Development of Computer Games by Students

Background

Gamification today covers more and more areas of public life and is being explored by various experts. For example, O. Pedreira and colleagues examined the application of gamification in software development (Pedreira et al., 2020). J. Wozniak analyzes the problems of gamification in reward systems (Wozniak, 2020). Experts note that gamified approaches create a space for inspiration (Patricio et al., 2018). Also, R. Patricio et al. believe that gamification enhances co-creation by providing a structured peer-to-peer approach that ensures close interaction between different participants (Patricio et al., 2020). When using gamification approaches in teaching, teachers note that student engagement increases in all categories: from junior school children to adults. Fun (interest) had a significant and positive indirect effect on perceived learning through young students’ attitudes towards coding (Tizsa and Markopoulos, 2021). By thoroughly utilizing gamification, teachers could direct their classroom activity towards success in raising engagement and achievement (Stott and Neustaedter, 2013). Sergi Villagrasa and his colleagues found that students who study 3D using gamification techniques perform better (Villagrasa et al., 2014). Gamification applications are effective in developing positive student behavior. Students and parents had positive views of the gamification applications (Hursen and Bas, 2019). Of course, gamification is not only beneficial. Toda A.M. and colleagues identified four negative effects: Indifference, Loss of performance, Undesired behavior, and Declining effects (Toda et al., 2017).

When introducing gamification in education, teachers use approaches typical for games, including computer games. Game techniques and mechanisms can be implemented in the learning process by activities aimed at achieving specific educational goals, increasing student motivation, and involving students in a friendly competitive environment (Kiryakova et al., 2014). Game training has deep historical roots. Games have been used in schools long before the advent of computers. Carers especially effectively utilize this method for preschoolers and primary school teachers. A game teaches, develops, educates, and socializes. A computer game can be viewed as a development of an ordinary game. Of course, there is a fundamental difference – in a computer game, a child communicates with virtual talkers or rivals. Or communication can be with friends but through the network. Even when children participating in an online game are in the same room, they rarely speak directly to each other.

But a computer game has other advantages – it has more opportunities for modeling the environment and developing an interesting dynamic algorithm. For example, Maskeliūnas et al. (2020) authors describe a serious interactive game for teaching JavaScript programming. The game encourages interactivity and pursues deeper learning of programming concepts. Educational computer games have a positive impact as a pedagogic tool on the educational process. At the same time, experts note that games with highly integrated educational content perform better than those games with loosely integrated content (Mostafa and Faragallah, 2019).