Understanding User Experience in Serious Games: The Role of Narratives, Game Design and Player Background

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F25%3A10512188" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/25:10512188 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.2312/dh.20253297" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.2312/dh.20253297</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2312/dh.20253297" target="_blank" >10.2312/dh.20253297</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Understanding User Experience in Serious Games: The Role of Narratives, Game Design and Player Background

Original language description

This paper presents findings from three user studies conducted on digital heritage games designed to foster historical understanding and emotional engagement through immersive experiences. The evaluated games - We Grew Up in War, Those From Below, and Gulag Diaries - explore historical narratives related to conflict, migration, and forced labor. The studies involved small-scale participant groups from culturally relevant backgrounds, utilizing a mixed-methods approach comprising established game experience questionnaires, structured interviews, and facilitator observations. The results indicate that participants generally responded positively to the games, particularly appreciating their narrative depth, audiovisual design, and emotional impact. However, the studies also identified areas for improvement in terms of usability, navigation, and onboarding, especially given that the games tested were in their alpha stages. Notably, individual differences in prior gaming experience, familiarity with the technology used, and prior knowledge of the historical subject matter significantly influenced how participants engaged with and interpreted the content, while gender was also found to be a moderating factor of game experience. The findings presented in this paper offer useful insights and recommendations for digital heritage games, with an emphasis on improving user experience while maintaining historical authenticity, engaging narratives, and interactive storytelling.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

D - Article in proceedings

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50301 - Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Article name in the collection

DH2025 proceedings

ISBN

978-3-03868-277-6

ISSN

3106-3640

e-ISSN

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Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

1-10

Publisher name

The Eurographics Association

Place of publication

Goslar, Německo

Event location

Sienna

Event date

Sep 8, 2025

Type of event by nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce

UT code for WoS article

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