PY-RATE ADVENTURES: A 2D Platform Serious Game for Learning the Basic Concepts of Programming With Python

Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market for programmers, software analysts and engineers, a high dropout rate is recorded in relevant fields of study. Serious games are a promising...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Simulation & gaming Jg. 50; H. 6; S. 754 - 770
Hauptverfasser: Sideris, Grigorios, Xinogalos, Stelios
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.12.2019
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Schlagworte:
Academic disciplines
Basic Skills
College students
Computer & video games
Concepts
Dropping out
Educational software
Experience
Games
Gamification
Graduate studies
Incentives
Information systems
Information technology
Languages
Learner Engagement
Learning
Learning Processes
Motivation
Programming
Programming languages
Questionnaires
Secondary education
Secondary school students
Students
Teaching
Teaching methods
educational games
learning programming
perceived player experience
serious games
ISSN:1046-8781, 1552-826X
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Abstract Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market for programmers, software analysts and engineers, a high dropout rate is recorded in relevant fields of study. Serious games are a promising means of engaging students in learning programming by giving them more incentives and making the process of learning programming concepts and languages more entertaining. Aim. This article introduces a new serious game called PY-RATE ADVENTURES, which aims to assist young students in their introduction to the basic programming concepts using Python. The game does not have any prerequisites and is suitable for players with no previous knowledge of programming. This article aims to present important information regarding the analysis, design and pilot evaluation of PY-RATE ADVENTURES. Method. The game was evaluated by 31 people that had recently graduated or were students of an Interdepartmental Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Information Systems. The participants voluntarily played the game and answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ model, after their hands on experience with the game. This questionnaire’s purpose was to evaluate PY-RATE ADVENTURES in terms of perceived player experience and short-term learning. Results. The participants positively evaluated the game almost in all the elements of player experience. Furthermore, the majority of the users consider that the game helped them to learn basic programming concepts in Python and stated that they would prefer to learn programming with this game rather than other teaching methods. Conclusion. The positive results of the pilot evaluation give us the motivation to proceed and evaluate the game with students in secondary education, in order to extract stronger and generalisable conclusions regarding the impact of the game as an educational tool for learning programming concepts.
AbstractList Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market for programmers, software analysts and engineers, a high dropout rate is recorded in relevant fields of study. Serious games are a promising means of engaging students in learning programming by giving them more incentives and making the process of learning programming concepts and languages more entertaining.Aim. This article introduces a new serious game called PY-RATE ADVENTURES, which aims to assist young students in their introduction to the basic programming concepts using Python. The game does not have any prerequisites and is suitable for players with no previous knowledge of programming. This article aims to present important information regarding the analysis, design and pilot evaluation of PY-RATE ADVENTURES.Method. The game was evaluated by 31 people that had recently graduated or were students of an Interdepartmental Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Information Systems. The participants voluntarily played the game and answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ model, after their hands on experience with the game. This questionnaire’s purpose was to evaluate PY-RATE ADVENTURES in terms of perceived player experience and short-term learning.Results. The participants positively evaluated the game almost in all the elements of player experience. Furthermore, the majority of the users consider that the game helped them to learn basic programming concepts in Python and stated that they would prefer to learn programming with this game rather than other teaching methods.Conclusion. The positive results of the pilot evaluation give us the motivation to proceed and evaluate the game with students in secondary education, in order to extract stronger and generalisable conclusions regarding the impact of the game as an educational tool for learning programming concepts.
Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market for programmers, software analysts and engineers, a high dropout rate is recorded in relevant fields of study. Serious games are a promising means of engaging students in learning programming by giving them more incentives and making the process of learning programming concepts and languages more entertaining. Aim. This article introduces a new serious game called PY-RATE ADVENTURES, which aims to assist young students in their introduction to the basic programming concepts using Python. The game does not have any prerequisites and is suitable for players with no previous knowledge of programming. This article aims to present important information regarding the analysis, design and pilot evaluation of PY-RATE ADVENTURES. Method. The game was evaluated by 31 people that had recently graduated or were students of an Interdepartmental Programme of Postgraduate Studies in Information Systems. The participants voluntarily played the game and answered a questionnaire based on the MEEGA+ model, after their hands on experience with the game. This questionnaire’s purpose was to evaluate PY-RATE ADVENTURES in terms of perceived player experience and short-term learning. Results. The participants positively evaluated the game almost in all the elements of player experience. Furthermore, the majority of the users consider that the game helped them to learn basic programming concepts in Python and stated that they would prefer to learn programming with this game rather than other teaching methods. Conclusion. The positive results of the pilot evaluation give us the motivation to proceed and evaluate the game with students in secondary education, in order to extract stronger and generalisable conclusions regarding the impact of the game as an educational tool for learning programming concepts.
