Educational video game

An educational video game is a video game that provides learning or training value to the player. Edutainment describes an intentional merger of video games and educational software into a single product (and could therefore also comprise more serious titles sometimes described under children's learning software). In the narrower sense used here, the term describes educational software which is primarily about entertainment, but tends to educate as well and sells itself partly under the educational umbrella. Normally software of this kind is not structured towards school curricula and does not involve educational advisors. Educational video games play a significant role in the school curriculum for teachers who seek to deliver core lessons, reading and new skills. Gamification of education allows learners to take active roles in learning and develop technological skills that are needed for their academic and professional careers. Several recent studies have shown that video games, whether violent or not can help children in the development of intellectual and emotional skills that support their academic achievement (Chang et al., 2009). These findings have made teachers all over the world recognize the numerous benefits of gaming and to include educational video game learning in their curricula. Educational video games can be categorized into two classes: Edutainment games are those designed around drilling subject matter to the user in a linear manner, while wrapping the game with entertainment aspects. Educational video games are aimed to encourage creative thinking and problem solving, and encourage greater interactivity from the user, often presented in non-linear experiences. Most educational and edutainment games are purposely developed for use within the classroom or at home to teach students. However, a number of core video games which were not purposely built for educational purposes have found use for education. Such games include strategy war games that include historical references, like the Total War franchise or the Age of Empires trilogy and an in-game encyclopaedia like Civilization.