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You were right about AA being a serious game. This source convinced me [1] (pages 26 and 27) but it also confuses me as there are now three different difinitions. You can also use the source (UNIVERSITY!!) as a compelling argument for "serious game"'s right to exist but I'm sceptical about it's accurate definition. Maybe you should work on your definition. I'll also include a link from the AA article to it... I've today started to work on a larger edit for the AA article. =)NightBeAsT 23:16, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I'd like to suggest that Serious Games could include non-digital games, e.g. Winds of Change, A Climate Board Game. The U.S. military apparently includes board and card games in their repetoire as well: Serious games in the services: Army vs. Navy.--Edalton 15:41, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
Would someone consider VBS1, the Flashpoint Training System by Bohemia Interactive to be a serious game, or not a game at all? I have seen VBS1 through their website, and it appears to be Operation Flashpoint on steroids, made into a training simulator for military and law enforcement squad tactics. Pyrogen 05:42, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
Do any real games companies get involved in this, or is this mostly a military endeavour being supported by certain industries and educational institutions? There are a few humanitarian / non-military applications listed here, are the proportions accurate? And I've never heard of the games companies on this page (but I'm not a deep expert in the area.) --Jaibe 15:32, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
Clark Abt wrote a book in 1970, titled Serious Games. I am surprised to see that this work and work prior to 1980 is not represented in this article. Admittedly, Abt was focusing on non-computer-based games, but the ideas are still relevant and one would expect to see them in a history section, if nothing else. There seems to be a strong bias towards computer-based games, which is understandable, but makes the article incomplete. --John F Patterson 23:05, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
I'm afraid I've created a monster. The text in this article is vague and confusing. Perhaps it's due to the recent nature of serious games—and that they are ill-defined even within the industry.
But one thing I can fix quickly and will do soon. The lists are unbalancing the article. Soon I'll break them off into List of serious games and List of serious game developers. If you object, please state here why. If no objections are raised, I'll take care of it in the next few days. — Frecklefoot | Talk 17:16, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
Coming in off the CFD for Category:Serious games ... It seems that the serious games listed are either some variant of educational (training, simulation) or are advertising. I wanted to get some discussion from other folks interested in the serious game article. To me, it seems that most serious games are equivalent to educational. The other category that I see included in this article is "advertising/marketing" based games. I'm not sure that "advertising" is the same "kind" of distinction as education or play. For instance, a media tie-in game is a type of advertisement for the overall product franchise. Other games might include advertisement (a la product placement). In thinking about sensible categories for this, does it make sense to think about what the game producer intends, or what the game player intends, or how the game is actually used? I'm a little resistant to using trade terms like "serious games", especially when the trade terms haven't stabilized yet; I think it's better to use neutral non-jargon, with cross-references from industry jargon. (Posting here and --lquilter 22:39, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
In the games typology, it said that "Games for Health include games for medical training and games for health education. Well thiese are clearly falling into the "Educational Games" category. Also, I believe that there should be a category that includes the growing number of brain training programs - most of which are in the form of an arcade video games. DrJHoward (talk) 00:03, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
There is an additional catagory that could bear mentioning. This article
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627617.000-saving-the-world-one-hit-point-at-a-time.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
talks about utilizing gamers creativity to solve real world problems such as flu-transmission and small-business models for the world bank. This is somewhat of a sub-category of the educational games as the user is 'educated' at the same time. Perhaps when this article is more stabilized I will add something to this effect, or feel free to do so yourself! (talk) 11:14, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
THose lists need a clean-up. --Fredrick day 20:39, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Removal of Cleanup Tag
I'd like to know who is removing the list of Serious Games Developers?
Are they being moved somewhere else, if so where are they going and why is there no link to it. Playgen 20:13, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
I agree with the below suggestion and have made a simple edit in the articles introduction to reflect my belief.
My basic feeling is the essence of "serious games" has nothing to do with computers and video games. The latter are just platforms on which serious games can be played. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Angelojohn (talk • contribs) 16:54, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
I am not 100% happy with the current definition of Serious Game at Wikipedia. Here is my new definition:
Serious game: product developed with game technology and game design principles for another primary purpose than pure entertainment.
