1. WHAT MAKES A SERIOUS GAME ENGAGING? Serious games create user engagement, getting him in a state of flow! Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

2. WHAT DOES IT MEANS TO BE IN A STATE OF FLOW? Being in the state of flow is being in a state of optimal experience,and is described as: ‘‘ the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience it self is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it‘’ Csikszentmihalyi Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

3. DURING THE FLOW EXPERIENCE, WE LOSE TRACK OF TIME AND WORRIES. Not all of them are needed, however, for an activity or technology to give users the experience of Flow Eight major components of Flow: • A challenging activity requiring skill • A merging of action and awareness • Clear goals • Direct, immediate feedback; • Concentration on the task at hand • A sense of control • A loss of self-consciousness • An altered sense of time Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

4. Fortunately, we have tolerance for a temporary lack of stimulation, a fuzzy safe Zone, where the activity is not too challenging or boring In order to maintain a user’s Flow experience, the activity must balance the inherent challenge of the game and the player’s ability to address and overcome it. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences If the challenge is beyond that ability, the activity becomes so overwhelming that it generates anxiety. If the challenge fails to engage the player, the player quickly loses interest and tends to leave the game. What the player feels it’s boredom

5. But how does we can induce a state of flow in a Serious Game? Serious Games are a way to learn something but they are also a form of FUN and so FUN can be a way to induce flow Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

6. Fun and learning? It’s impossible. No pain, no gain. All learning is painful, knowledge is sin, and learning is merely a form of suffering. People, starting as babies, learn all the time without suffering. Enjoyment and fun as part of the learning process are important because more the learner is relaxed and motivated more willing to learn. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

7. AND THEREFORE IN THE LEARNING WHEN WE ENJOY LEARN WE LEARN BETTER ?! Relaxation enable learner to take things in more esasily way Motivation enable learner to put forth effort without resentment, and promote also the desire for recurrence of the experience. Fun in the learning process create relaxation and motivation. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

8. FUN IT’S GREAT! BUT THERE IS A MAP THAT CAN HELP YOU TO INDUCE THE STATE OF FLOW IN A SERIOUS GAME! Center for Studies in Communication Sciences Story Interaction Challenge Feedback Goals Rules FLOW

9. GOALS contribute to create the motivation. Goals should be, compelling and adaptable, coupled with an uncertainty by the player of whether these goals can be met. Short-term goals are more motivating than long-term and fixed goals (e.g. winning a game) are more motivating than emergent goals (e.g. painting a picture). RULES make the game fair and exciting. They force to take specific paths to reach goals and ensure that all players take similar paths. They put the player inside the game world, by letting it know what is in and out of bounds. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

10. FEEDBACK: Providing feedback in a game is extremely important and complex because either too little or too much can lead quickly to frustration for the player and to break the flow magic . CHALLENGE are what gets adrenaline and creative juices flowing, and makes people excited about playing the game. A good level of challenge is gotten with an appropriate use of the goals. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

11. INTERACTION: is the inherently social aspect of games. While you can play alone, it is much more fun to play with others. The tendency of all computer games today is to become multi-player. Computer games are actually bringing people into closer social interaction - although not necessarily face-to-face. STORY: starting from real data, we must build a Main Story giving a description of a situation plausible, relevant, and engaging in the training plan. To the beginning of the game the history can be also a brief introduction. Most players are not patient enough to watch a five or ten minute text-based introduction before playing a new game. They want to play now! Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

12. A good engaging Serious Game is Balanced . Balance leaves the player feeling that the game is challenging but fair, and neither too hard nor too easy at any point Creative . Good games are not merely clones of other games, but add something original. Focused. Focus is figuring out what is fun about your game and giving the player as much of it as possible, without distraction. A good engaging Serious Game has Energy. This comes from things like movement, momentum and pacing. The game’s energy is what keeps you playing all night or rejuvenates you after a hard day. Tension . Every good game does it in its own way. The classic way is to make the player care about the goal of the game, and then make it hard to achieve. Character. A character in a Serious game, if is fully developed, are what is memorable Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

14. Peace Maker is a social game, with a complex level of interaction between players PeaceMaker, requires at the players to take on the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or Palestinian President. Each player’s objective in the game is to achieve a solution to the Israeli–Palestinian dispute. Within the game there is a historical timeline that provides a basic overview of the development of the Israeli–Palestinian debate. Players who used it during a trial session found it very useful. Center for Studies in Communication Sciences

16. Feedback showed that the game is particularly useful in the way that players gained a deeper appreciation of the asymmetries of the specific problem. The strategies that work playing the game as the Israeli Prime Minister are completely impractical when you are Palestinian President, so they began to understand the different pressures on the two sides. Players also demonstrated emotional responses to the game, for example, anger at terrorist acts or Israeli incursions or frustration at the seeming intractability of the problems. This enabled them to gain added insights into the conflict-resolution process . Players generally enjoyed playing the game, although some hardened gamers were rather scathing about the graphics, they certainly appreciated the insights that they gained from looking at the process from both sides. Playable Demo: http://www.peacemakergame.com/demo.php Center for Studies in Communication Sciences