Abstract
This article explores the use of modding as a formal tool for learning history. The article examines data from a formal analysis of Europa Universalis IV (EUIV), a survey of 331 EUIV forum participants and a case study of 18 university participants. Significant quantitative survey data indicated that 45% (149/331) of participants had modified EUIV, and of the 125 participants who responded with comments about modding, a significant number (86/125 responses or 68.8%) explained how they had learnt about history, geography or other subjects through the modding process. Closer analysis of survey and case study responses and mods reveals the variety of ways participants learnt and critiqued history through the modding process. The article discusses the data and the pedagogical affordance of modding in a few steps. First, the article briefly explores the evidence that indicates modding is popular within the EUIV gaming community. In this instance, it examines whether given the popularity of gaming practice, modding might also be seen as a new casual form of engagement with games. Second, the article reviews the modding process in EUIV and examines how both playing and creating mods may be beneficial for learning history. Modding is examined in terms of its pedagogical importance and the unique educational opportunities it may offer that are not otherwise accessible through other forms of game-based learning. Finally, the article explores how and what the case study participants learnt when they were tasked with creating and implementing playable mods to demonstrate their understanding of history. Overall, the article considers the growing importance of mods, how learners can create and represent history using mods and how mods can provide a platform for learners to develop their own critique and analysis of official history.
Keywords
Introduction
Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch programmer and early pioneer of computer science, was attributed with saying: ‘Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes’ (Haines, 1993: 4). Comparably, the informal gaming practice of modding is more about developing new game content than simply being a computational practice. This article argues that the practice of modding has significant educational benefits, aligning with existing scholarship that has linked modding to the informal and formal learning, mainly of computing skills (El-Nasr and Smith, 2006: 17–19; Yucel et al., 2006: 144, 154–155). Scacchi (2010: 2) defines modding as the practice of customising, tailoring and remixing gaming objects such as content, software or hardware with mods being the products of this process. This article advances this existing research by examining how modding supports historical analysis and learning in
This article illustrates the educational utility of modding by first examining the popularity of modding in gaming communities as a form of game engagement. The research data indicated a significant level of interest in modding by
The popularity of modding
Modding and altering games has existed in the form of analogy games, long before the appearance of digital games. Analogy games such as board games, cards games and wargames have always been altered to make new variations and new games. In the past, analog games like chess were used as models to design more complex wargames such as Koenigspiel in 1664 and then later Kriegsspiel wargames (Setear and Lastowka, 1999). Such wargames were consistently modified throughout history with new complex wargaming variants emerging to cater to the changing nature of war (Caffrey, 2000: 44–45; Perla, 1990: 109–110). In more modern contexts, the well-known game Monopoly (Magie and Darrow, 1935) is thought to have over 1500 variants (Horton, 2003), and the My Monopoly version (Darrow, 2014) encourages players to alter most aspects of the game to create their own unique Monopoly game. Boards games and hobby games have even been altered for pedagogical applications such as adapting Dungeons and Dragons (Gygax and Arneson, 1974) to teach maths, social studies, literature and writing in elementary school (Carter, 2011), or altering the board game CO₂ (Lacerda, 2012) to teach climate policy at a university (Castronova and Knowles, 2015). However, it was during the early 1990s that modding culture would take hold in the digital games community.
Digital games mods and modding tools existed during the 1980s and early 1990s for games such as
Many Grand Strategy games, and many other genres, allow players with little computer programming knowledge to easily create, publish and share mods. However, while playing a mod requires no initial training, certain aspects of modding itself does require specific skills. These skills are not just relevant to gaming or modding culture, but could be applied in other settings, such as education (Apperley and Walsh, 2012: 115–122). The modding process is one of the elements of gaming culture some educators identify as occurring in a unique space where unofficial but nonetheless work-relevant literacies are developed, which arguably is the purpose of education (Apperley and Walsh, 2012: 115–122; Hong and Chen, 2014: 302–303).
