Motivational factors in educational MMORPGs: Some implications for education

Abstract

During the past two decades, digital games have been acknowledged as motivational and have become a source of study for educational researchers and instructional designers who wish to maximize motivation in educational materials. Among different types of digital games, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) continue to grow in popularity. Therefore, researchers have started to explore the possibilities of using MMORPGs in education. While MMORPGs have been proven to be a tool that can strengthen students' learning, to enhance their efforts educational game designers need to know more about how educational MMORPGs motivate students. To address the above need, we set out the following two objectives for the study briefly reported herein: To examine the motivational factors of playing educational MMORPGs; To discuss how educators and educational game designers could use motivational factors in designing learning activities and educational experiences within MMORPGs. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.