British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 30 No 4 1999 311–321

The use of computer games as an educational tool:

identification of appropriate game types and game
elements

Alan Amory, Kevin Naicker, Jacky Vincent and Claudia Adams

During the past four years Alan Amory, a lecturer in Biology, has investigated the use of multimedia as
a teaching resource and converted his courses from old-style lectures and practicals to constructivist-like
classrooms. He also enjoys the thrill of creating software. Kevin Naicker, an Honours student at the time
of this research, is interested in the use of computer technologies, especially the World Wide Web, in
education. Jacky Vincent, our graphic artist, with her abounding enthusiasm and experience, enjoys
designing unique virtual worlds and developing game scenarios. Claudia Adams, a zoologist and
librarian, helped in the finding and organisation of the content and enjoys the creative side of plot
development. Address for correspondence: Professor Alan Amory, Biological Pedagogics Research Unit,
Biology Department, University of Natal, Durban, 4041, South Africa. Tel: +27-31-260 1191;
fax: +27-31-260-2029; email: [email protected]

Abstract
Playing games is an important part of our social and mental development. This
research was initiated to identify the game type most suitable to our teaching
environment and to identify game elements that students found interesting or
useful within the different game types. A group of twenty students played four
commercial games (SimIsle, Red Alert, Zork Nemesis and Duke Nukem 3D).
Results suggest that students prefer 3D-adventure (Zork Nemesis) and strategy
(Red Alert) games to the other types (“shoot-em-up”, simulation) with Zork
Nemesis ranked as the best. Students rated game elements such as logic, memory,
visualisation and problem solving as the most important game elements. Such
elements are integral to adventure games and are also required during the
learning process. We present a model that links pedagogical issues with game
elements. The game space contains a number of components, each encapsulates
specific abstract or concrete interfaces. Understanding the relationship between
educational needs and game elements will allow us to develop educational
games that include visualisation and problem solving skills. Such tools could
provide sufficient stimulation to engage learners in knowledge discovery, while
at the same time developing new skills.

Introduction
Rieber (1996) argues that play, especially during early childhood, performs important
roles in psychological, social and intellectual development; is a voluntary activity
that is intrinsically motivating; involves some level of activity and often possesses
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312 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 30 No 4 1999

make-believe qualities. Such attributes are similar to those contained in modern

educational theories where learning should be a self-motivated and rewarding activity
(Kolesnik, 1970). Blanchard and Cheska (1985) contend that play is not the opposite
of work as is leisure, and appears to be a universally accepted mode of learning.

The advent of personal computers with superior graphics systems has precipitated an
explosion in game software. This multimillion-pound industry produces many different
kinds of games ranging from simulations through to first-person adventures. Here
players are immersed into virtual worlds filled with stunning graphics, compelling, if
not addictive, story-lines, sound and video. However, many question the social con-
sequences of this form of entertainment. McKee (1992, 5) and Billen (1993, 51) argue
that games affect cognitive functions, motivation and remove players from the “real
world”. However, games appear inherently to motivate users intrinsically by stimulating
curiosity (Thomas and Macredie, 1994). This may be due to the presence of challenges
and elements of fantasy (Malone 1980, 1981a, b), novelty and complexity (Carroll,
1982; Malone, 1984; Malone and Lepper, 1987; Rivers, 1990).

Learning that is fun appears to be more effective (Lepper and Cordova, 1992). Also,
Quinn (1994, 1997) argues that for games to benefit educational practice and learning
they need to combine fun elements with aspects of instructional design and system
design that include motivational, learning and interactive components. According to
Malone (1981a, b) three elements (fantasy, curiosity and challenge) contribute to the
fun in games.

There appears to be a close association between play and learning. Computer games
enhance learning through visualisation, experimentation, and creativity of play (Betz,
1995) and often include problems that develop critical thinking which was defined by
Huntington (1984) as the analysis and evaluation of information in order to determine
logical steps that lead to concrete conclusions. Visualisation, a key cognitive strategy,
plays an important role in discovery and problem solving (Rieber, 1995). Sekuler and
Blake (1994) stated that our sense of vision represents our most diverse source of
information of the world around us. Visualisation, therefore, has tremendous value in
computer games. Also, many of the problems presented in games require the manipu-
lation of objects, or elements, in these exploratory environments and can be involved
in goal formation and competition. Leutner (1993) argued that manipulation of objects
stimulates learning and training while Neal (1990) proposed that goal formation and
competition are inherently motivating components.

