Publication - How Serious is Serious Game Design?

As I have had experience on serious games during my study and minor on serious gaming, I was asked to collaborate on a research paper on the topic, and the different approaches on the design of which.

Game design is a trending multi-million business with an accompanying large body of research. Based on serious games we and our students have created over the years we identified 4 different types of approaches to serious game design. In the current paper we present 4 exemplary games spanning two main game design approaches: a goal-oriented or context focused approach, and a more entertainment-oriented approach.

We see opportunities for a better mix of the goal-oriented and entertainment-oriented in order to reach a broader target audience.