Johanna Hall, IET

Using Digital Entertainment Games to Support the Expression and Development of Creativity in Players

Abstract: Digital entertainment games have been argued to provide a number of benefits to those that play them including facilitating intrinsic motivation and aiding in the development of a variety of skills and competencies. One area of digital games which has not been given extensive focus is in relation to their propensity to support and develop creativity in players. Creativity has been suggested to contribute towards a wealth of positive outcomes such as cognitive flexibility, emotional wellbeing and successful learning.

As such, this presentation reports the findings of a mixed-method three phase PhD project which sought to explicate the role of digital games in facilitating creativity in players. The presentation will provide an overview of a) the different expressions of creativity apparent in gaming, b) how game-based creativity may lead to learning, and c) how games may be designed to support different creative forms through the inclusion of specific design affordances.

The project findings provide several implications including for educators wishing to use digital entertainment games to develop student creativity, and for developers wishing to create games to support different creative forms.

Author bio: Johanna Hall is a research student at the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University who has recently completed her doctorate. Her research focused on the little explored area of creativity in digital games, including what forms of creativity are expressed across different types of games, how game design can support and facilitate creativity and how game-based creative practices may contribute to learning. Her research highlights the potential of digital games as tools for promoting creative behaviour both within the entertainment and educational sectors.