discussion
Implications for the design and evaluation of educational games
The major finding of this study is that in the home context, the balance between game aspects and educational content is not a fixed game characteristic but an emergent one. On the one hand, the nature of the game content – useful education, merely a game, or a combination of both – and the rules surrounding the game are subject to constant renegotiation between parents and children. On the other hand, in this flexible context, children have the opportunity to use various tactics to focus on the game content they are interested in, often reducing the amount of educational content they deal with. Although we have investigated this emergent balance between game aspect and educational content specifically for one specific case study, the study findings touch upon issues that are relevant for other educational games as well. To what extent do design strategies in educational games determine the balance between play and education? How does a specific context, such as the home context, relate to these design strategies, and how does it alter the balance between game aspects and educational content?