Gamification and Game-Based Learning

TLDR

Gaming has evolved over the past decade into a learning medium, prompting educators to explore its effectiveness and develop two main approaches: gamification and serious games. This review aims to overview gamification, serious games, and the learning potential of noneducational games such as massively multiplayer online role‑playing games. The authors examine whether massively multiplayer online role‑playing games satisfy the behavioral criteria for effective learning.

Abstract

In the last 10 years, gaming has evolved to the point that it is now being used as a learning medium to educate students in many different disciplines. The educational community has begun to explore the effectiveness of gaming as a learning tool and as a result two different ways of utilizing games for education have been created: Gamification and serious games. While both methods are used to educate, serious games are meant to provide training and practice without entertaining. Whereas, gamification uses game-like features such as points and similar to serious games are not meant to entertain. This review will provide an overview of gamification and serious games as well as the learning possibilities of noneducational games such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Finally, massively multiplayer online role-playing games will be discussed in detail as to whether they can meet the general behavioral requirements of effective learning.