Interaction Design III:

"Engaging by Design: How Engagement Strategies in Popular Computer and Video Games can Inform Instructional Design" by Michele D. Dickey

The article examines how instructional designers can employ strategies when designing educational games to engage players in "gameplay". Despite the motivational impact of gameplay in popular games, these same strategies have yet to be fully integrated in the design of educational games. The author examines the engagement strategies employed in popular games and aims to shed light on how they can be incorporated in the context of education.

Gameplay strategies may include role playing, narrative arcs, challenges, interactive choices and interaction with other players. Players may be required to use higher order thinking skills to play games. Games support intrinsic motivation and support discovery, observation, trial and error and problem solving (68). Games offer clear goals and immediate feedback with few negative consequences as a result of risks taken. The purpose of the author's research is to investigate how these characteristics of popular games might inform instructional design by comparing their engagement strategies to those inherent in instructional design. As a result, the author presents an overview of player point of view, the role of narrative in game design and methods employed in interaction design and gauge their relevance to instructional design.