Chang Huan Ying, Wong Li Lian, Yap Kai Zhen, Yap Kevin Yi-Lwern
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore , Singapore .
Games Health J. 2016 Feb;5(1):40-9. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2015.0028. Epub 2016 Jan 21.
Serious games are becoming popular in various healthcare domains. However, they should be designed to cater toward learners' perspectives, needs, and specifications in order to be used to their full potential in education. This study investigated the gaming experiences, motivations, and preferences of pharmacy students.
An anonymous self-administered survey obtained participant demographics, gaming experiences (enjoyment level of different game genres, years of experience, gaming frequency and duration, and motivations), and gaming preferences (on in-game rewards, settings, storylines, perspectives, and styles). Descriptive statistics, t tests, analysis of variance, chi-squared tests, and Fisher's exact tests were used for analysis.
The response rate was 69.1 percent (465/673 undergraduates). Role-playing games (RPGs) (4.12 ± 1.07) and massively multiplayer online RPGs (MMORPGs) (3.81 ± 1.26) had the highest enjoyment ratings. Males enjoyed imagination games (e.g., RPGs, MMORPGs) more than females, whereas females enjoyed simulation games more. Top motivating factors for respondents were progressing to the next level (3.63 ± 1.19), excitement (3.33 ± 1.33), and a feeling of efficacy when playing (3.02 ± 1.16). Unlocking mechanisms (25.2 percent) and experience points (17.6 percent) were the most popular in-game reward systems. Most respondents preferred a fantasy/medieval/mythic setting (59.8 percent) and an adventurer storyline (41.3 percent), with similar proportions preferring competitive (35.3 percent), cooperative (33.3 percent), and collaborative (30.8 percent) game styles.
Different groups of pharmacy students differ in their gaming experiences, motivating factors, and preferences. There is no "one size fits all" game that is suitable for all pharmacy education. Such differences should be considered when developing a pharmacy game in order to cater to the diverse student population.
严肃游戏在各个医疗领域正变得越来越流行。然而，为了在教育中充分发挥其潜力，它们应设计得符合学习者的观点、需求和规格。本研究调查了药学专业学生的游戏体验、动机和偏好。
一项匿名的自填式调查问卷收集了参与者的人口统计学信息、游戏体验（不同游戏类型的喜爱程度、游戏年限、游戏频率和时长以及动机）和游戏偏好（关于游戏内奖励、场景、故事情节、视角和风格）。使用描述性统计、t检验、方差分析、卡方检验和费舍尔精确检验进行分析。
回复率为69.1%（465/673名本科生）。角色扮演游戏（RPG）（4.12±1.07）和大型多人在线角色扮演游戏（MMORPG）（3.81±1.26）的喜爱评分最高。男性比女性更喜欢想象类游戏（如RPG、MMORPG），而女性更喜欢模拟类游戏。受访者最主要的激励因素是升级（3.63±1.19）、兴奋感（3.33±1.33）以及游戏时的效能感（3.02±1.16）。解锁机制（25.2%）和经验值（17.6%）是最受欢迎的游戏内奖励系统。大多数受访者更喜欢奇幻/中世纪/神话场景（59.8%）和冒险故事情节（41.3%），偏好竞争（35.3%）、合作（33.3%）和协作（30.8%）游戏风格的比例相近。
不同组别的药学专业学生在游戏体验、激励因素和偏好方面存在差异。不存在适用于所有药学教育的“一刀切”游戏。在开发药学游戏时应考虑这些差异，以满足多样化的学生群体需求。
