM CityOne Game Mental Audio/visual Virtual No 2D Yes Yes
interfaces multiplayer
9
 10

Table 2: Continued.
Environment
Game Application area Activity Modality Interaction style
Location
Real/virtual/mixed Mobility Single/multiplayer 2D/3D Online
awareness
Traditional
DeLearyous Mental Audio/visual Virtual No Single 3D No No
interfaces
Interpersonal Traditional
BiLAT Mental Audio/visual Virtual No Single 2D No Yes
communication interfaces
Traditional
VECTOR Mental Audio/visual Mixed No Single 2D Yes Yes
interfaces
Traditional
StoreWorld Mental Audio/visual Virtual Yes Multiplayer 2D No Yes
interfaces
Traditional
SimParc Mental Audio/visual Virtual Yes Multiplayer 3D Yes No
interfaces
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
International Journal of Computer Games Technology 11

The classification is done following the taxonomy proposed be used in a collaborative environment, given the important
in Figure 4 which is based on the set of criteria discussed in role that this can have in increasing players’ motivation.
the previous section. The next guideline is specific to educational games that
are designed for classroom use. It is to be taken into
consideration when designing such games that conventional
6. Success Factors in Serious Games Design teachers are concerned about the curriculum and are also on
and Development a limited time schedule. Educational games that are based
on the curriculum have higher chances to be accepted and
In the following, we present some success factors drawn integrated in the class program by teachers [81].
from the literature review that compile together a number of In a 6-week study performed in [82] using a social game,
research efforts, and we recommend that they be considered it is shown that offering challenges in the game was found
for the design and development of successful serious games. to be of significant importance to children. The study results
An investigation was conducted in [31] in order to define showed that challenge is the game element that increased
properties that make a well-being serious game successful. children’s immersion the most. This property can be used
One of the suggested properties is music incorporation in the for serious games design by trying to keep the challenges
game, which will help motivate players to exercise using the levels neither too high which would result in demotivation
game in question. The focus was also made on the importance nor too low which would lead to perceiving the game as
of providing guidance to players within the game. We can uninteresting. Keeping the challenges at the right level is key
generalize this last requirement to different areas of serious in keeping the players interest in the game.
games such as education, interpersonal communication, or Another set of design guidelines is drawn from [83],
health care, since providing guidance to players especially in where the link is made between successful commercial games
the early stages of playing the game provides them with the and good accepted pedagogical theory. The focus in [83] is
necessary knowledge and prevents them from feeling “lost” made on educational games, and it is suggested that, for them
or confused. to be successful, their design has to take into consideration
Another important success factor is avoiding negative sound instructional models as already done, intentionally or
consequences in the game, as results of the player’s low not, in successful commercial games. The instructional model
performance. In Fish’n’Steps [30], negative outcome of the that was focused on in [83] is the nine events of instruction
player not performing enough physical exercise includes their by Gagné et al. [84]. These are briefly the following.
virtual pet fish displaying sad emotions. This negative effect
did not encourage all players to perform better. It actually (1) Gain attention.
discouraged some of them to interact with the game and to (2) Inform learners of the objective.
check the display on the screen in order to avoid visualizing (3) Stimulate recall of prior learning.
the crying pet fish [30]. This conclusion, although drawn
from an experience that uses an exercise game, could also be (4) Present stimulus material.
recommended for serious games in general. This is because (5) Provide learning guidance.
it is related to the psychological effect that negative outcome (6) Elicit performance.
had on players, rather than the physical aspect of playing the
exercise game. (7) Provide feedback.
A study was conducted for UbiFit Garden and compared (8) Assess performance.
the performance of participants who had a display on their (9) Enhance retention and transfer.
mobile phone that is visualized several times a day and
performance of those who were not provided with such a For more details on each of these steps, we refer the
display. The study showed that players who had the visible reader to [84]. If the use of such steps has led to success in
display were able to sustain their activity level at the same commercial games, then making use of them in serious games
time when those without the visible display experienced a seems like a promising approach towards serious games
decrease in their performance [29]. This study shows that effectiveness.
using a display that is visible to players throughout the day
can be a success factor of mobile serious games. 7. Conclusions and Research Perspectives
Another guideline was drawn from a research conducted
in [43], which concluded that multiplayer collaborative The field of serious games has been exponentially growing
exercise games are more motivating and engaging than during the last decade as discussed in the first section of
single-player exercise games. The study did not find any this paper. Many different definitions of a serious game were
differences in players’ motivation when the game was played proposed and argued in literature. We have discussed some
in distributed or colocated environments. This suggests of the existing ones, and then, based on our review of the
that the game can be played collaboratively online without serious games literature, we suggested a definition that is open
diminishing the enjoyment of the game. We have to note to discussion and improvement.
that the study was conducted for collaborative rather than With the growth of serious games, a need emerged for
competitive multiplayer games. We suggest, in the design of a taxonomy for a better foundation of the considerable and
serious games, providing an option for the game to possibly growing effort being put into the field. In this paper, we
12 International Journal of Computer Games Technology

