Comments on: “Serious” Developments Personally, I'm taking the term to mean a game whose goal is something other than entertainment for the end user. I'm currently working on what our lab is terming a "stealth-exercise game" that is supposed to be both fun and provide aggressive use of motion controls (and will then be used for research to compare against the same game on a game pad). Entertainment is still one of the primary goals still so I almost never refer to it as a "serious game." I notice wikipedia lists art games as a sub-genre of serious games, which is something I strongly disagree with. Were the great pieces of literature that exist in this world not written with both entertainment and their underlying messages in mind?As far as negative connotations go, I feel that those are something that is wearing away as gaming generations grow up. Also, should serious games be immune to criticism? I think they should receive greater scrutiny because they are intended to be more than entertainment. Serious games that improperly teach historical facts or instruct the players on how to create dangerous weapons ought to be brought under criticism.All in all, it's a field that still feels very young because a non-entertainment game is still very difficult to make and get right. Personally, I’m taking the term to mean a game whose goal is something other than entertainment for the end user. I’m currently working on what our lab is terming a “stealth-exercise game” that is supposed to be both fun and provide aggressive use of motion controls (and will then be used for research to compare against the same game on a game pad). Entertainment is still one of the primary goals still so I almost never refer to it as a “serious game.” I notice wikipedia lists art games as a sub-genre of serious games, which is something I strongly disagree with. Were the great pieces of literature that exist in this world not written with both entertainment and their underlying messages in mind?As far as negative connotations go, I feel that those are something that is wearing away as gaming generations grow up. Also, should serious games be immune to criticism? I think they should receive greater scrutiny because they are intended to be more than entertainment. Serious games that improperly teach historical facts or instruct the players on how to create dangerous weapons ought to be brought under criticism.All in all, it’s a field that still feels very young because a non-entertainment game is still very difficult to make and get right.

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By: Fabrice Lété/2011/02/03/%e2%80%9cserious%e2%80%9d-developments/#comment-428 Fabrice Lété Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:34:58 +0000