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Performance Assessment in Serious Games

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Abstract

In every digital game, players both act in and interact with the game. They use the options of game mechanics to achieve goals. For example, players move a controller to steer the motions of an avatar, or they press buttons to trigger certain actions. These actions and interactions lead to certain results like a successful finish of a quest, solving a problem, or increasing a score. Both the quality and results of actions and interactions are subsumed under the term performance. Assessment of player performance is required for several purposes, for example for in-game or online adaptation and for offline evaluation. This chapter addresses the issue of performance assessment in serious games. Performance is a complex concept comprising results and processes of actions and interactions of the players in and with the game. First, generic and domain-specific models of performance are introduced to illustrate the variety of approaches. Based on this knowledge, online and offline assessments of performance are discussed. Finally, the integration of online and offline performance assessment into the process of game adaptation is described.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that two combinations have been removed because they do not make sense, i.e., finding and using facts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Josef Wiemeyer

  2. Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

    Michael Kickmeier-Rust & Christina M. Steiner

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  1. Josef Wiemeyer
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  2. Michael Kickmeier-Rust
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  3. Christina M. Steiner
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Correspondence to Josef Wiemeyer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Design, Computer Science, Med, RheinMain University of Applied Sci, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

    Ralf Dörner

  2. Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Stefan Göbel

  3. LS. f. Prakt. Informatik IV, Univ. Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Wolfgang Effelsberg

  4. Inst für Sportwissenschaft S1|17 112, Technische Univ Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany

    Josef Wiemeyer

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Wiemeyer, J., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Steiner, C.M. (2016). Performance Assessment in Serious Games. In: Dörner, R., Göbel, S., Effelsberg, W., Wiemeyer, J. (eds) Serious Games. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40612-1_10

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