Chapman (2016: 22 and 222) suggests that while playing an unmodified game, player-historians
1
can to some degree customise history. However, he also explains players who are modders can escape the constraints of the game to a much greater extent and alter content as they see fit. For example, a modder of
Despite these limitations, game design initiatives have emerged to make games more individualised and moddable. One notable aspect of this design initiative is the ability to mod games that are inclusive of marginalised cultures, including Indigenous communities. This approach is a particularly notable aspect of gaming when members of those marginalised communities’ mod content, presenting the means for cultural expression. For instance, work by LaPensée et al. (2010) examined how Native American youths in Canada became involved in developing a new game to depict the histories of the Iroquois. By persuading the Native American community in Montreal to become involved, Mohawk youths were able to convey their families’ stories in a creative, respectful and culturally sensitive manner. Here, game design and by extension modding, reaches beyond the parameters of computer skills education and directly connects modders to the study of history. Hence, the modding process may be capitalised on in formal education settings and used as a means to both learn and communicate history.
Before examining the various elements of modding as a practice, it is important to establish how modding communities operate and the involvement of game developers in related processes. Developers’ stances on modding tends to vary, with some developers, for instance Blizzard, banning community mods and add-ons outright for certain games, for example,
Method and research design
This article uses three data sources to support its argument: A formal analysis of
Formal analysis
The formal analysis sought to understand the pedagogically valuable elements of
EUIV forum survey method
The survey revealed player attitudes and experiences regarding
EUIV forum survey participants
The survey recruited 331 survey participants via the official Paradox Interactive online
While the survey provided useful data about informal learning within the
EUIV forum survey design and analysis
Thematic analysis was inductively used to describe and interpret both the survey forum data and the university case study data. Thematic analysis is a useful and common method for finding, grouping and understanding themes across data and datasets (Braun and Clarke, 2006: 79; Guest et al., 2011: 10–11). While the forum survey data indicated quite general quantitative findings about modding
University case study method
The case study explored the pedagogical use of
University case study participants
The 18 case study participants were enrolled in various degrees including business, history, medicine, media, engineering and science and levels of degrees including bachelors, masters and PhD. There were 14 men and 4 women between the ages of 18 and 32 years who served as participants of the case study. The participants were of different nationalities including Australian, Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean, Filipino and New Zealander. The case study participants were divided into two game-based learning (GBL) groups: one engaged in a historical roleplay simulation and the other modding
University case study design and analysis
The author used a single-case study analysis of one group of university students along with a knowledge-driven model as the intent was to develop knowledge that would have an application in a classroom context (Yin, 1981: 107). Critical analysis (Ennis, 1993: 180; LeJeune, 1997) was used to understand and analyse the comments, biases and arguments of the developers, survey participants and case study participants. By analysing
Modding and the EUIV community
The responses from the
In the
Although the
The
Learning history through mods and modding
Previous research into modding has found it to be a useful tool for largely teaching and learning information technology (IT), but also history to a lesser extent (Yucel et al., 2006: 154; El-Nasr and Smith, 2006: 18–19; Squire 2011). In one particular case, researchers used modding to teach IT proficiencies to female students in middle to high school (Yucel et al., 2006: 154). It was found modding helped improve the students’ motivation and self-efficiency with computers and improved their IT skills. A similar case study found modding promoted learning about programming, geometry, modelling, animation and even architectural design (El-Nasr and Smith, 2006: 18–19). These learning outcomes were shaped by the skills and knowledge required to design the game mod. Research by Squire (2011) found students learnt about history through modding, this is to be discussed further in the article. The findings from the
Two survey participants who started creating mods ultimately found modding required substantial work and therefore discontinued the process. Nonetheless, these participants still commented that modding provided a worthwhile experience for learning about history. As one survey participant stated: ‘I spent a while reading about historical events that I thought I could add to the game. The mod didn't work but the reading and learning was fun’. One survey participant similarly said they ‘tried to make a Friesian mod’, but learnt that Friesian history was ‘so complex’ that they abandoned the project. In cases where the mod was discontinued or did not function, survey participants evidently still learnt about history, relating findings to those by Anderson et al. (2018) who found initial failures in-game still resulted in considerable learning gains for the player, outcomes they called ‘productive failures’.
Modding helped survey participants understand and gain knowledge of specific histories of the world, often those less understood from a Western perspective. Several survey participants mentioned modding had encouraged them to research and reflect on very specific histories. As one survey participant stated: ‘I tried making a mod for ancient China, and did extensive research on the provincial system of the Three Kingdoms period’. Another survey participant commented that creating a mod on India ‘has been my motivation for purchasing a number of books on Indian history from university publishers’. An additional survey participant revealed how they had created several mods that changed the gameplay of Native American nations to allow them to grow independent of colonial and land expansion.
