Serious Games Vs Cots
Topic 3
Comparison
Serious Games vs Commercial off the Shelf (COS)
COTS
Many COTS games have educational value
7
Oregon Trail
- history
Civilization III - history
Railroad Tycoon - History
Wii Sports
- Phys. Ed.
Serious Games
Although Serious games can be entertaining, their primary objective is to train or educate (Wikipedia).
Serious games are aimed at a large variety of audiences, but in an educational setting, can be helpful to motivate students to learn complex topics in an entertaining way.
For example, "Immune Attack" developed by the Federation of American Scientists, Brown University and the university of Southern California teaches complex biology and immunology topics to students
(Anetta, 2008).
COTS Games
In contrast to serious games, COTS games have the primary objective to entertain (Ritzhaupt, Gunter, & Jones, 2010).
Although entertainment is the primary objective, some COTS games have educational value and can be integrated into a classroom setting.
Examples of COTS games with educational value are games like Civilization III, Dimension M, Railroad Tycoon, Rise of Nations, The Sims, Wii Sports, and Zoo Tycoon and Oregon Trail.
Serious Games in the Classroom
Immune Attack
Food Force
Discover Babylon
Quest Atlantis
RATING
THE GOOD
Games teach content in an entertaining way.
THE BAD
Promote rote memorization and contain a series of quizzes to level up