Back to Serious Gaming
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Serious Gaming

Have you ever wondered how playing games can help us to train people, deal with societal challenges or raise awareness of contemporary social issues? In this MOOC you will learn the ins and outs of games that are designed with exactly those purposes in mind: serious games. We will define serious games and discuss the different types that have been developed. We will explain why people like to play them and what impact they may have. State of the art theories from game studies, philosophy and media psychology will be used to help you understand how serious games work and how they appeal to players. The potential impact of gaming is addressed in detail by discussing persuasive games, which aim at changing the player's attitude. Throughout the MOOC, theoretical insights will be illustrated with playful animations and case studies of serious games that are developed by world-class companies in the city of Rotterdam. This MOOC is particularly interesting for you when you are a student considering to study digital media such as serious games, a professional interested in the opportunities these games may create for your organization, or a game developer who wants to know more about the impact serious games can have. Note that this MOOC will not teach you how to design a serious game. Watch the teaser for this MOOC here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqjY1KSsEx8 Are you ready to broaden your vision on serious games? Join this course and be inspired!

Status: Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR)
Status: Program Evaluation
Course9 hours

Featured reviews

FD

4.0Reviewed Mar 23, 2025

Interesting information, clear presentation of the contents. Some more information on how to create a serious game would be nice. For a course on gaming, I expected more gamification in the course!

IH

5.0Reviewed Jan 2, 2021

Very interesting well structured and highly informative course. this course is related to game design, psychology, gamification, engagement, and motivation theories.

SC

5.0Reviewed Aug 21, 2022

Amazing course with useful and detailed information. Lecture video is short and direct, perfect for anyone interested in Serious Gaming but don't know where to start from!

JS

5.0Reviewed Nov 1, 2022

Really Wonderful! Never thought of these much impact can be given by games, especially, serious games. The research methods the instructors showed will help in the future research.

JB

5.0Reviewed Jun 5, 2016

This was my first MOOC. I am still in the middle of the course but it is very interesting. The content is very clear and well structured.

JZ

4.0Reviewed Jun 16, 2016

This is a fast pace course and I hope the instructors could explain a little bit more on some difficult concepts rather than just giving short descriptions.

AB

5.0Reviewed Nov 21, 2022

A compact and concise course on serious gaming. The course provides us with necessary theory and case studies to provide the real life applications.

KK

5.0Reviewed Jan 7, 2017

An interesting course to learn about serious gaming overview. It deliverded with examples and good reference in youtube and websites to view examples of such serious games.

NF

5.0Reviewed May 4, 2020

I really enjoyed this course. Both the videos and challenges (quizzes and graded homework). I learned very interesting concepts and notions.

PV

5.0Reviewed Jan 11, 2024

The course is very well prepared and of a high quality. I liked the videos, game examples, and even quizzes. I am very satisfied with this course.

PM

5.0Reviewed Aug 22, 2018

For the ones who don't know about serious game, this is a good introductory course, with good samples and it is very clear to present the different types of serious games.

RB

5.0Reviewed Jan 8, 2021

Great course, really good examples. Projects needed to do and qualify helped me a lot to understand how to create my own serious game projects.

All reviews

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