Culturally Tailored Serious Game Design: A Revolutionary Model for Smart Agriculture

Abstract

Smart agriculture, which is culturally specific, combines education with the celebratory potlatch of our agrarian heritage. Smart agriculture, also known as precision farming, refers to the application of advanced technologies to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural practices. The concept of serious games has gained popularity across various fields, including smart agriculture. Serious gaming is currently being considered as a new approach to address challenging farming issues and enhance farmer training, thereby stimulating technological innovation in the agricultural sector. Despite the growing interest in serious games, there is a lack of research exploring how such games can effectively communicate practical farming knowledge, particularly across different cultural practices. Research is needed to assess whether these games can effectively teach key topics, such as soil management and crop selection while respecting cultural norms. It is also crucial to evaluate whether gameplay influences players’ attitudes toward sustainable farming and the extent to which they retain the knowledge in real-world contexts. This study examines a culturally specific game design model for smart agriculture, integrating educational and cultural elements to enhance learning and engagement. The game allows players to experience the farming cycle, encompassing planting, tending, and harvesting. It is intended to educate children and anyone interested in learning about the origins of their food, as well as to explain why sustainable farming is essential for future generations. The players experience farming through seasonal cycles, from decisions on seed types to soil preparation, including dealing with weather calamities. A quasiexperimental design compared two groups: a traditional learning group and an experimental serious game group. A serious game developed based on the proposed model was implemented and evaluated through pre- and posttests, statistical analyses, and heuristic evaluations to measure improvements in agricultural knowledge. The results demonstrate significant knowledge retention in the game group, particularly in precision farming, sustainability, and IoT-based solutions (p < 0.05). These findings highlight the potential of serious games as an innovative tool for blending traditional agricultural knowledge with modern farming practices, promoting sustainable farming education in diverse cultural settings.