User Perceptions of Serious Games and Their Features

Abstract. Two-way, interactive and tailored education is a more promising form of education compared to traditional one-way passive education, as early literature evidence suggests. However, building a serious game that can engage users in the same way as an entertainment game, while incorporating both learning and gamification elements can be quite complicated. That is why the game concept, technology and features need to be designed carefully, in a user driven way. The authoring team makes use of their expertise in serious games in order to include engaging learning activities for the participants of the study. In particular, this study explores how users perceive the different elements, features and design of a collection of serious games on sex education. It shows which elements are of more importance to the users, what gives them a good experience, and what facilitates their learning. Findings are presented along with current research in this area, to conclude on the key elements for designing an effective and engaging serious game, based on user feedback. This study will be a step toward the design of tailored and relevant education interventions that will promote active learning, rather than passive one-way learning. Keywords: serious games, features, digital interventions, user perceptions, sex education