An Analysis of the Acceptance and Anxiety of a Historical Strategic Planning Game by Combining Real Person Non-player Character Mechanism

Created on 26th May 2022

Conference: The Asian Conference on Education (ACE2022)
Title: An Analysis of the Acceptance and Anxiety of a Historical Strategic Planning Game by Combining Real Person Non-player Character Mechanism
Stream: Design, Implementation & Assessment of Innovative Technologies in Education
Presentation Type: Virtual Poster Presentation
Authors:
Hung-Yu Chan, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Shu-Wei Liu, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Huei-Tse Hou, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Abstract:

Under the influence of Covid-19, distance synchronous learning has gradually become popular. Online history courses are a major challenge for teachers, as the one-way lecture and assessment may make learners lack motivation and even cause learning anxiety. History educational games allow learners to take on the role of historical figures, have the opportunity to experience historical events in simulated situations. The highly realistic game situation is expected to provide learners with a good learning experience and further reduce learning anxiety. In this study, we designed a historical strategic planning game, "The Battle of Yiwei", which incorporates a real-person NPC mechanism. The instructor acted as a NPC, and the learners would play the role of historical figures in the game and explore and interact with the real-person NPC in a realistic historical scenario to complete historical strategic planning. The study also conducted a preliminary assessment with six participants. The objectives of the learning activities were to complete the experience of three historical events in the game and to conduct strategic planning. This study also initially measured the game acceptance and activity anxiety of the learners. Based on the descriptive statistics, all three dimensions of game acceptance were above the median, with the mean of the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use dimensions exceeding 4. Activity anxiety was below the median. The preliminary results indicated that learners rated the game highly, both in terms of its usefulness for learning historical knowledge and its smoothness of operation and activity anxiety was low.