have contributed a taxonomy and then provided a review of by the research community is, how can we model
relevant serious game applications related to various domains entertainment from a user experience perspective?
including education, well-being, advertising, cultural her- What are the elements that make up “fun” design
itage, interpersonal communication, and health care. We also and how can the effectiveness of this design be
used some of the reviewed serious game applications from the measured? Currently, many developers/researchers
literature to propose a classification. are proposing various types of serious games. Some
Serious games have huge potential as a means of improv- of these are powerful and provide value to the player,
ing achievements in a variety of domains including educa- but, unfortunately, many are boring and therefore
tion, advertising, and health care; however, not all of them useless. Formal evaluation methods are certainly
are successful. For serious games to serve their purpose, welcome not only by the research community, but
special attention should be paid during their design and also by potential users of serious games. However,
development. For this purpose, we have drawn guidelines various challenges arise and have to be overcome for
from literature for serious game design and development. In an effective evaluation. For example, motivation of
this context, it is also important to discuss critical factors that players evaluated in an artificial environment may not
will be key in accelerating the move of serious games towards be accurate. Motivation also needs to be measured in
mass adoption. Some of these factors are the following. the long run, as some games may seem as attractive
in the beginning, but if the player loses interest in the
(i) User-centred software engineering: an important ele- short term, there will not be any real benefit from the
ment for the success of the serious games industry is game for the player. Another difficulty arises when
the perspective that the designers contribute to the evaluating a game for clinical use or for classroom
development teams. Indeed, in order to develop an use which can be hard to access. But evaluation
effective serious game, in-depth understanding of the remains definitely essential both for measuring the
experience that the end users will get while playing effectiveness of a given serious game and for allow-
the game will provide the development teams with ing improvement of serious games by pointing out
a sensibility that is a must for the success of the particular weaknesses. A performance metrics that
technology. defines how serious games are evaluated is definitely
(ii) Multimodal serious games: in order for a game in gen- welcomed by the research community.
eral and a serious game in particular to be convincing (vi) Sensory-based simulations: serious games can be
to the user, multiple modalities should be incorpo- created based on real world sensory data in order
rated. For example, integrating the haptic technology to accurately reconstruct real world scene. To get to
in a serious game can add a hands-on element to the this point, methods and techniques are required to
learning experience in educational games, as well as transform and process raw sensory data to create fully
providing tactile and force feedback in rehabilitation functional game worlds. Other sensory information
games in the health care domain [32]. However, some can be read about the human physiology and inte-
researchers have already proved that in some cases grated into the gaming environment.
multimodal interaction might be distracting to the
user, and thus the overall performance drops. Such Several researchers have investigated the potential of
cases need to be investigated and clearly identified. tangible and/or intelligent interfaces as means of interaction
(iii) Social well-being: stimulating a feeling of virtual for serious games. There is a need for more natural interfaces
presence or connectedness that can contribute to between the user and the game environment. For example,
social well-being in real life is a key success factor using a real physical cup or a stress ball or a dumbell as
for serious games. In this context, the development of a game controller would benefit serious game design and
novel forms of social communication would promote development. More research in this area is needed.
serious games. For a serious game to be successful, an important element
is for the game designer to achieve a balance between the fun
(iv) Adaptive gaming: a serious game should adapt to a element and the main purpose of the game which is obvi-
particular player’s capabilities, needs, and interests. ously not entertainment. This means that the entertainment
For instance, the game contents may be adapted element of the game should not be sacrificed in an attempt
according to the player age group, gender, profession, to reach the main goal of the game, whether the latter is
and physical and psychological state among others. teaching or improving a health condition and so forth. It
(v) Standardization of evaluation: in order for the serious may be tempting and even sound logical to give priority to
game domain to acquire higher credibility by the the serious element of the game over the stimulation and
general public, heuristic evaluation standards must engagement that the game is supposed to provide. However,
turn into a reality. Nowadays, there is a lack of the enjoyment of the game is the very means by which the goal
standardized means to indicate whether a game is can be reached. Thus, the game, serious as it may be, should be
indeed “serious” or how “serious” a game is. If serious kept enjoyable, or the serious goal would not be reached even
games are made entertaining and fun, this could though it was given the highest attention in the development
facilitate their adoption by children and adults alike. of the game. How this balance can be achieved is an area open
So the question that we think should be addressed to research.
International Journal of Computer Games Technology 13

Conflict of Interests [19] L. Michaud, Serious Games, A 10 billion euro market in 2015,
IDATE, 2010, http://www.idate.org/en/Home.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests [20] J. Alvarez and L. Michaud, Serious Games: Advergaming, Edu-
regarding the publication of this paper. gaming, Training, and More, IDATE, 2008.
[21] B. Sawyer and D. Rejeski, Serious Games: Improving Public
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