Educational game design: game elements for promoting engagement

Engagement​ ​in​ ​educational​ ​games,​ ​a​ ​recently​ ​popular​ ​academic​ ​topic,​ ​has​ ​been​ ​shown​ ​to increase​ ​learning​ ​performance,​ ​as​ ​well​ ​as​ ​a​ ​number​ ​of​ ​attitudinal​ ​factors,​ ​such​ ​as​ ​intrinsic​ ​interest and​ ​motivation.​ ​However,​ ​there​ ​is​ ​a​ ​lack​ ​of​ ​research​ ​on​ ​how​ ​games​ ​can​ ​be​ ​designed​ ​to​ ​promote engagement.​ ​This​ ​mixed​ ​methods​ ​case​ ​study​ ​aimed​ ​to​ ​discover​ ​effective​ ​game​ ​elements​ ​for promoting​ ​17-18​ ​year​ ​old​ ​high​ ​school​ ​students’​ ​engagement​ ​with​ ​an​ ​educational​ ​game.​ ​Using within-case​ ​and​ ​cross-case​ ​analyses​ ​and​ ​triangulated​ ​data,​ ​10​ ​elements​ ​emerged​ ​and​ ​were categorized​ ​into​ ​the​ ​constructs​ ​of​ ​story,​ ​gameplay,​ ​and​ ​atmosphere.​ ​Examples​ ​and​ ​connections​ ​to the​ ​literature​ ​for​ ​each​ ​element​ ​are​ ​reported.​ ​Findings​ ​implicate​ ​that​ ​educational​ ​game​ ​design​ ​for both​ ​learning​ ​and​ ​engagement​ ​is​ ​composed​ ​of​ ​educational-game​ ​specific​ ​elements,​ ​game​ ​design for​ ​solely​ ​engagement​ ​is​ ​similar​ ​for​ ​both​ ​educational​ ​and​ ​entertainment​ ​games,​ ​and​ ​a​ ​gap​ ​on educational​ ​game​ ​design​ ​technique​ ​instead​ ​of​ ​theory​ ​should​ ​be​ ​addressed​ ​to​ ​further​ ​benefit educational​ ​game​ ​development.