These participants’ mods were evidently limited by the broader framework of imperialism and the colonial logic of ‘When modding I’ve come across information I mightn’t have read otherwise. I feel that in many cases some regions seem to have little attention given to them. Like how for many, when they think of Italy in an historical context, think of the Romans, many wouldn’t know of cultures like the Gauls of Northern Italy or the Etruscans of Etruria. The first stage of making a mod for a strategy game based in history is research. I’ve learnt many new facts and discovered new information in researching for my mods I’ve made, or are making’.
This survey participant’s response shows their awareness of the marginalised status of certain historical groups, but also that they were able, through the modding process, to discover and learn about these marginalised histories. Together these examples show that through modding, participants were able to create new game content obtained through research, which participants found to be a worthwhile learning exercise.
There were similar findings in the case study, which showed participants learnt about history through the technical aspects of the Anna’s mod relays the narrative of ‘La Noche Triste’, the significant defeat of the Spanish at the hands of the Aztecs.
Anna’s mod cites certain important information: a date, a specific location, an important character, the nations involved in the event, the size of armies, the goods lost in the conflict and the name of the event. To create a mod with this kind of historical detail, Anna needed to conduct in-depth research on the event, which consequently led to her learning about history through mod construction.
Collectively, the survey and case study showed that mods are beneficial for learning history because the modding process necessitates research which prompted participants to find, read and reference history. It was revealed the modding process was useful for learning Western and non-Western histories and that it was a useful learning exercise, even when mods were not completed. Evidence suggests the educational importance of modding may be more about the historical research than the creation of the mod itself, even though the two were intertwined in the modding process in
Importance of historical research
Despite the tendency towards creating counterfactuals in
One survey participant made an interesting comment about the importance of historical research to more accurately depict marginalised nations and cultures. While believing they were not ‘learning anything new’, the participant also explained that they ‘changed some things about a region poorly represented back then’, that being South America. Arguably, despite thinking they did not learn from the process, it is clear that some level of historical learning must have occurred considering the participant’s ability to reshape this aspect of history. By correcting perceived inaccuracies in the history portrayed in
Indeed, historical authenticity and research forms a highly important part of modding with one survey participant noting that if a mod was not well-researched, other players in the community would point out the mod’s inaccuracies and misinformation: ‘You have to do research, otherwise people come and point it out at the mod’s page’. In this instance, social pressures, expectations and exchanges within the broader gaming community remind contributors to be more vigilant in the quality of the historical content of their mod. Therefore, mods do not exist in isolation, but form part of the processes of shared content creation and community engagement. Other games with modding tools such as
Playing with mods
From the
Other survey participants found mods historically informative when they added content about nations and histories that were not otherwise included in the game. As one survey participant commented: ‘The
In other instances, participants who played mods commented on how they learnt about more detailed geography and region-specific histories through the process. One survey participant recounted: ‘I used different mods that changed the map, so I learned more details of the geography’, while another explained: ‘I played several region-specific mods that added more events and mechanics, and through these I would search up to know more about them’. Mods seemed to spark further historical interest for participants, prompting them to undertake research, creating a cyclical effect of historical interest, research and play. As such, many participants indicated that because mods were more historically informative, they were more interesting and engaging to play than the unmodified version of the game. It was evident the dynamics between mod creation and play raised the quality of the mods’ historical content. Opportunities for players and modders to explore a variety of subject matter and to utilise modding to express different historical perspectives and understandings are discussed in the next section.
Versatility of learning through modding
Analysis of the research data in both the survey and case study showed modding helped participants to learn about history from different perspectives and often in unexpected ways, revealing the versatility of the practice and the scope of its potential learning outcomes. Different participants expressed quite varied examples of this. For instance, one survey participant modded the game in an effort to balance the gameplay. However, he discovered through modding that nations had different modifiers to represent historical understandings. Modifiers are typically linked to historical information; for instance, a nation may be famed for their army discipline, naval superiority or economic savviness, all of which are represented as modifiers that affect gameplay as that nation. Through modding, the participant learnt about the history which these modifiers represented and ultimately the reason for the game’s design choices.