Author Xinogalos, Stelios
Sideris, Grigorios
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Grigorios
  surname: Sideris
  fullname: Sideris, Grigorios
  email: grigoriossideris@gmail.com
– sequence: 2
  givenname: Stelios
  surname: Xinogalos
  fullname: Xinogalos, Stelios
BookMark eNp9UEtPAjEQbgwmAnr32MTzatvddrfeEBBNiG4AX6dNXTpQwm6xLQf-vUswMSHRzGEm32Nm8nVQq7a1RuiSkmtK0_SGkkRkaUapzFKWyvQEtSnnLMqYeG81c0NHe_4MdbxfEUKZkEkbmfwjmvRmQ9wbvA6fZi-T4fQW9zAb4HytAlhX4al2xm49HqlK4wbBY61cbeoFDkuN75Q3Je7butSb4LEFnDu7cKqq9oo3E5Y434Wlrc_RKai11xc_vYtm98NZ_yEaP48e-71xVMZEhogS4IyAgETKUoLQcg6xBMaAAwiVSEgljynwBBjMiZSSZ7yBy_QzE2Ucd9HVYe3G2a-t9qFY2a2rm4sFixlvSgrZqMRBVTrrvdNQlCaoYGwdnDLrgpJin2pxnGpjJEfGjTOVcrv_LNHB4tVC_37zp_4bp1yFGQ
CitedBy_id crossref_primary_10_1016_j_entcom_2022_100521
crossref_primary_10_7717_peerj_cs_2310
crossref_primary_10_3390_app12136563
crossref_primary_10_3390_computers13030058
Cites_doi 10.1109/ICCOINS.2014.6868452
10.1145/1118178.1118215
10.1177/1046878118789976
10.1109/TLT.2016.2556666
10.15388/ioi.2016.03
10.1109/ICEEI.2009.5254771
10.1145/2568195.2568200
ContentType Journal Article
Copyright The Author(s) 2019
Copyright_xml – notice: The Author(s) 2019
DBID AAYXX
CITATION
7SC
7TA
8BJ
8FD
FQK
JBE
JG9
JQ2
L7M
L~C
L~D
DOI 10.1177/1046878119872797
DatabaseName CrossRef
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts
Materials Business File
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
Technology Research Database
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
Materials Research Database
ProQuest Computer Science Collection
Advanced Technologies Database with Aerospace
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts – Academic
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts Professional
DatabaseTitle CrossRef
Materials Research Database
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
Technology Research Database
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts – Academic
ProQuest Computer Science Collection
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts
Advanced Technologies Database with Aerospace
Materials Business File
Computer and Information Systems Abstracts Professional
DatabaseTitleList Materials Research Database

CrossRef
DeliveryMethod fulltext_linktorsrc
Discipline Social Sciences (General)
EISSN 1552-826X
EndPage 770
ExternalDocumentID 10_1177_1046878119872797
10.1177_1046878119872797
GroupedDBID --Z
-TM
-~X
.2G
.2L
.DC
01A
09Z
0R~
123
186
18M
1~K
31S
31V
31W
31X
4.4
56W
5VS
85S
AABOD
AACKU
AADIR
AADUE
AAGGD
AAGLT
AAIKC
AAJPV
AAKTJ
AAMFR
AAMNW
AANSI
AAPEO
AAQDB
AAQXI
AARIX
AATAA
AAUIH
AAWLO
AAZCK
ABAWP
ABCCA
ABCJG
ABDPE
ABEIX
ABFXH
ABHQH
ABIDT
ABIVO
ABKRH
ABPNF
ABQDK
ABQKF
ABQPY
ABQXT
ABRHV
ABUJY
ABYTW
ACAEP
ACDXX
ACFUR
ACFZE
ACGFS
ACIWK
ACJER
ACLZU
ACOFE
ACOXC
ACROE
ACRPL
ACSIQ
ACUFS
ACUIR
ADDLC
ADEBD
ADEIA
ADIYS
ADMHG
ADNMO
ADNON
ADPEE
ADRRZ
ADSTG
ADTOS
ADUKL
ADXHL
ADYCS
AEDXQ
AEOBU
AESMA
AESZF
AEUHG
AEVPJ
AEWDL
AEWHI
AEXNY
AFEET
AFFNX
AFKBI
AFKRG
AFMOU
AFQAA
AFUIA
AFWMB
AGDVU
AGKLV
AGNHF
AGNWV
AGQPQ
AGUGZ
AGWNL
AHDMH
AHWHD
AJUZI
ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS
ANDLU
ARCSS
ARTOV
AUTPY
AUVAJ
AYPQM
AZFZN
B8O
B8S
B8T
B8Z
BDZRT
BKOMP
BMVBW
BPACV
BYIEH
CAG
CBRKF
CCGJY
CEADM
COF
CS3
DD0
DD~
DG~
DOPDO
DV7
DV8
EBS
EJD
F5P
FEDTE
FHBDP
GROUPED_SAGE_PREMIER_JOURNAL_COLLECTION
H13
HF~
HVGLF
HZ~
H~9
IAO
ICO
IEA
IGS
INH
INR
IOF
ITC
IVC
J8X
MS~
MVM
N9A
O9-
OHT
P.B
PQQKQ
Q1R
Q7O
Q7P
Q7X
RIG
ROL
RXW
S01
SASJQ
SAUOL
SBI
SCNPE
SFB
SFC
SFK
SFM
SFT
SFX
SGP
SGU
SGV
SHB
SHF
SHM
SPJ
SPP
SQCSI
SSDHQ
TAE
TN5
UHB
WH7
YR5
YYQ
ZCG
ZPLXX
ZPPRI
ZY4
~32
0SE
AAEJI
AAPII
AAYXX
ABUAX
ABUFD
ACCVC
AJGYC
AJHME
