Design and Evaluation of a Serious Game for Immersive Cultural Training

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Design and Evaluation of a Serious Game for
Immersive Cultural Training

• Josef Froschauer, Ingo Seidel, Markus Gärtner,
  Helmut Berger, Dieter Merkl
• Vienna University of Technology

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Outline

• Motivation
• Whats so Serious about Games?
• Game-based Learning
• Design of ICURA
• ? Gameplay Video
• Evaluation
• Conclusion and Future Work

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Motivation

• Video games are part of our culture
• 3D Virtual Worlds have the potential to
• expand knowledge of a foreign country
• Combine aspects of learning and fun
• Great opportunity to teach
• Cultural Diversity

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Games, Seriously?
Mike
Zyda "From Visual Simulation to Virtual Reality
to Games, 2005
A mental contest, played with a computer in
accordance with specific rules, that uses
entertainment to further government or corporate
training, education, health, public policy, and
strategic communication objectives.
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Some Examples...

• Educational, Corporate, Political Religious,
  Healthcare,
• Government, Military...

Tactical Iraqi Virtual Iraq
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Game-Based Learning

• Follows a constructivist perspective
• Knowledge is constructed, not transmitted to the
  user.
• Learner plays an active role in the learning
  process.
• Highly motivating
• Increases the motivation and compels the player
  to think about,
• organize and use information. (stealth
  learning)

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What is ICURA?

• ICURA - Immersive Cultural Training
• Serious Game that is targeted at understanding
• contemporary Japanese culture and etiquette.
• 3D adventure game that teaches
• cultural awareness in a safe environment.
• Learner plays an active role in the
• learning process. (Constructivist learning
  theory)

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A 3D e-Tourism Environment

• Game-like e-Business application that enables
  interaction between participants including
  trading of tourism products.
• Book flights, hotels, take part in auctions,
  talk to other travellers...
• Design of 3D Virtual Environment (Torque Game
  Engine)
• Some additional content...
• http//www.itchy-feet.org/

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Some Itchy Feet Screenshots
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In-Game Movie
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Design Principles 1/2

• 5 design principles for ICURA
• Integrating a constructivist perspective
• Learner plays an active role in the learning
  process
• The players motivation
• Leveling-up, adaptability of the games
  difficulty, clear goals, interaction with other
  players, shared experience

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Design Principles 2/2

• Usability
• the degree to which a player is able to learn,
  control, and understand a game.
• The Agent principle
• The idea of a Virtual Tutor
• The element of fun
• 80 rate the element of fun as important
  (Michael 2005)

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Evaluation of ICURA - Goals

• How much information does the game communicate?
  (Comparison of pre- and post-test results)
• Associations with the term Serious Game
• Does ICURA spark the interest in Japanese
  culture? (Questionnaires)

• 5 Steps pre-questionnaire, pre-test, playing
  ICURA, post-test, post
• questionnaire.

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Evaluation Results 1/3

• 20 participants, 16 male, 4 female
• Average age 29, heavy computer users, but only
  3.15 hours a week playing computer games.
• 9 people have never heard the term Serious Game
  before, the rest associates it with learning and
  education.
• ICURA is Fun to play (4.2 out of 5)
• Did spark interest in the Japanese culture (3.55
  out of 5)

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Test Question

• You want to enter a temple in Japan. What do you
  have
• to keep in mind?
• To wear traditional Japanese clothing
• To wash your hands before entering
• Only enter, if the temple priest requests you to
  do so
• To cover as much skin as possible
• To put on the slippers provided at the entrance

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Evaluation Results 2/3
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(No Transcript)
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Future Work
http//vsem.ec.tuwien.ac.at/
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Kamsa Hamnida, Arigato, Xièxie, Thank You!

• Contact
• Josef Froschauer
• Email josef.froschauer_at_ec.tuwien.ac.at
• Web http//www.itchy-feet.org/
• or http//vsem.ec.tuwien.ac.at/