Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen

Dark patterns refer to tricks built into websites and apps to manipulate users into acting unintentionally and detrimentally. An important issue is how such patterns might affect behaviour when actors are manoeuvred towards the sharing of their personal data, as exemplified in choices we face when downloading Apps or signing up for services provide...

This study describes the design of a serious game for social change (“Fact Finders”) that presents intergroup conflicts through historical inquiry and multiperspectivity. A pre-test post-test experimental design examined the game’s effect on undergraduates’ perceptions of conflicts in history. Participants included 97 Greek Cypriots (direct parties...

Serious games are fascinating, not only as a popular research field, but also as a relevant economic factor for the prospering game industry. The use of advanced gaming concepts and game technology applied to non-leisure contexts (e.g., education, training, health) is a logical and promising approach, but acceptance by the gaming industry itself (g...

Die enge Verbindung von Spielen und Lernen geht evolutionsgeschichtlich der Ausbildung menschlichen Lebens voraus. Mit der Digitalisierung erreicht sie nun ganz neue Qualitäten: Computerspiele treten in Konkurrenz zu den älteren narrativ-audiovisuellen Medien wie Theater, Film und Fernsehen; Touch- und Gestensteuerung leiten zudem eine Verkörperlic...

Background: The present study describes the development and formative evaluation of the Web-based Dietary Assessment Software for Children (WebDASC). WebDASC is part of the OPUS project ('Optimal well-being, development and health for Danish children through a healthy New Nordic Diet') and was intended to measure dietary change resulting from a sc...

Presented herein is a simple and pragmatic framework for primarily analyzing and evaluating the design quality of a learning game. The framework focuses on the characteristics of learning games compared to computer games, in general, to find the key parameters to analyze. The key variables in the framework are integration, focus and motivation.

This paper explores evidence from prior research already conducted in the field of game-based learning supplemented by experiences from developers. The aim is to address why educational computer games are not yet more integrated in formal education. The analysis is structured by drawing on the well-established model by Rogers called Diffusion of In...

Few field studies have examined students' using of educational computer game titles in high school. This paper presents results from a research project in two Danish high schools with 51 students aged 16-20 using a playable prototype. The research project evolves around the development of the prototype "Global Conflicts: Palestine" an educational c...

This paper overviews research on the educational use of video games by examining the viability of the different learning theories in the field, namely behaviorism, cognitivism, constructionism and the socio-cultural approach. In addition, five key tensions that emerge from the current research are examined: 1) Learning vs. playing, 2) freedom vs. c...

Computer games have attracted much attention over the years, mostly attention of the less flattering kind. This has been true for computer games focused on entertainment, but also for what for years seemed a sure winner, edutainment. This dissertation aims to be a modest contribution to understanding educational use of computer games by building a...

This paper outlines the barriers for using computer games in an educational setting by drawing on a study of a two-month history course with the historical strategy game Europa Universalis II. The paper draws on the limited earlier literature on the subject to identify classic areas of difficulty. Some of these are time schedule, physical setting,...

This is probably one of the first studies of eSports/ProGamers that was published as report. Due to the historical relevance I have decided to make it available. This report clearly highlights that the potential for eSports is great. Even though we still need a couple of years before computer games achieve the mainstream penetration level of telev...

This article tries to outline some of the basics of online gaming and sketch some difference in revenue models between the genres so it is possible to discuss online gaming within the same frame. To discuss online games you need to make a distinction between 4 online game genres (plus two hybrids) and clarify what online games are not. Furthermore,...

The area of educational computer games is not yet well defined but there are recent attempts at rehabilitating the field. However, sidestepping classic edutainment is not an easy task. Edutainment have since the 1970s used a classic formula for producing educational computer games based on learning theories with problematic assumptions given our cu...