Designing narratology-based educational games with non-players

Abstract

Challenges of designing an educational game cause an ongoing debate that while one side proposes ludology as the key for a computer game, other side proposes narratology as the most important part of game environment. Ludologic attributes of games have been preferred more than narrative ones. However, results of studies attempted to reveal importance of narrative structures and storytelling for computer games, especially for educational ones. In the present study, narratology including storytelling and narrative structures will be discussed in terms of narratology-based educational computer game design. 46 non-player preservice teachers at Department of Foreign Language Education participated to the study. Participants, as subject matter experts on teaching English Language, designed educational game prototypes. Those prototypes were analyzed and reported according to their narrative aspects. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.