Educational affordances of music video games and gaming mobile apps

Abstract

The rapid advancement of mobile and computing technologies has made the enjoyment of music in the video gaming experience more accessible and affordable, and has raised the interest of educators in the affordances of music-related games for informal music learning. This study aimed to examine the educational affordances of music-related games through content analysis. User reviews of music gaming mobile apps and video games were collected from two major digital distribution platforms and analysed to identify patterns and meanings related to their educational affordances and learning design. The findings reflected a sense of competence, autonomy and engagement resulting from playing video games, which motivated players to become self-directed learners in the context of informal learning. Several bias and limitations were identified, suggesting that an overreliance on video games may lead to unbalanced musical growth and incomprehensive musicianship training.