Of the many different types of games (for example, adventure, simulation, role-playing,
shoot-em-up and strategy games) developed, educational researchers appear to have
concentrated on two types, simulation and adventure (Quinn, 1994; Roberts, 1976;
Ju and Wagner, 1997).

Before embarking on a research programme to evaluate the use of games as an

educational tool it was therefore necessary to determine the game-type best suited to

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our environment and to investigate game elements that students found appealing. This
paper reports on our initial investigations. First and second year university students
played four commercial games in order for us to: discover the games type they found
most enjoyable; identify game elements that contribute to the fun aspect of the games;
and to evaluate student opinion relating to the use of games in education.

Materials and methods

Outline
Four games, representing different types, were played by a small group (n = 20) of first
and second year biology students. Individual students completed questionnaires for
each game after playing for about one hour and provided some demographic data (age,
sex, ethnic group and year of study). The experiment was designed to identify the type
of game that most undergraduate students would enjoy playing and to ascertain from
the students those elements they found useful or interesting within each game.

Student selection
All first and second year biology students were invited to participate in the project.
From these applications we selected a group of 20 students made up of an equal
proportion of the different ethnic groups and an equal number of male and female
students.

Game selection
Four games were selected and included Command and Conquer: Red Alert (strategy)
by Westwood Studios; Duke Nukem 3D (“shoot-em-up”) by 3D Realms; SimIsle
(simulation) by Maxis and Zork Nemesis (adventure) by Activision. All games were
played under the Microsoft Windows95 platform.

Questionnaires
Students answered a series of questions on their computer experience, how often and
for what they used computers, and a series of questions for each game. The last series
of questions attempted to ascertain whether the game was captivating, addictive and/or
presented challenges. The questionnaire evaluated aspects related to game enjoyment
(sound, graphics, type, story-line and technology), skills (logic, memory, visualisation,
mathematics, reflexes and problem solving) and game play (addictive, boring, too dif-
ficult, illogical). Ranking (strongly agree, agree, disagree and definitely not) and open-
ended questions were used. Questions on game enjoyment determined which elements
contributed to curiosity (Thomas and Macredie, 1994), fantasy (Malone 1980, 1981a, b),
novelty and complexity (Carroll, 1982; Malone, 1984; Malone and Lepper, 1987; Rivers,
1990). Visualisation and problem solving appear to be closely related to intrinsic
motivation and learning (Rieber, 1995; Leutner, 1993; Neal, 1990). Other skills, such
as logic, memory, mathematics and reflexes are also often required to solve complex
problems. The second series of questions attempted to ascertain which of these skills
students thought were required to play the games. The final set of questions on game
play attempted to provide more information on each game and were used to identify
the type of game preferred by our students. After playing all four games students rated

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them from most to least favoured game. The time spent on each game and the level, or
stage reached, was also noted by each student.

Analysis
Ranking questions were calculated as the mean score out of a maximum of 4. To
determine differences in responses by gender, or by race, the Kruskal-Wallis one-way
Anova and Pearson’s cross tabulation (SPSS) were used by grouping all the questions
relating to each game (n = 80).

Results
Evaluation of commercial games by biology students
Of the 20 students who participated in this part of the project, ten were female, with an
equal distribution between White, Black and Asian. The average age was 19 with most
of them having very little computer experience or exposure to playing computer games.
Among those that were computer-adept, most used computers for doing class assign-
ments or for obtaining information. A minority of students did appear to spend some
time playing games.

To determine the type of game elements most appreciated by the students we asked
them to rate the games according to the fun aspect, sounds and graphics, type of game,
game story and use of technology (see Figure 1). Zork Nemesis scored the highest in all
aspects, closely followed by Red Alert (no statistical difference); SimIsle, on the other
hand, was rated poorly by the students.

