Understanding game design for affective learning

• Authors: Claire Dormann;Robert Biddle
• Venue: Future Play '08 Proceedings of the 2008 Conference on Future Play: Research, Play, Share
• Year: 2008

Affective learning is an important aspect of education that can be supported through games. This paper focuses on how games can and do address affective learning, especially in light of the growing trend of educational and serious games aiming at changing behavior and attitudes. To support affective learning though games, player emotions need to be recognized and interpreted, and an emotional experience needs to be created that motivates players and deepens learning. Moreover, there is also a need to understand affective representations and mechanisms that games support. The paper begins with a presentation of the different perspectives on affective learning, and then takes a focus on the socio-emotional component of the affective domain. An "affective walkthrough" technique is then introduced to understand and analyze affective strategies in games. This technique is then applied to the game Ico, showing its affective strategies and how these strategies can be leveraged for designing socio-emotional learning. The paper is concluded with an outline of an approach to designing games especially for affective learning, by identifying the key principles, creating a repertory of affective learning game patterns, and using methods to contextualize gameplay and facilitate learning.