Serious games discover game refinement measure

Abstract

This paper presents the game refinement theory and its applications to serious games. A measure of game refinement is derived from the theory based on the game outcome uncertainty. The previous study with a focus on fun games such as boardgames and sports indicates that the game with a zone value (0.07–0.08) of game refinement measure has a good balance between chance and skill, in which people may feel comfortable and then the game is sophisticated or fascinating. The recent work focusing on the serious games suggests that the game refinement measure enables to quantify the gamified elements of serious games. Two examples from the language learning platform DUOLINGO and sales promotion ‘Discount’ are given to confirm the effectiveness.