Monkey tales over time
The follow-up interviews after six months revealed that only two respondents (out of the six that agreed to have a follow-up interview) continued playing the game for more than three months after introducing the game. The respondents mentioned two main reasons: on the one hand, the game was introduced in May. This meant that two months later, the summer holidays started, during which most children had other activities to engage in. On the other hand, most players stopped playing after they had finished the final level of the game: this is a consequence of the ‘game of progression’
structure (see Section 5.1). The game allows players to play the mini games separately, but not the 3D world levels (see
Fig. 4) in which the math games are embedded. The only way of replaying the 3D world levels is by creating a new avatar, and restarting the game narrative. For only two respondents, the game ‘lasted longer’ than the game narrative: respondent 2 played individual mini games, and respondent 4 created a new avatar, and restarted the entire game
narrative. The other respondents stopped playing the game after finishing the last game level, with respondents 2, 5 and 7 reporting in the follow-up interview they would have liked to replay individual 3D world levels. The respondents’ parents also commented on this: if they would buy an educational game for their children, they expect it to last longer than a few play sessions. In this sense, the game structure in which only mini games can be played individually has implications for the lifespan of the game.