Constructs and Outcomes of Fun in Digital Serious Games: The State of the Art

Abstract

Game design depends not only on understanding the creation process but also the elements that lead the game to be played. Fun, one of these elements, is of important value for the players’ enjoyment as well as their experience with the game, particularly with Serious Games (SG) due to its use as an instrument to serious matters. But there is no consensus on what it is and how to create something fun in SG. This paper performs a systematic literature mapping, to answer which are the constructs and outcomes related to fun. Out of 1062 papers, 62 were selected, 19 of which proved a direct impact of some factors on fun. It was found that the research on fun is increasing but slowly, 13 constructs have been proved to yield fun and 17 outcomes were investigated as a result from fun. Along with this, a Fun Framework was created based on related work. However, it was not possible to perceive a trend as to the rationale or form of evaluation focused on fun. Also, it was found that there is no consensual author regarding the definition of fun. The need for more research and discussion about fun, its causes and consequences became clear, despite the lack of a sound definition.

Keywords

• serious games
• game design
• fun
• systematic literature mapping