Exploring gaming mechanisms to enhance knowledge acquisition in virtual worlds

3D environments are very popular among gamers and ever more used for simulations and serious games. The educational value of setting an adventure/simulation in a Virtual World (VW) is significant, in particular when training a workforce in performing dangerous/special tasks. However, when it comes to the exploration of a world to learn from it - as it happens in several real-life experiences - there is the risk that a lot of "knowledge in the world" is wasted because of a lack of appropriate guidance and the difficulty of providing more in-depth information about some items without interrupting the flow of the game. This paper discusses a Virtual Reality (VR) environment - aimed at promoting a meaningful interaction with artistic heritage - that has been enhanced with embedded microGames (mGs). mGs challenge the player to discover/investigate historical/artistic details related to a reconstructed area and virtually interact with pieces of the heritage in their context. mGs can be thought of as sort of 1-level links in the "hypertext" represented by the 3D environment where the player lives her/his cultural adventure. Preliminary informal tests have suggested that the approach is valid and also provided some guidelines about how to properly and smoothly integrate mGs in a 3D environment, which is an important requirement in order not to startle/distract the player.

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