KnowledgeWar 2.0: A Pervasive Knowledge War Game

Abstract

This thesis set out to study how a pervasive multiplayer lightweight Role-Playing Game could be used within higher education in order to motivate and engage students. The primary research goal was to study the educational effect of this type of game, while a secondary research goal was to experiment with HTLM5 and JavaScript to build a cross-platform friendly solution. The game was tested in two user experiments on voluntary students having taken the course Software Architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Data from these user experiments were collected through a custom-made quantitative questionnaire and a System Usability Scale, as well as informal group discussions with the participants of the experiments. The results indicate that students found the game to be both fun and educational. However, results further indicate that the game need more of both gameplay and game world content, in order to "disguise" its educational content well enough to make students want to play the game regularly. The thesis concludes that more gameplay elements needs to be added to the game in order to fully reach its potential as both a pervasive game and a RPG game. By doing so the results indicate that the game has the potential to become a successful educational aid in higher education.