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Nooka Dascalu
Production
Do Learning Style , Openness to Diversity , and Engagement with an Action-Adventure Game Impact a Player ’ s Decision to Learn More about a Game ’ s Cultural Setting ( s )?
For my thesis , I wanted to learn what motivates players to interact with a video game ’ s subject matter outside of play . Specifically , I wanted to measure how a player ’ s engagement in a game set in a different culture and the player ’ s openness to diversity led them to interact more with that culture in real life , and if players with a certain learning style connected to that interest .
Additionally , I studied Indian architecture and Hinduism in order to discuss how Raji immersed the player in Indian culture through the game ’ s setting , characters , and narrative . With the skills gained from this project , I suggested some ways that developers can deliberately encourage players to pursue real-world interactions with different cultures through engaging game mechanics .
To this end , I asked people to play Raji : An Ancient Epic , an action-adventure game set in a fictionalized India , for 25-45 minutes . One month later , I asked them how much they ’ d interacted with Indian culture since .
Over the past year , I learned what makes games engaging and how to encourage people to interact with different cultures .
I chose this project for two reasons : video games are becoming increasingly diverse , and many developers are recognizing games ’ teaching strengths . Knowing the impact that games can have on player choices outside of the game is valuable information for developers , especially those creating serious games .
58 PRODUCTION