As a number of different skills are required to play games, students were asked to assess
the importance of some skills [logic, memory, visualisation, and mathematics, reflexes
and problem solving] (see Figure 2). The game that required the widest variety of
skills was Zork Nemesis followed by Red Alert. Few of the games required mathematical
skills, but reflexes were important in Duke Nukem. Problem solving was rated highest
for Zork Nemesis and Red Alert.

Students were also asked whether the game was easy to play, addictive, too long,
challenging, confusing, too difficult, illogical, difficult to play or manoeuvre and if their
performance increased with continuous play (see Figure 3). Except for SimIsle, students
were able to play the games successfully (see too easy and too difficult); found them
addictive, challenging and not boring; were not too confused; and found that with
practice their performance improved.

Generally students appeared to enjoy Zork Nemesis and Red Alert the most, and did
not enjoy playing the simulation game, SimIsle. The ranking of the different games
supports this conclusion (from best to worst: Zork Nemesis → Red Alert → Duke Nukem
→ SimIsle).

Statistical analyses of student opinions according to gender showed no differences

(results not shown). It appeared that males played the games longer than did females

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(Mean values; bar represents standard error; Score: 1—strongly disagree, 2—disagree, 3—agree,
4—strongly agree; n = 20).

Figure 1: Student opinions related to different aspects of four commercial games

and therefore completed more of each game. The different ethnic groups did appear to
respond differently to some questions as shown in Table 1. Differences were found in
questions relating to how logical the games were, if they caused confusion, if they were
too difficult and if they required memorisation. Also there appeared to be differences in
rating the technology present in the games.

Generally students enjoyed Zork Nemesis and Red Alert the most. The game requiring
the most skill was Zork Nemesis. The game least liked was SimIsle. This may in part be
due to the user interface and game play (observations). There appears to be little differ-
ence between how male and female students viewed the games and the responses
according to race groups were similar.

Discussion
Students were asked to rate the entertaining and educational aspects of four com-
mercial games. They appeared to prefer adventure (Zork Nemesis) and strategy (Red

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(Mean values; bar represents standard error; Score: 1—strongly disagree, 2—disagree, 3—agree,
4—strongly agree; n = 20).

Figure 2: Student opinions related to skill required to play four commercial games

Alert) games as they found them more stimulating (sound, graphics and technology
scored the highest). Story lines were also deemed to be more interesting. These results
support the ideas of Malone (1981a,b) and Quinn (1994) and those of Thomas and
Macredie (1984) who argued that such elements promote intrinsic motivation and
effective learning. Also, Myst, an adventure game, is the best-selling game of all time
and strategy games, like Red Alert, were the most highly rated games by GameSpot
(www.gamespot.com) in 1997.

Some students enjoyed playing Duke Nukem 3D while others reacted negatively to the
violence and stereotypic characterisation in this game. SimIsle, the simulation game,
was rated very poorly by the students. That may be due to the confusing interface and
the lack of sufficient feedback (Norman, 1988).

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 The use of computer games as an educational tool 317

(Mean values; bar represents standard error; Score: 1—strongly disagree, 2—disagree, 3—agree,
4—strongly agree; n = 20).

Figure 3: Student opinions related to game play for the four commercial games

Table 1: Analysis of answers by ethnic groups versus different game attributes

Variable Pearson Chi-squared value

Game was illogical 19.66***

Game was too difficult 17.56**
Use of technology 16.99**
Game was confusing 15.86
Game required memory skills 15.04
Game required reflexes 14.02
With play performance increased 13.10

n = 80; df = 6; *** p , 0.005; ** p , 0.05 and . 0.005.

Visualisation and problem-solving skills are an integral part of adventure and strategy
games. In this study, students felt that Zork Nemesis and Red Alert required such high-
order thinking skills. Visualisation strategies nurture creative problem solving (Rieber,
1995). Computer simulations enhance learning through visualisation and creativity,
as players are able to visualise the cause and effects of their own actions on whole
systems and thereby develop intrinsic decision-making skills (Betz, 1995).

