**Abstract**

Despite the growing interest in utilizing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games for instructional and assessment purposes there is a lack of research evidence regarding COTS games for these applications. This chapter considers the application of COTS games for instruction and assessment and provides preliminary evidence comparing COTS game scores to traditional multiple-choice assessments. In a series of four studies, we collected data and compared results from the performance in a COTS game to scores on a traditional multiple-choice assessment written for the purposes of each study. Each assessment was written to evaluate the same content presented in the game for each respective study. Three of the four studies demonstrated a significant correlation between the COTS game and the traditional multiple choice assessment scores. The non-significant value in Study 4 was likely due to a small sample size (*n* < 100). The results of these studies support our hypothesis and demonstrate that COTS games may be a useful educational tool for training or assessment purposes. We recommend that future research focuses on specific applications of COTS games to explore further opportunities for utilizing COTS in education and assessment.

**Keywords:** commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) game, game-based assessments (GBAs), serious games, game-based learning (GBL), instructional games, multiple-choice assessments

### **1. Introduction**

Over the last decade, the use of games for purposes outside of entertainment has grown in both research and industry, leading to discrepancies in conceptual definitions, use cases, and evidence-based benefits [1–4]. An increase in recent research literature reviews and meta-analyses on the topic of game-based interventions emphasizes the wealth of research being conducted in this area [5, 6]. However, game-developers have quickly capitalized on the widespread interest and often market game-based interventions in ways that are not always empirically tested with evidence for their publicized use [7]. In this chapter we aim to provide clarity on this topic by first reviewing important terminology, second discussing applications of games for instruction, and third exploring applications of games for assessment. Then we focus on the rise of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games for both instructional and assessment purposes. We close by highlighting the authors' research from four studies focused on comparing COTS games to traditional assessments.
