ECT Brownbag: Jeff Brenneman

Forging a Path for Researching Narrative Design and Emotional Design in Game-Based Learning

When: Thursday, April 18, 2024, 12:00 pm -1:00 pm EST
370 Jay St, 522

Zoom Recording

In the field of game-based learning, one of the challenges facing scholars and practitioners alike is determining how the emotions induced in players during gameplay experiences affect their ability to learn (Loderer at al., 2019; Loderer et al., 2020; Pawar et al., 2019; Plass et al., 2020). Emotional design research on learning games so far has skewed heavily toward visual aesthetics (Pawar et al., 2019) in games. My candidacy paper focuses on narrative, which is under-represented in this research area. There are currently only a handful of studies on the impact of game narrative on players’ emotions and a number of promising directions for future work (Bowers et al., 2013; Dickey, 2011 & 2019; D’Mello et al., 2014; Milne et al., 2010; Neville, 2010). Furthermore, there appears to be little guidance in the literature regarding how best to design game narrative that aligns with learning objectives (Dickey, 2015 is a rare example). In my candidacy paper, I look deeply at this issue and consider what actually constitutes game narrative, as well as how game narrative might support learning. I also review several existing studies on the impact of game narrative on players’ emotions and learning. In particular, I look at the specific elements of game narrative that were studied and the methodological approaches used. I conclude with a discussion around several research avenues that have the potential to bear fruit in the near future.