Male and female students appear to react similarly to these games (no statistical
differences in responses, n = 80). Other authors (Gipson, 1997; Temple and Lips,
1989; Canada and Brusca, 1996) have argued that there are differences in attitudes
between male and female students with respect to computer and technology usage.

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Absence of this trend in our results may be due to the small sample size and therefore
not a true representation of the population.

Responses between the ethnic groups were statistically different (n = 80) and were
related to questions on logic and difficulty of the games. The exact nature of the
differences is unclear. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds lack cognitive,
practical and psycho-social skills (Grayson, 1997). The relationship between these
skills and ability to play games needs to be investigated further.

Therefore, the adventure game appears to provide the best foundation for the develop-
ment of teaching resources. This is supported by the work of many authors such as
Quinn (1994, 1997). However, there appears to be little information available regard-
ing the importance of the different elements within the adventure game that could be
useful to education. Students rated sounds, graphics, story line and use of technology
as important. While it could be argued that all the commercial games contain cutting-
edge technology, the students rated the technology in Zork Nemesis the highest. This
may be due to the use of many cinematic constructs, such as the use of real actors in
virtual worlds, cuts, fades, voice-overs and full-screen animations. Realistic graphics,
sounds and addictive story lines appear to enhance the playability of games.

Skills required to play adventure games identified by students include logic, memory,
visualisation and problem solving. Modern educational theories (Saljo, 1979; Schank
and Cleary, 1995) argue that the development of such skills are fundamental to all
learning.

Quinn (1994) noted that there is insufficient pedagogical support in games. In an

attempt to synthesise information on educational games and our results, we present a
model that attempts to create a dialectic between the pedagogical dimensions and game
elements. Educational games contain different aspects, those that promote educational
objectives (abstract) and those that allow for the realisation of these objectives (concrete).
Therefore a game space consists of different components that contain discrete interfaces
(see Figure 4). These interfaces are either abstract or concrete. The game space embodies
all the components (each with their own interfaces) and interfaces that define the inter-
active learning environment. In this model components are represented by rounded
squares and interfaces by circles linked to components. Components may either be free-
standing or part of other components, in which case they inherit all the parent interfaces.
Inner components contain concrete interfaces while the outer ones are more abstract.
Interfaces are also lists from the most to least important. Therefore the game space com-
ponent is proposed to consist of five motivational interfaces (play, exploration, challenges
and engagement) and the visualisation space component. This component contains the
story line, critical thinking, discovery, goal formation, goal completion, competition and
practice interfaces with the elements and problem components embedded within it. The
elements component contain those interfaces (fun, graphics, sound, and technology) that
make up the story line, appearance and playability of the game and are related to the
discovery and goal formation interfaces of the visualisation space component. The other

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 The use of computer games as an educational tool 319

(Ý—abstract interfaces, o—concrete interfaces).

Figure 4: Components and associated interfaces game development model

interfaces of the visualisation space components (critical thinking, discovery, goal formation,
goal completion, competition and practice) are expressed via the manipulation, memory,
logic, mathematics and reflexes interfaces of the problem component. Abstract interfaces
therefore depict pedagogical elements and concrete interfaces depict game elements.
Students identified the two inner-most components (visualisation space and problem) and
the story line, memory and logic interfaces as the most important game elements. Such
a model could allow for a systematic approach to the development of educational games
that will allow for the easy identification of appropriate game elements underpinned by
sound pedagogical arguments.

Conclusions
First and second year Biology students appear to favour 3D-adventure (Zork Nemesis)
and strategy games (Red Alert) and found the simulation game SimIsle unsatisfactory.
Students identified graphics, sound, story line as important aspects and perceived skills
such as visualisation, logic, memory and as important skills required to play adventure
games. A model that links pedagogical issues with game elements is also presented.
Development of learning tools based on the adventure game could provide educators
with a superior mechanism to entice learners into virtual environments where know-
ledge is acquired thought intrinsic motivation.

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320 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 30 No 4 1999

Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge research grants from the University of Natal Research Fund
and Foundation for Research Development, and to especially thank Mr Richard Devey
for his help with the statistical analyses, Dr Rob Slotow and Professor John Cooke for
their expert help, and Professor Pat Berjak for careful reading of the manuscript.

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