When rules become stories : Narrative potentials in Megagame instructional materials

Sammanfattning

Serious games are becoming an important tool in education, both in school and professional settings. Megagames, a cross between boardgames and roleplaying games, is such a tool that can be valuable in teaching complex systems and topics. This study investigates whether the addition of narrative elements in megagame rules/role-instructions affects potential players’ perceived competence, immersion and motivation through a survey experiment. Sixty participants read and evaluated 2 role-instructions from a megagame on sustainable consumption, one with narrative elements and one without. Results from repeated measures ANCOVAs showed that narrative inclusion significantly increased perceived competence or rules/role understanding, especially for the more complex role. No main effects were found for immersion or motivation, however interaction effects indicated that the role type moderated narrative impact. Notably, narrative elements benefited the more complex role but reduced ratings for the simpler role. These findings suggest that narrative can enhance role/rules clarity in serious games, especially when applied to more cognitively demanding material. Designers of megagames may therefore benefit in using narrative elements in their games. A future study is recommended in order to validate these results as well as to understand the effects of multiple levels of narrative on different rules/role instructions of varying levels of complexities.