Exploring User Experience from an Emotional Context When Designing Immersive Games for Education

Abstract

In the past decade, the science of learning has taken on a fresh approach through the conceptual incorporation video games. Educational games are now regarded as an effective method to engage the present generation of constantly distracted youths. However, the reality is that many educational games fail to achieve their intended goals as they lack the fun and engagement aspects that is so prevalent in video games. Among the reasons, are that educational games fail to engage the learners. Hence, there is a need for a discourse in the enhancement of engagement aspects in educational games through the understanding of emotional context in user experience (UX). This paper aims to investigate the methods of harnessing emotional-based UX practices from experienced and successful video game designers to make educational games more engaging. Six experienced game designers were interviewed, and the recordings transcribed on verbatim basis to allow for analysis. The outputs of the interview narration were mapped on to UX from an emotional context, explicitly for the design of immersive and engaging gameplay. The findings revealed that UX within the context of game development is a crucial element in creating engaging educational games. The crafting of a good UX allows the game to create an emotional link that learners will experience at various milestones within the game. This link allows for the gameplay experience to effectively control a learners’ emotional state within the game through an immersive game experience. The use of UX can create a strong engagement factor within the game by allowing the players to be absorbed in the game world. In conclusion, to enhance the effectiveness of educational games, game designers should manipulate the learners’ emotion by offering an active role in the narrative structure development of the games; and provoking decision-making scenarios within the game world.