A similar modding project prompted one survey participant to research the names of historical places in other languages, stating the process ‘taught me a lot’. Another participant learnt about different regions and the historical reasons for the names of those regions. On this occasion, the participant encountered interesting linguistic or language learning opportunities through modding. Another interesting learning opportunity occurred when a survey participant realised while modding the game and conducting research that his preconceived theories about history were incorrect: ‘You can’t create an event chain emulating historical development without conducting proper research before. Often I find that my previous theory on the reasons why such and such events occurred is only partially true, or sometimes outright false’.
Through the modding process, the participant evidently gained a different, more informed insight into the causes of historical events. Research outside the game is important as another study showed that only playing
The examples above show that when modders expand upon information contained in the game, or alter or improve certain historical depictions, mods can be used to confirm what modders and players already know about history, expand their knowledge on a variety of topics or even challenge their misconceptions. It was clear the participants in the study did not use any one approach to discover, research and learn history through modding, but engaged in a number of different related processes, each appeared to have educational value and encourage historical learnings. Some of the ways in which the participants achieved this is discussed in the following sections.
Counterfactual mods and scenarios to learn about history
The survey results showed that while many participants were concerned with historical accuracy in mods, some participants who modded
In a similar example, a survey participant learnt about the heralds of the nation Aragon (a historical nation located on the Iberian Peninsula) while creating a counterfactual mod. As they explained: ‘I’m not modding
Another participant learnt about the distribution of different demographics in the world by creating a counterfactual mod: ‘I was modding an alternative history scenario, and in so doing I familiarised myself with historical maps. It was useful for learning about historic distributions of ethnicities, religions, etc.’. In yet another case, a participant learnt about cultural titles and names while developing a fantasy mod: ‘I made a fantasy nation but rooted in history, so I had to look up traditional names and titles from the culture it was based on’. These examples clearly show that even modding counterfactuals are valuable for developing an understanding of factual history.
A similar finding emerged from the case study. Henry, a 31-year-old political science PhD student, was a regular gamer. He often played real-time and turn-based strategy games; hence, he was familiar with many concepts in Henry’s mod illustrates a well-researched piece of analysis that allows the player to choose the factual historical outcome or a historically informed counterfactual. The event pop-up in Henry’s mod that occurred in-game placed the player at a crossroads between stopping the Aztecs’ supposed sacrificial practices or letting the practice continue.
Henry’s mod encapsulates many of the themes and influences of the Aztec-Spanish conflict, even as a counterfactual. For example, the options to either stop the Aztecs from conducting human sacrifice (an apparent Aztec religious custom) or allowing the practice to continue have different modifiers and bonuses attached to each choice. Allowing the religious practice to continue, which is the counterfactual choice, negatively affects the relationship between the Spanish and Christian nations and thus lowers piety, while stopping the practice will create conflict with the Aztecs. This type of gamified process around decision-making embodies the religious and cultural climate of the time, in which spreading the word of God and Christian values and beliefs were core to the Spanish expedition. Henry’s mod also details the reasons for Aztec religious sacrifice and the Aztec’s perceived importance of their rituals. These pieces of information provide insight into the causes and ideas behind historical events and cultures, rather than acting simply as a recount of the event itself. The concept of sacrifice was understood differently between the cultures. Hence, as the title of Henry’s mod suggests, these cultural differences created a ‘Clash of Cultures’.
Henry’s mod shows a measured analysis and expression of the Aztec-Spanish conflict and some of the religious and cultural differences that led to the event occurring. Written in similar prose to an essay, Henry’s description of his mod articulates the influencing factors and their eventual outcome as a historical event that is playable in-game. The mod encapsulates a slice of history while also alluding to a much larger historical theme and the underlying factors that led not only to the conflict itself, but to the entire relationship between the Spanish and the Aztecs.
Henry’s mod shows that a counterfactual, while factually incorrect, is still grounded in a plausible historical context. Hence, this counterfactual option still communicates valuable underlying themes and influences of the era and the climate of the time. This proposition is consistent with Chapman’s (2016: 256) view of counterfactuals and shows that while counterfactual mods usually change a specific historical event, they are based in a simulation of authenticity.
A counterfactual mod as a rejection of empire building
Modding exercise participant Ethan, a 27-year-old education student, often played strategy and roleplay games and was comfortable navigating Ethan’s mod encourages the player to focus on peaceful interactions and expansion in the New World and punishes aggressive player behaviour.
