2 Can conventional computer games be
used as a vehicle for formal learning, eg
classroom-based curriculum related
content delivery?
3 What components or features of
conventional computer games can be
taken and used in learning software or
practice?
The key focus of this report is primarily on
school age children, and the design of
games (both for learning and for leisure)
for children of these ages.
1.1 DEFINITIONS AND RESEARCH
BASE FOR THE REPORT
There is a wide variety of definitions of
digital games across the range of
academic, internet and media writing. The
terminology also varies between authors
and over time, and is often interchangable.
For example, the terms ‘computer game’
and ‘video game’ used to refer to PCbased
games and console-based games
respectively but are now used
interchangeably.
For the purposes of this report, we will
define a digital game as one that:
• provides some visual digital information
or substance to one or more players
• takes some input from the players
• processes the input according to a set
of programmed game rules
• alters the digital information provided
to the players.
We will also define games as programmes
that operate on the following platforms:
• hardware, known as video game
consoles (examples being the Sony
Playstation series, Microsoft Xbox and
Nintendo GameCube), which are
operated through a television
• personal computers
• mobile devices, eg phones and
dedicated gaming machines such as
the Nintendo GameBoy Advance.
Digital games will include those that are
mass-market products developed for the
leisure or education market, including
those with cross-over potential.
Niche digital gaming media, such as watch
or LCD panel-based games, are outwith
the scope of this report since at present
they are somewhat ephemeral and
simplistic.
1.2 RESEARCH ISSUES
AND CREDIBILITY
There are three key issues surrounding
research into games and learning that
require acknowledgement.
• Games and publication cycles
The time taken for peer reviewed articles
to reach publication often means that
games described as ‘current’ may be
somewhat out of date compared with
current market practices. This is not to
say that this research has no lessons to
offer developers and teachers, simply
that it is important to supplement
conventional academic research with
research from other sources, while at
the same time recognising that these alternative sources are not subject to
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the same degree of peer-reviewed
scrutiny as academic publications.
• Games as an interdisciplinary subject
Games have been a subject for research
in a wide range of different fields,
including computer science, media and
cultural studies, psychology, education,
physics and youth studies. For anyone
interested in games and learning, then,
there are two challenges: first, to locate
all the research across all these areas
and second, to overcome the sometimes
confusing overlap and difference in
terminology used in respect of games
across these different research fields.
• Games researchers as ‘defenders’
of games
Given the many social concerns around
computer games, many researchers in
this field find it necessary to defend
computer games against attacks. Those
reading the research need to adopt a
balanced perspective towards accounts
that can sometimes be read as a
‘celebration’ of games in the face of
sustained social criticism. Additionally,
readers need to beware of a tendency
for some researchers to generalise from
personal experience and to be cautious
of accounts that attempt to describe
‘typical games players’.
2 GAMES CULTURES AND PLAY
2.1 CATEGORISING GAMES
As games have become more complex in
terms of graphics, complexity, interaction
and narrative, so a variety of genres have
increasingly come to dominate the market.
There is, however, no standard
categorisation of such games; different
stakeholders in the games industry, eg
game outlets, developers, academics, web
review sites, use a taxonomy appropriate to
their own audience. Such categorisations
are discussed in Orwant (2000), who also
illustrates the system employed by Herz
(1997) which closely resembles that used
by many in the contemporary games
industry.
The Herz system presents these
major categories:
• action games - these can be
subcategorised into shooting games,
‘platform’ games (so called because the
players’ characters move between onscreen
platforms) and other types of
games that are reaction-based
• adventure games - in most adventure
games, the player solves a number of
logic puzzles (with no time constraints)
in order to progress through some
described virtual world
• fighting games - these involve fighting
computer-controlled characters, or
those controlled by other players
• puzzle games - such as Tetris
• role-playing games - where the human
players assume the characteristics of
some person or creature type, eg elf or
wizard
• simulations - where the player has
to succeed within some simplified
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