From Gamification to Serious Games: Reinventing Learning Processes

*Cirit Mateus De Oro, Daladier Jabba Molinares, Ana María Erazo Coronado and Rodrigo M. Campis Carrillo*

#### **Abstract**

Virtual games represent one of the most important contemporary possibilities to enhance learning processes in educational environments. There is ample evidence of their applications in teaching cultural aspects, citizenship, science, and the development of critical thinking, among many others. However, despite the scientific support, many questions arise about the effectiveness of gamification in education. Most studies and reviews of empirical studies on gamification indicate that they generally have a positive effect on motivation, concentration, and other cognitive aspects, as well as on interaction and prosocial behavior. However, there are gaps in terms of purposes and outcomes between gamification and the application of serious games. This is a review aimed at elucidating these differences, to argue for the reinvention of educational processes.

**Keywords:** gamification, edutainment, serious games, education, learning innovation

#### **1. Introduction**

According to AlMarshedi et al. [1] the term *gamification* refers to the use of game development elements and mechanisms in non-game environments. This derives in several streams, among them, edutainment, and serious games. As for edutainment, AlMarshedi suggests that it is primarily a motivational tool that combines the principles of engagement, reward, and incentive. The use of this tool encourages changes in behavior through play, motivating users to learn new skills or increase their participation. This generates possibilities of behavioral change and capabilities, accompanied by the element of enjoyment it brings. It is in this way that gamification can help to achieve predetermined objectives.

In the twentieth century, J. Piaget, and L. Vigotsky started the trend of highlighting the importance of games in human learning and in personal cognitive development. Since then and from the development of their theoretical elaborations, it is understood that learning based on play is concerned with investigating the forms of interaction between play and learning. This produced a way of conceptualizing education that

today has a long tradition. However, what those authors could not foresee is the enormous incidence that the vertiginous development of technology has today in every aspect of human life, including education.

Framed in the Internet era, a space of convergence between education, digitality and games arises, giving way to edutainment. According to Shaffer et al. [2] this is described as a type of game with defined learning outcomes. In this context, games present clear objectives that are divided into achievable short-term goals. They give a seamless sense of player progression, providing frequent rewards that act as external motivators.

In addition to motivation, video games provide a fictional context in the form of narratives, graphics and music that foster players' interest [3]. Due to the improvement of the supporting technology, this interest is furthermore growing for the individual and extends to wider and wider population groups. Because of this potential, a great deal of work has been done on ways in which video games can be successfully used for educational purposes.

According to Mejía and Londoño [4] virtual games represent one of the most important possibilities for learning processes in children and adolescents. They warn that these games can be applied in fields such as the teaching of culture, citizenship, and social sciences, among others. Despite these findings, questions arise about the effectiveness of gamification in education. Most studies and reviews of empirical studies on gamification indicate that they generally have positive effect on motivation and behavior [5–8].

In gamification, it is generally observed that there is a greater possibility of engagement and ability to connect with intrinsic motivation. This simultaneously favors the production of cognitive, emotional and social benefits [9–11].

On the other hand, Connolly [12] presents a systematic review of the literature on game-based learning, focusing on the attainment of empirical evidence. In his results, he emphasizes the need for more rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of games and their real impact. This implies a significant questioning of the results and conclusions of previous research on the subject based on the questioning of instruments and techniques of data collection and analysis.

On this situation, it is illustrative the appreciation of Jagušt et al. [13] in which they state that:

*Despite the growing popularity of gamification in educational contexts, there is a paucity of empirical evidence investigating under what conditions and how gamification works or fails. A review of existing research shows that the impact of gamification is often assessed through self-reported measures relating to an individual's perceptions and attitudes through survey instruments (p. 446).*

Beyond the above, some educational researchers observe this type of entertainment with great interest. De-Marcos et al. [14] asserts that video games are interactive activities that continuously provide challenges and objectives to players. This implies an intentional learning process to acquire progressive mastery of the game mechanics. In the same sense Busch et al. [15] present the results of their experiment. In this experiment, the researchers used games from a web platform for an e-learning experience—gamified—and evaluated it. Their findings suggest that the platform serves as a collaborative database where students could create and answer questions, using it as an alternative way to study and review geography and mathematics topics, among other content.

#### *From Gamification to Serious Games: Reinventing Learning Processes DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101324*

Thus, it is difficult to judge definitively the positive, negative, or neutral nature of the inclusion of games in educational environments. However, it would seem that research findings are pragmatically divided into two large groups: the first, broad, which usually concludes that games are effective and the second, composed of those who attribute to flaws in the game design and not to the platform itself when the results of the edutainment application are not as expected [5–8].

Despite these discussions, the educational field is not exempt from the use of video games and in Latin America in particular, the approach to this issue refers to figures of recognized trajectory in the field of communication. In this sense, Orozco et al. [16] argue that the playful part of learning leads to inadvertent learning. They argue that children obtain them from video games, for example, when they are able to remember sequences in the controls, passwords and tricks that allow them to improve their skills or eliminate obstacles in the video game. In other words, even though these games are not intended to educate, they end up doing so.

This way of educating by playing also produces *relearning,* which is understood by Orozco as "creative and useful extensions of unnoticed learning that are produced consciously and deliberately with the aim of expanding the educational process of video gamers" (p. 11). However, superimposing edutainment on education requires a complex study of the intervening variables and their characteristics. That is why this proposal, although important, requires an experimental work that also allows a wide control of variables to obtain reliable results.

In this sense of control of variables, Scolari's [17] conceptualization of some characteristics of edutainment or gamification deserves special attention. In his opinion, these characteristics are fundamental and refer to digitalization, hypertextuality, reticularity, interactivity, and multimediality, to which he then adds virtuality, non-sequentiality and modularity. To these can be added the principle of multiplicity described by Calvino [18]. This approach is consistent with the fact that these processes have "a *fractal-like*, network-like mode of organization, that is, where all connections are revealed as constituent parts of the network, in an indefinite way" (p. 25). Consequently, the various formats make possible the hypertextual chain made up of images, sounds, messages and other digital forms.

This perspective implies the transformation of human thought. This leaves behind univocal explanations, closed models and the great truths consigned in books. From this perspective, knowledge is built from the fragment to the complexity and vice versa, but without a linear order. Thus, knowledge is constituted as a network that is woven in each of the *turns* or appearance of each fragment. In turn, each fragment or piece gradually configures a relatively complete image. This conception breaks with the idea of a traditional program or curriculum, basing the possibility of human learning on the bond with others. This finally invites us to think of communication as a mediator for learning.
