EDITORIAL published: 03 May 2021 doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2021.686348 Frontiers in Computer Science | www.frontiersin.org 1 May 2021 | Volume 3 | Article 686348 Edited and reviewed by: Anton Nijholt, University of Twente, Netherlands *Correspondence: Carlos Vaz de Carvalho cmc@isep.ipp.pt Specialty section: This article was submitted to Human-Media Interaction, a section of the journal Frontiers in Computer Science Received: 26 March 2021 Accepted: 06 April 2021 Published: 03 May 2021 Citation: Vaz de Carvalho C, González González CS, Popescu E and Rugelj J (2021) Editorial: Serious Games. Front. Comput. Sci. 3:686348. doi: 10.3389/fcomp.2021.686348 Editorial: Serious Games Carlos Vaz de Carvalho 1 *, Carina Soledad González González 2 , Elvira Popescu 3 and Jože Rugelj 4 1 GILT, Instituto Superior de Engenharia Do Porto, Politécnico Do Porto, Porto, Portugal, 2 Department of Computer Engineering and Systems, Universidad de La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain, 3 Computers and Information Technology Department, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania, 4 Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia Keywords: educational games, advergames, awareness raising games, neuroscience of games, games and cognition Editorial on the Research Topic Serious Games Games are structured contexts, with clearly defined rules in which players must overcome challenges and face opponents (real or non-player characters) to achieve victory. Games offer incredibly immersive environments where users engage in “learning by doing,” receiving immediate feedback on their unsuccessful actions (therefore also learning by error) and getting instant gratification after successful attempts which contributes to their sense of accomplishment and increased self-esteem. Games (and simulations) also offer safe environments to try and learn procedures and actions that, in real life, could be dangerous or potentially damaging if not done correctly. By playing, users can improve their skills and competencies in decision making, strategy, teamwork, social skills, leadership, collaboration, etc. Serious Games focus precisely on the design, development, use, and application of games for purposes other than entertainment by exploiting the increased user motivation and engagement to promote learning, construct knowledge, sraise awareness or inspire behavior change. As such, the Serious Games domain brought together expertise from very different areas such as cognition, psychology, neurosciences, sociology, technology-enhanced education, evaluation and assessment, multimedia and information technology, interaction and simulation, etc. Serious Game research has been growing in the past few years namely trying to construct supporting theoretical framework and identifying the most effective design, implementation, and validation methodologies and models for each particular area of application and for each particular target group. This Research Topic contributes to this research effort, while truly showing the multidisciplinary nature and application of Serious Games, by presenting theory, research, practice, and validation in multiple areas. While education and training still represent the main areas of application of Serious Games (and in this Research Topic) we can also see here scientific approaches, experiments and real-life applications in psychology, social sciences, health care and other domains. In sum, we have gathered nine different research works about Serious Games showing their importance and exemplifying potential research paths. Coelho et al. present an analysis of the pervasive nature of Serious Games, their inherent meaningful gameplay and the usefulness for learning and communication. Several case studies are presented with a special focus on the BEACONING project that aimed to contextualize the teaching and learning process in STEM connecting it with problem-based and location-based game mechanics using real-world interactions and applications. Smy et al. present a study on the usability of mobile training applications in the Aeronautical industry, in particular for air traffic control. These applications represent alternatives to the equivalent current training practices (a lengthy and expensive process) and the authors conclude that digital applications have the potential to engage future trainees in the air traffic services industry.