Why I think this definition is better:
Any feedback? PjotrAtVSTEP 08:01, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Does the term "Serious Game" exist outside of the Serious Games Initiative? If no other sources recognise the phrase, it might not be the best title for this article. --McGeddon 16:30, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I fundamentally disagree that a serious game necessarily or even usually involves video games or computer technology. This notion does a serious disservice to people like Thiagi [2] who has revolutionized instructional design and works in both the computer and non computer worlds. When I have time, I will add other non-tech serious gamers to the end citation examples and do more work on the article. But my fundamental belief is that serious games do not depend on any particular platform --Angelojohn (talk) 00:43, 8 August 2009 (UTC)Angelojohn
I am also concerned about the title of the article "Serious Game" and I am equally have some suggestions for the definition of Serious Games. First, I think the title should be "Serious Games" because this diction appears in several books and articles. Regarding the definition, I feel like it should state the following:
Serious Games: A game or games designed with a critical purpose. Serious Games explore highly expressive learning environments. The fictional story, in the 1983 movie, WarGames exaggerates a computer performing a Serious Games scenario, by playing out a thermal, nuclear war simulation. Real life Serious Games perform scenarios in education, military, financial, and medical environments. Serious Games could appear in virtual environments or in the real world. Reference: Zielke, Marjorie A., et al. "Serious Games for Immersive Cultural Training: Creating a Living World."[1] Comet dave (talk) 19:03, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
Both of these list articles are mainly external links, and Wikipedia is not a link directory. We should pull out the games that are notable enough for Wikipedia articles, and merge them back into this article - either as a flat list, or prose sections that usefully describe the types of games and use wikilinks as examples. "Serious game" would be better off as a category. --McGeddon 16:27, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Merged the non-redlinks and non-spam entries from those lists back here. Separate lists don't change the fact that Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Any entries should clearly demonstrate salience and notability, or be removed. Femto 15:09, 29 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't know why or how, but ever since I started this article, it has been a huge target for spammers and self-promoters. I have no idea why: does anyone see a flood of serious games on the market? Every few days (or hours), some self-promoter will add his product to the Examples section and/or his company to the Notable developers section. Since most of these products and companies are two-bit operations, can we agree to only allow products and companies that already have articles? Otherwise we're just asking for noise. Anyone else? — Frecklefσσt | Talk 19:24, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
I'm good with this, I just expanded the Development section and made it a history section, but left part of the paragraphs that had some lists. I will clean the rest of this up this week.Kelly O'Brien Wilson 18:17, 27 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spacecat4 (talk • contribs)
I noticed that militainment isn't mentioned anywhere in the article. Does it fall under a category that is already mentioned? SharkD 02:15, 28 October 2007 (UTC)
I keep up with this industry, and I am just wondering if anyone has input on putting in something like a conferences or organizations section. Game developers conference has a serious games section now, as do most big events, which is pretty noteworthy. As well as the serious game summit itself, and academic institutions popping up like Serious Games Institute in the UK. Suggestions/input? Mlcblj (talk) 22:04, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
This time I've just removed the "List of serious game developers" completely. It's a spam magnet; it offers no worthwhile content to the article; there is a list of notable games above, which is more useful; and finally, this would be better served by adding a category template to each company's article and then letting people go to the category's page to see the list. Simon-in-sagamihara (talk) 22:43, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
The article cites the shoot-'em-up video game Halo as an example of a serious game, claiming that it "explores the subject matter of Western art and culture." That must be a joke, right? I'm not aware that Halo has any serious focus on artistic or cultural matters. I'd suggest deleting Halo from the list, but before doing so I'm putting it up for discussion in case I'm missing something. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.252.4.21 (talk) 10:07, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
I have just noticed that "Serious Games on Twitter" has been added to the further reading list. I read a lot about serious games, and that includes these Tweeter posts. I believe this Twitter link is not of substantial encyclopedic value. Isn't there a policy with regard to what should - and what shouldn't - be in this list? DrJHoward (talk) 00:01, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
I've recently added the History section and would like to tackle the Overview section. There is some good information here but only 1 citation. I would like to shorten this section to remove cross-over information or even combine it with History under one topic heading (which can be History or Overview). Regardless, the information there needs citations or it needs to be removed/re-written with citations. I do not mind researching the info (since I am a grad student studying Instructional Design in Simulations and focusing on Serious games), and reworking this topic, but at the same time I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Thoughts? I am new to adding content at Wikipedia so guidance would be appreciated. Kelly O'Brien Wilson 15:19, 31 July 2011 (UTC)
Me and a partner have done some research on the topic of serious games and there are some things we would like to add to the discussion.
A possible definition: A serious game is defined as “video games, productive in other words, whose design aims to bring about a transformation in their recipients in line an improvement of skills (training), the adaptation to the environment (treatment of phobias), understanding of a phenomenon (education) or greater adherence to the message (promotion, advertising, ideological video games” (Mouaheb)
A couple of important points: Health education is a particular area where results have been observed by the use of serious games “Video games, enhanced by behavior-change technology and motivating story lines, offer promise for promoting diet and physical activity change for diabetes and obesity prevention in youth.” (Thompson).
Intrinsic motivation is another feature provided by serious games that facilitates education. To produce motivation four characteristics are provided by serious games “challenge, curiosity, control and the imagination / imaginary (fantasy)” (Mouaheb). These four characterisitics create a particular advantage “in an educational context the game is likely to make the learning process interesting in itself to obtain the greatest motivation in the learner” (Mouaheb).