Ethan’s mission mod touches on the importance of trade and the quest for gold in Central America as the main reasons for European expansion. In this sense, it reflects well-known themes in history. However, Ethan’s emphasis on prosperous relations with Indigenous nations and expansion through peaceful means is a refreshing take and a creative alternative to the typical colonial gameplay of
Modding personal interests and expertise into the game
In another case, one participant used his knowledge from his discipline of study and personal interests to inform the creation of his mod. Paul, a 25-year-old Medical student, only infrequently played games and the games were a mix of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), mobile and strategy games. Paul was also tasked with creating a mod about the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Paul drew upon his medical expertise and interest in diseases to create a mod about the spread of disease that coincided with the Spanish invasion. He even listed the symptoms of smallpox in true medical fashion, as shown in Figure 5. Paul’s mod highlights the flexibility of modding and again shows how modding practices can facilitate learning about histories from multiple perspectives. This type of approach could allow for a more personalised, meaningful and interesting learning experience for any player. Paul’s mod reflects his medical interest and expertise as he focuses on the European diseases brought to the Americas, citing the symptoms of smallpox in true medical fashion.
In Squire’s research (2011: 177–178), students who played
History and the present
Although many of the case study participants chose to focus on larger historical events or narratives associated with the Aztec-Spanish conflict, one student developed her mod based on one specific individual. For Beth, a 26-year-old food science student, Beth’s mod focuses on the historical figure, Malintzin, who played a pivotal role in the Aztec-Spanish conflict.
Modding as a novel form of game-based learning and expression
As this section has shown, while participants were all assigned the same modding task, there were differences in their historical focus and perceptions, and mod implementation. The mods reflected specific events in the Aztec-Spanish conflict while also describing the overarching historical narrative, and participants depicted events and individuals and their influence on contemporary society based on their own interests. They integrated their experiences and knowledge into their mods while also using them to reshape history and present their own perspectives and ideologies. While each participant took a different historical view and created a different mod, each was based on the main themes of the Early Modern era, the colonisation of the New World and the conflict between the Spanish and the Aztecs. Although the task and general topic was the same for all participants, similar to typical written assessment tasks, the critical analysis and creative outputs were widely different, yet equally valid. The versatility of the participants’ approaches indicates there may be potential to implement mods as a form of expression and learning, similar to how video games have been used more generally for educational purposes (Loh and Byun, 2009: 422; Squire, 2011). Modding is a design-orientated form of learning that allows players to represent history through game processes, mechanics and visuals rather than with just words. As such, modding may for some students be an easier and more appealing way of learning, and most importantly, a different means of expressing learning compared to traditional written forms of textbooks and assessment. Furthermore, when players are modding they need to enter a mindset, much like researching for an essay, in order to construct a narrative to communicate to the person playing the mod. The narrative includes elements of historical cause and effect, various historical factors (political, economic, social, etc.), and a number of historical themes. However, in addition to essay research type skills, modders can represent historical narratives in games in a larger variety of ways such as through different game mechanics, character interactions, objectives of the player, game processes, rewards, player strategies, etc. Moreover, games also have the added element of physical historical representations from clothing to architecture, something which is hard to communicate through written works. These different forms of game representation provide the player with a considerable suite of tools he/she can use to creatively represent history compared to a written text. Moreover, the modding process may allow research and analysis of more visual historical information (e.g. architecture, cloths, weapons, foods) that would also be hard to research and communicate through written text.
The educational value of mods is twofold. First, the process of modding provides a different avenue for experiential learning, whereby a student developing a mod learns about certain elements of history. The modding process, similar to other forms of GBL, exhibits many of the principles of deep learning (Houghton, 2004: 9–11; Ramsden, 2003: 42–43), such as active interactions, linking knowledge together, linking knowledge to real life and looking for meaning in content. Moshirnia (2007) notes that when users mod, they are engaging in higher-order thinking skills as they analyse, synthesise, evaluate and revise an existing game. These processes are involved in deep learning which requires critical engagement, analysis and other higher-order thinking attributes. The mods in this research clearly exhibited sophisticated and critical understandings of the history they portrayed.
