The term serious games became widely used around the year 2002 and covers advergaming, edutainment, game-based learning, simulations, diverted games, persuasive games and organizational games. These games all have another purpose besides entertainment; using game-like technology to overcome problems found in attracting new audiences for certain goals, getting kids to learn, understanding politics and what not.
I am a believer. That is to say that I believe that games have the potential to be great teachers, that they can sell products, that they have the ability to accurately simulate anything and provide insight into any situation. Games like America’s Army have already proved that games can indeed be used for other purposes than solely entertainment.
But it is not what serious games are what bugs me, but the term itself. Serious games sounds and feels like boring fun, a paradox. Can games be serious? Can games be taken serious by its player? Is playing a game not willingly suspending disbelieve but then, when it ends, you step back out of the ‘magic circle‘ to return to reality, to return to seriousness? Continue reading ‘Serious games, boring fun’
