Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art

Game design depends not only on understanding the creation process but also the elements that lead the game to be played. Fun, one of these elements, is of important value for the players’ enjoyment as well as their experience with the game, particularly with Serious Games (SG) due to its use as an...

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Main Authors: Diego Fellipe Tondorf, Marcelo da Silva Hounsell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Brazilian Computer Society 2022-12-01
Series:Journal on Interactive Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sol.sbc.org.br/journals/index.php/jis/article/view/2605
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author Diego Fellipe Tondorf
Marcelo da Silva Hounsell
author_facet Diego Fellipe Tondorf
Marcelo da Silva Hounsell
author_sort Diego Fellipe Tondorf
collection DOAJ
description Game design depends not only on understanding the creation process but also the elements that lead the game to be played. Fun, one of these elements, is of important value for the players’ enjoyment as well as their experience with the game, particularly with Serious Games (SG) due to its use as an instrument to serious matters. But there is no consensus on what it is and how to create something fun in SG. This paper performs a systematic literature mapping, to answer which are the constructs and outcomes related to fun. Out of 1062 papers, 62 were selected, 19 of which proved a direct impact of some factors on fun. It was found that the research on fun is increasing but slowly, 13 constructs have been proved to yield fun and 17 outcomes were investigated as a result from fun. Along with this, a Fun Framework was created based on related work. However, it was not possible to perceive a trend as to the rationale or form of evaluation focused on fun. Also, it was found that there is no consensual author regarding the definition of fun. The need for more research and discussion about fun, its causes and consequences became clear, despite the lack of a sound definition.
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spelling doaj.art-ffc07ebbed5a4c5d801733da55bce5c52023-02-09T18:01:17ZengBrazilian Computer SocietyJournal on Interactive Systems2763-77192022-12-0113138639910.5753/jis.2022.26052202Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the ArtDiego Fellipe Tondorf0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3465-3299Marcelo da Silva Hounsell1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9700-0909Universidade do Estado de Santa CatarinaUniversidade do Estado de Santa CatarinaGame design depends not only on understanding the creation process but also the elements that lead the game to be played. Fun, one of these elements, is of important value for the players’ enjoyment as well as their experience with the game, particularly with Serious Games (SG) due to its use as an instrument to serious matters. But there is no consensus on what it is and how to create something fun in SG. This paper performs a systematic literature mapping, to answer which are the constructs and outcomes related to fun. Out of 1062 papers, 62 were selected, 19 of which proved a direct impact of some factors on fun. It was found that the research on fun is increasing but slowly, 13 constructs have been proved to yield fun and 17 outcomes were investigated as a result from fun. Along with this, a Fun Framework was created based on related work. However, it was not possible to perceive a trend as to the rationale or form of evaluation focused on fun. Also, it was found that there is no consensual author regarding the definition of fun. The need for more research and discussion about fun, its causes and consequences became clear, despite the lack of a sound definition.https://sol.sbc.org.br/journals/index.php/jis/article/view/2605serious gamesgame designfunsystematic literature mapping
spellingShingle Diego Fellipe Tondorf
Marcelo da Silva Hounsell
Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
Journal on Interactive Systems
serious games
game design
fun
systematic literature mapping
title Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
title_full Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
title_fullStr Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
title_full_unstemmed Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
title_short Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art
title_sort constructs and outcomes of fun in digital serious games the state of the art
topic serious games
game design
fun
systematic literature mapping
url https://sol.sbc.org.br/journals/index.php/jis/article/view/2605
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