1. Electronic Commerce Group Institute for Software Technology and Interactive Systems Vienna University of Technology Favoritenstraße 9-11/188-1. 1040 Vienna. Austria/Europe Tel.: +43 (1) 58801 - 18822, Fax: +43 (1) 58801 - 18896 http://www.ec.tuwien.ac.at Designing Socio-Cultural Learning Games: Challenges and Lessons Learned Josef Froschauer, Max Arends, Doron Goldfarb, Martin Weingartner, Dieter Merkl Vienna University of Technology

2. Outline  Motivation  An Immersive Cultural Training  Challenges & Lessons Learned  An Immersive Art Training Online  Conclusion and Future Work 2

3. Motivation  Cultural Heritage preservation is developing in a changing world and preservation professionals need to adapt to changes.  Huge interest in Serious Games and Gamification  Our research question: Does Serious Gaming awake interest in tangible and intangible attributes of cultural heritage? 3

4. Cultural Heritage Games 4  Intangible Attributes: ICURA Adventure game that is targeted at understanding contemporary Japanese culture and etiquette.  Tangible Attributes: ThIATRO Helps students learn art history, Make the communication of art historical facts an entertaining experience.

5. Serious Games Relatives 5 J. Breuer, G. Bente: Why so serious? On the Relation of Serious Games and Learning (2010)

6. ICURA 6 ICURA - Immersive Cultural Training  Serious Game that is targeted at understanding contemporary Japanese culture and etiquette.  3D adventure game that teaches cultural awareness in a safe environment.  Learner plays an active role in the learning process (Constructivist learning theory)

7. Gameplay Movie 7

8. 8 www.itchy- feet.org/

9. Evaluation 9  How much information does the game communicate? (Comparison of pre- and post-test results)  Does ICURA spark the interest in Japanese culture? (Questionnaires)

10. Guidelines & Lessons Learned  Keep access barrier low: cross platform and online!  Cross-Disciplinarity: cooperate with experts and clearly define learning goals.  Constructivism: Learner plays an active role in the learning process.  Start from scratch: Do not suppose any knowledge, let the player use newly gained knowledge.  Obey Game Design principles: as used in commercial games  Make it public: make use of Web 2.0 platforms 10

11. ThIATRO – The Immersive Art Training Online 11  Online game that aims at raising the interest in art history, contemporary culture and cultural heritage.  Helps students learn art history  Make the communication of art historical facts an entertaining experience.

12. What is it about? Player slips into the role of a museums curator In every level, a special exhibition has to be arranged. Player has to collect paintings from different virtual museums to fulfill a specific task. Data: Web Gallery of Art (www.wga.hu), 18.000 works from 1100 to 1850 12

13. Learning Content 13 Genres (Tutorial) Iconography Famous Topics in Art Perspective Eras of Art Lighting and Shading Specific Artist (Caravaggio)

14. Gameplay Movie 14

15. 15 www.thiatro.info

16. Making of... 16

17. Making of... 17

18. Making of... 18

19. Making of... 19 + Unity Game Development Tool

20. Evaluation 20  20 pupils (12 female, 8 male), 14 years on average  Control Group (classroom), Experimental Group (playing ThIATRO)  Both approaches were equally successful in communicating knowledge.  BUT: ThIATRO is more motivating and makes them learn at home.

21. Conclusion & Future Work 21  Games are a powerful tool to communicate knowledge  Exclusively playing is not the solution  Games do not replace educators/teachers. The key is to raise the interest and to make the people learn at home.  Future Work: Possibilities for multiplayer games and museums informatics.

22. Thank You! Josef Froschauer Email: josef.froschauer@ec.tuwien.ac.at Web: http://vsem.ec.tuwien.ac.at/ 22