Second, mods provide an avenue for expressing critical historical analysis. It was evident all participants understood the major historical concepts and themes of the Aztec-Spanish conflict while also producing mods from completely different perspectives and with different implications for gameplay. The case study mods showed genuine historical and educational value as the perspectives expressed through them demonstrated the participants were evaluating established historical themes as well as historical content beyond the parameters of dominant historical narratives. Consequently, modding provided participants with considerable flexibility to express critical and creative thinking around the given topic. Moreover, as in the
Limitations of study
Due to resource limitations, the research was unable to access a university history class to implement the case study, which may have given more contextual and insightful data on the success of
Another limitation of the case study involved the findings from the historical simulation roleplay. This activity did not show consistent or strong results compared to the modding exercise. A possible explanation for this deficit was that participants did not have mastery of the game, which can take weeks to learn and comprehend. Due to the case study’s short timeframe, the historical simulation participants only had several hours to learn and then play the game; thus, they may not have been fully engaging with and learning from the game. However, these results highlight the important role of teacher instruction and integration of external historical sources to complement the history in-game. Including these elements when implementing historical games in higher education would support arguments for engaging learners with other forms of gaming practices including modding.
Recommendations for modding in an educational context
From the researcher’s perspective, the modding process includes a number of steps that the case study participants followed and that could likely be incorporated into educational settings, these being: Identifying historical ideas and interests: The educator or student identifies a historical topic for mod creation based on the curriculum or their own interest. The educator should consider the time investment and mod viability given the constraints of the game’s coding structure. Research and information collection: The student undertakes research on their topic. They must seek and evaluate different resources to acquire relevant information, including books, videos, websites or even their own experiences. Historical analysis and evaluation: The student collates, analyses and synthesises the collected information to produce their own historical analysis. The student might store a written analysis in a Microsoft Word document for later insertion into the game. Translating analysis into game content: The student inserts their historical analysis into Quality assurance and tweaks: Once implemented in
Figure 7 highlights the process of modding The process for creating historically-based 
The research suggests that modding could be implemented in a formal learning setting because it does not just involve playing a game but also could involve engaging in a variety of activities that could include reading historical texts, visiting museums and historical sites, learning from history experts, holding discussions with other students on historical topics, attending modding workshops and creating accompanying documents (e.g. After Action Reports) to explain and support the mods they create. Collectively, this process helps the student to compare, contrast and interconnect the different sources of history to reflect their own content and illustrate their historical analysis. An example of how an educator might integrate An example of how an educator might implement modding in the History classroom, based on learning exercises and assessments on the topic of Australian history.
Conclusion
This article first briefly explored the popularity of modding within the
Modding could leverage student motivation and interest in informal learning to develop engaging educational practices that promote a collaborative culture within the classroom. Students would be able to share their mods, add to their mods after feedback from peers and/or have their mods assessed by their teachers. Modding involves analytical, critical, creative and computational thinking, some of the key skills required in university environments. The New South Wales State Government (2020) in Australia identified creative, critical and computational thinking as key thinking skills for the 21st century. Ellerton (2018) also suggests that critical thinking is useful for developing greater comprehension of complex ideas and understanding with different perspectives. Ritter and Mostert (2017) explain that creative thinking is imperative in an ever-changing world and their study of 32 university students showed it can be facilitated through training. Furthermore, Wing (2019) points out the importance of computational thinking in the realm of the arts where even historic artefacts can be digitised. Through modding, students could learn how to analyse abstract historical ideas and how best to represent their analysis in a gamified framework. The modding process could provide different avenues to learn and express historical analysis for students who find more traditional speaking, reading and writing assessments a challenge. This is particularly relevant in the humanities and social sciences, where essay writing is the primary form of expression and assessment. The modding process may thereby offer many benefits in terms of improving learning outcomes beyond more traditional classroom activities.
While some teachers and students have been sceptical about GBL (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2006), this research shows the GBL practice of modding provides quite radical avenues for student engagement and learning with positive outcomes. Educators and students could blend and interlink mods with other learning resources to target syllabus and learning outcomes. Even in
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to both Dr Brigid Costello and Associate Professor Andrew Murphie for their feedback and supervisory support during my PhD from which this paper was derived. I would also like to thank my colleague Associate Professor Dorothy DeWitt for her comments and mentorship. In addition, I am indebted to Associate Professor Thomas Apperley for his supervision and support. I must also thank both the survey and case study participants who gave their time, effort and valuable gaming insights. I would also like to thank the E-Learning and Digital Media reviewers and team for their constructive feedback and support publishing the paper.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
