Adaptivity is rarely implemented in serious games for professional competencies, no reviewed game adjusts difficulty down based on player actions, and none were found for cognitive skills¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Only a few reviewed serious games adapted difficulty to player actions, none adjusted difficulty downward, and no adaptive games were found for cognitive-skill competencies. → Bijl 2024

Evidence¶

Bijl 2024¶

Bijl, A., Veldkamp, B. P., Wools, S., & de Klerk, S. (2024). Serious games in high-stakes assessment contexts: a systematic literature review into the game design principles for valid game-based performance assessment. Education Tech Research Dev, 72, 2041–2064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-024-10362-0

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review's adaptivity synthesis (Table 7) categorizes games by whether difficulty varied dependent on or independent of player actions. It reports "Three SGs were found that adjust difficulty level based on player actions" and that none adjust difficulty down, with no adaptive games found for cognitive skills.

"Three SGs were found that adjust difficulty level based on player actions; however, none of the SGs adjusts the difficulty level down based on player actions."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• In-game behaviors collected unobtrusively in serious games show promising relationships with candidate ability level in the target professional competency — related
• Serious games are frequently successful in teaching, training, or assessing professional competencies, with reported success rates of 84% for cognitive skills, 83% for knowledge, and 100% for motor skills — related
• Serious games can provide an authentic physical context and task for professional competencies, though a small number of successful games used neither — related