Testing Assumptions: Creative Approaches to Gathering Evidence of Serious Game Impacts

Speakers: Brian Winn, Caitlin Kelleher, Carrie Heeter, David William Shaffer, Richard Van Eck

Track: SGS: Assessment & Results

Format: Panel

Experience Level: All

Description: Serious game designers are dreamers. They believe in the transformative power of this evolving medium to inspire, to engage, to move players from novice to expert, to empower, to persuade, to communicate cultural values and professional practices. Grand expectations inspire creation, but designers, funding agencies, and adopters of serious games must seek evidence of observable outcomes.

This panel explores creative yet practical solutions to measuring cognitive, emotional, health, and social impacts of a serious game, both during the design process and once the game is released. Five academics actively involved in serious game design and research discuss their own internal assessment process and what forms of evidence could be considered reasonable to validate serious game design goals.

Idea Takeaway: Serious game designers clearly and expansively articulate desired impacts. Impacts and engagement are checked, in theory and in practice, during the design process. Creative yet practical and credible measures of the impacts are collected once the game is complete.

Intended Audience: Serious game designers and those who fund serious games see practical yet creative approaches to gathering evidence of the effectiveness of a serious game.