Tracking the UFO's paths: Using eye-tracking for the evaluation of serious games

Abstract

Computer games are undoubtedly an enormously successful genre. Over the past years, a continuously growing community of researchers and practitioners made the idea of using the potential of computer games for serious, primarily educational purposes equally popular. However, the present hype over serious games is not reflected in sound evidence for the effectiveness and efficiency of such games and also indicators for the quality of learner-game interaction is lacking. In this paper we look into those questions, investigating a geography learning game prototype. A strong focus of the investigation was on relating the assessed variables with gaze data, in particular gaze paths and interaction strategies in specific game situations. The results show that there a distinct gender differences in the interaction style with different game elements, depending on the demands on spatial abilities (navigating in the three-dimensional spaces versus controlling rather two-dimensional features of the game) as well as distinct differences between high and low performers. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.