JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Serious games for medical education have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years in part due to the growth of the video game industry and in part due to their ability to support learning achievements. However, there is little consensus on what the serious and game components in a serious game are composed of. As a result, e-learning and medical simulation modules are sometimes mislabelled as serious games. We hypothesize that one of the main reasons is the difficulty for a medical educator to systematically and accurately evaluate key aspects of serious games.

Objective:

To identify markers that can evaluate serious games and can discriminate between serious games, entertainment games, and e-learning.

Methods:

Jabareen’s eight-phase framework building procedure was used to identify the core markers of a serious game. The procedure was modified slightly due to the aim of eliciting a ‘diagnostic criteria’ as opposed to its original purpose of a conceptual framework. Following the identification of purported markers, the newly developed markers were tested on a series of freely available healthcare serious games – Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble, Staying Alive, and Touch Surgery – and the results compared to the published test validity for each game.

Results:

A diagnostic criteria for serious games was produced comprising the clusters of User Experience (UX), Play and Learning. Each cluster was formed from 6 base markers, a minimum of 4 of which was required for a cluster to be considered present. These criteria were tested on the three games, and it was found that Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble and Staying Alive fit the criteria to be considered a serious game. Touch Surgery did not, and instead fit the definition of an e-learning module.

Conclusions:

The diagnostic criteria appear to accurately discriminate between serious games and mediums commonly misidentified as serious games – such as e-learning modules. However, the diagnostic criteria do not determine if a serious game will be efficacious, only if it is, or is not a serious game. Future research should include a much larger sample of games designed specifically for healthcare purposes.