The dynamic nature of virtual environments also causes “active participation by the player” (Mouaheb). Active participation leads to “a fertile ground for the generation of real cognitive conflicts ensuring a personal and solid build of knowledge” (Mouaheb). Another researcher confirms this view “computer games are more engaging, motivating and interesting by virtue of their interaction, rich universes, challenges and safety” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen).
The combination of all these factors leads to significant benefits “retention increases when using computer games compared to other teaching” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen). The use of reward in a behavioral sense is also a powerful tool in serious games “the video game will ask a question and the player will answer. When students link the question and the answer enough times, reinforced by a reward, learning will occur” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen).
And a point about the comparison between other learning methods and serious games: Limited studies have been performed to compare the effectiveness of serious games to other learning formats. One such study comparing games to an educational video found that “The children playing the video game expressed more enjoyment and learned the same as those watching the television program” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen). Studies have shown that games can have a strong effect on day-to-day health management. In one study, children who played a game about healthy living principles had “a 77 percent drop in visits to urgent care and medical visits in the experimental group compared with the control group” (Egenfeldt-Nielsen).
References: 1. Houda Mouaheb, Ahmed Fahli, Mohammed Moussetad, Said Eljamali. The Serious Game: What Educational Benefits? http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281202201X. Sep 6, 2012 2. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon. The basic learning approach behind Serious Games. http://media.seriousgames.dk/downloads/the_basic_learning_approach.pdf April 2005 3. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon. Overview of research on the educational use of video games. http://media.seriousgames.dk/downloads/game-overview.pdf March 2006 4. Thompson D, Baranowski T, Buday R, Baranowski J, Juliano M, Frazior M, Wilsdon J, and Jago R (2007). In Pursuit of Change: Youth Response to intensive Goal Setting Embedded in a Serious Video Game. http://www.journalofdst.org/pdf/VOL-1-6-OBT1-THOMPSON.pdf
Prepared by: Kevin Cummings A.J. Welch University of South Carolina ITEC 544
Cumminkm —Preceding undated comment added 16:05, 19 November 2012 (UTC)
Just pasting these here, because someone mentioned them in the List of video game genres talk page a few years ago: [3], [4], [5] These look like excellent sources. ~Maplestrip (chat) 14:37, 3 December 2014 (UTC)
It would be useful to have a section devoted to the gamification of health-related activities other than traditional exercising (which is covered in the exergaming article). I know of hands-free breath/breathing-related video games used to treat various health conditions, and Kh.alhajri recently made an edit about a amblyopia-oriented game over at the "video game controversies" article. The placement at that article was inappropriate so I've reverted it and I'm shifting the content of this edit below in the hopes that it can be used in a new health-related section either here or perhaps at "Exergaming". -Thibbs (talk) 14:00, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
In March 2015, Ubisoft and Amblyotech Inc. announced their collaboration on Dig Rush – the first therapeutic video game used for the treatment of amblyopia, also known as “lazy eye” – a disorder that affects a total of 9 million people in the United States and over 210 million people worldwide and, if unsuccessfully treated, is a leading cause of blindness in adults.[2] Dig Rush is specifically designed so that it encourages patients’ eyes, both the dominant and the lazy one, to differ levels of contrasts for objects displayed in the game. This technique is expected to train the brain to improve visual perception for both two eyes. The disadvantage of the traditional patching treatment compared to the method employed in Dig Rush is patching may improve the vision in the afflicted eye but it cannot make the two eyes work together. Developers in Ubisoft and Amblyotech Inc. say clinical trials of this therapeutic video game showed improvement in 90 per cent of test patients. [3]
References
User:JzG recently removed the list of examples, saying "Unsourced list".
Imo this list should be readded, preferably with new references.
What do others say?
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Hi all. I am thinking of adding some content to this page. I read through the previous chats and see there was some differences in the nature of serious games. I would argue it is not limited to videos games. Also, there growing literature on serious games as social impact games, humanitarian games, etc. and these can be digital or analog. Just putting this out before I make edits to see what others think. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cawenad (talk • contribs) 20:03, 3 November 2018 (UTC)
The description of Art Games strikes me as poor, as it claims that Art Games emphasize aesthetics over gameplay mechanics, but many games I see labeled as Art Games use gameplay mechanics AS part of the aesthetic experience, for example Don't look Back. As such I find the description to be very misleading. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:A601:A927:1900:D9DD:DB5B:44FF:9A09 (talk) 04:54, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
This article is missing a bunch of citations for factual claims. I don't have a ton of time but I'm tagging some.
Editors: If you're just putting stuff you "know" into the article without a reliable secondary source, you're doing it wrong. If you want to add something but have no idea where to find a source for it, post it in talk and ask someone who knows a good source to add it for you. If you're editing something because you feel the content is wrong/incomplete/inaccurate, but don't have a source for your change: don't. Andythechef (talk) 15:38, 12 September 2022 (UTC)