Mood and learning in navigation-based serious games

Abstract

Games are played for entertainment and have the ability to stimulate a variety of moods during gameplay, including happiness. Serious or applied games are created and used to serve a purpose rather than purely for entertainment. The relationship between mood and task efficiency has been investigated in psychology with contrasting results, and it also appears that there is a relationship between mood and learning. Players' mood and learning efficiency as a consequence of playing two serious games involving navigation in a virtual environment as the main action of gameplay, but with different learning objectives, have been investigated. The first game trained players to perform a religious ritual, while the second taught the route to a real world destination. The pre-and post-gameplay mood of 52 players were noted. It was found that both serious games helped the players develop a pleasant overall mood and significantly increased the self-reported happiness score in the post-questionnaire. It was also found that players who felt happier spent more time learning and that women performed better when they were happier. Also, younger learners tend to obtain a higher learning performance score than other age categories.

A Meta-Analysis of Use of Serious Games in Education over a Decade

“…Different from entertaining games, serious games are designed for an educational rather than an entertaining purpose [1]. Serious games are referred to as entertaining tools with a purpose of education, where players cultivate their knowledge and practice their skills through overcoming numerous hindrances during gaming.…”

Mood and Learning in Health Care Settings

“…The experience of the world shapes our emotional representation of it, and in turn, our emotional predisposition does not affect only our behaviour, but also our inclination towards the events in our life [3,4]. In a recent study, we found that emotions also influenced the amount of information people learned and the knowledge transferred from the training into the real world [5].…”

“…The experience of the world shapes our emotional representation of it, and in turn, our emotional predisposition does not affect only our behaviour, but also our inclination towards the events in our life [3,4]. In a recent study, we found that emotions also influenced the amount of information people learned and the knowledge transferred from the training into the real world [5].McConnell and Eva extensively reviewed the literature on the influence of emotion in learning and the resulting transfer of skills and knowledge to the real world [6]. They concluded that emotion influences how learners identify, perceive, interpret information and act during training.…”

“…They concluded that emotion influences how learners identify, perceive, interpret information and act during training. They advocated that more research is needed in the area of emotion and learning to ensure that trainees are effectively prepared for any emotional condition in the real world.We investigated how mood influenced learning and found that participants felt significantly happier after gaining knowledge in serious or applied games, a game designed to fulfil an objective, rather than mere entertainment [5]. As such, serious games can contribute to the creation of pleasurable learning experience.…”

“…We investigated how mood influenced learning and found that participants felt significantly happier after gaining knowledge in serious or applied games, a game designed to fulfil an objective, rather than mere entertainment [5]. As such, serious games can contribute to the creation of pleasurable learning experience.…”