2475-1502 (c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission. See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information. This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited. Content may change prior to final publication. Citation information: DOI 10.1109/TG.2019.2954880, IEEE Transactions on Games IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GAMES, TCIAIG-2018-0095.R2 1 A game design plot: exploring the educational potentials of history-based video games Baradaran Rahimi F., Kim B., Levy R.M., and Boyd J.E. Abstract—The number of video games that are developed based on real historical events and evidence is increasing. These history-based video games provide players learning opportunities, but a certain type of such games – first and third person shooters - has not been carefully examined for their potentials. Knowing what players say about their game experience - even if the information and knowledge are inaccurate - helps researchers understand what type of learning could happen with such games. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach to assessing games as learning environments, using the method of comparing authenticity of popular history-based video games. Through a qualitative data analysis, we studied players’ comments on the web-based communication services, such as game forums, digital distribution platforms, and discussion websites. Casual players’ conversations on these websites showed that there exist several learning potentials in the games for players including building their understanding about history and historical forces of the time, through personally relating to the specific events, social artifacts, and places. Index Terms— Communications technology, E-learning, History-based video games, Web-based communication services —————————— ◆ —————————— 1 INTRODUCTION here exist controversies about historical video games, especially first and third-person shooter games, if they have potential to support learning. For example, ac- cording to McCall (2016, p.526), “the presence of choice and thus counter factual outcomes raise some objections to historical games and their portrayal of the past." Some, however, assert that the video games of historical contexts might provide a useful and motivating method of learning about history and social history (Connolly et al., 2012; and McCall 2018). Social history concentrates upon the social, economic, and cultural institutions of a people and “em- phasizes the forces that drive human behavior” (McCall, 2012, p. 20). While historical events such as revolutions and wars form a considerable part of the history, architecture and urban life of people are significant parts of the social history. History-based video games can provide players with a representation of social history. Yet, the educational values can get lost in the entertainment aspects of such games. Consequently, many historical details and values of these games remain as a background for players, if noticed at all. We recognize the richness of the commercial games re- gardless of their success. While we point to the relative shortage of adopting their learning potentials, we also acknowledge the danger of reducing the multi-facetted hu- man history to the history of militarism and violence. There exist methods of user-testing to understand how players interact with new games (Desurvire & El-Nasr, 2013). However, there are not enough systematic ways to maximize different learning values of commercial history- based video games, especially first and third-person shoot- ers, for casual players. These games provide historical en- vironments rendered in 3D and navigated by a player agent. Yet, they include some violent interactions regard- ing their first and third-person shooter nature. Presumably these games can provide the players with historical sights, sounds, and spaces as well as animated characters capable of talking and interacting within the historical environ- ment of the game. These games provide a different experi- ence from the history-based strategy games, such as Civi- lization, which Chapman, Foka, and Westin (2017) catego- rizes as conceptual-approach games. Such history games as Civilization have been studied and proven to be useful for learning purposes (e.g. Squire & Barnett, 2004). How- ever, most of these games are played from the "bird’s eye view" as an invisible ruler, who does not experience the so- cial history. In contrast and as a result of their view, first and third person-shooter games have the potential to pro- vide players with sense of presence in the historical events of the game. Conversations of casual players on web-based commu- nication services such as game forums, digital distribution platforms, and discussion websites reveal the learning po- tentials in commercial video games (McCall 2018). Yet, each game’s depiction of the history is value-laden, and there needs a systematic way to understand the values con- veyed by these commercial games. How can the learning potentials for the players – to inquire into history in rela- tion to the historical authenticity of different video games – be studied and compared? The goal of this paper is to investigate the learning opportunities that players may have with commercial history-based video games (i.e., his- torically oriented, situated, or themed video games). Based xxxx-xxxx/0x/$xx.00 © 200x IEEE Published by the IEEE Computer Society ———————————————— • Baradaran Rahimi, F. is with the Computational Media Design (CMD) pro- gram, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada. E-mail: far- zan.baradaran@ucalgary.ca • Kim. B. is with the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada. E-mail: beaumie.kim@ucalgary.ca • Levy, R.M. is with the Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Cal- gary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada E-mail: rmlevy@ucalgary.ca • Boyd, J.E. is with the Department of Computer Science, University of Cal- gary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada E-mail: jboyd@ucalgary.ca T T