Exploring gaming mechanisms to enhance knowledge acquisition in virtual worlds

  • Authors:

  • Francesco Bellotti;Riccardo Berta;Alessandro De Gloria;Victor Zappi

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy;University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy;University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy;University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

3D environments are very popular among gamers and ever more used for simulations and serious games. The educational value of setting an adventure/simulation in a Virtual World (VW) is significant, in particular when training a workforce in performing dangerous/special tasks. However, when it comes to the exploration of a world to learn from it - as it happens in several real-life experiences - there is the risk that a lot of "knowledge in the world" is wasted because of a lack of appropriate guidance and the difficulty of providing more in-depth information about some items without interrupting the flow of the game. This paper discusses a Virtual Reality (VR) environment - aimed at promoting a meaningful interaction with artistic heritage - that has been enhanced with embedded microGames (mGs). mGs challenge the player to discover/investigate historical/artistic details related to a reconstructed area and virtually interact with pieces of the heritage in their context. mGs can be thought of as sort of 1-level links in the "hypertext" represented by the 3D environment where the player lives her/his cultural adventure. Preliminary informal tests have suggested that the approach is valid and also provided some guidelines about how to properly and smoothly integrate mGs in a 3D environment, which is an important requirement in order not to startle/distract the player.