AJVBE
AMNSR
CITATION
7SC
7TA
8BJ
8FD
FQK
JBE
JG9
JQ2
L7M
L~C
L~D
ID FETCH-LOGICAL-c309t-10f520f6f499c9f6e9df39f22f5ff6a49f79531f54f2fd0999585a49c7b86c33
IEDL.DBID AEVPJ
ISICitedReferencesCount 5
ISICitedReferencesURI http://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=Summon&SrcAuth=ProQuest&DestLinkType=CitingArticles&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=000485777600001&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D
ISSN 1046-8781
IngestDate Tue Nov 11 06:31:36 EST 2025
Sat Nov 29 08:16:39 EST 2025
Tue Nov 18 22:37:16 EST 2025
Tue Jun 17 22:49:12 EDT 2025
IsPeerReviewed true
IsScholarly true
Issue 6
Keywords educational games
learning programming
perceived player experience
serious games
Language English
LinkModel DirectLink
MergedId FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c309t-10f520f6f499c9f6e9df39f22f5ff6a49f79531f54f2fd0999585a49c7b86c33
Notes ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
PQID 2325252969
PQPubID 48987
PageCount 17
ParticipantIDs proquest_journals_2325252969
crossref_citationtrail_10_1177_1046878119872797
crossref_primary_10_1177_1046878119872797
sage_journals_10_1177_1046878119872797
PublicationCentury 2000
PublicationDate 20191200
2019-12-00
20191201
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD 2019-12-01
PublicationDate_xml – month: 12
  year: 2019
  text: 20191200
PublicationDecade 2010
PublicationPlace Los Angeles, CA
PublicationPlace_xml – name: Los Angeles, CA
– name: Thousand Oaks
PublicationTitle Simulation & gaming
PublicationYear 2019
Publisher SAGE Publications
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Publisher_xml – name: SAGE Publications
– name: SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
References Kumar 2014; 5
Stege, Van Lankveld, Spronck 2011; 10
Combefis, Beresnevičius, Dagienė 2016; 10
Wing 2006; 49
Galgouranas, Xinogalos 2018; 49
Malliarakis, Satratzemi, Xinogalos 2017; 10
Stege L. (bibr9-1046878119872797) 2011; 10
bibr10-1046878119872797
bibr3-1046878119872797
bibr5-1046878119872797
bibr6-1046878119872797
bibr7-1046878119872797
bibr1-1046878119872797
bibr2-1046878119872797
Giannakoulas A. (bibr4-1046878119872797) 2018
Petri G. (bibr8-1046878119872797) 2016
References_xml – volume: 10
  start-page: 219
  issue: 2
  year: 2017
  end-page: 235
  article-title: CMX: The effects of an educational MMORPG on learning and teaching computer programming
  publication-title: IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies
– volume: 10
  start-page: 39
  issue: 1
  year: 2016
  end-page: 60
  article-title: Learning programming through games and contests: Overview, characterisation and discussion
  publication-title: Olympiads in Informatics
– volume: 49
  start-page: 751
  issue: 6
  year: 2018
  end-page: 1767
  article-title: jAVANT-GARDE: A cross-platform serious game for an introduction to programming with Java
  publication-title: Simulation & Gaming
– volume: 5
  start-page: 20
  issue: 1
  year: 2014
  end-page: 21
  article-title: Digital playgrounds for early computing education
  publication-title: ACM Inroads
– volume: 10
  start-page: 1
  issue: 1
  year: 2011
  end-page: 9
  article-title: Serious games in education
  publication-title: International Journal of Computer Science in Sport
– volume: 49
  start-page: 33
  issue: 3
  year: 2006
  end-page: 35
  article-title: Computational thinking
  publication-title: Communications of the ACM
– ident: bibr1-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1109/ICCOINS.2014.6868452
– ident: bibr10-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1145/1118178.1118215
– ident: bibr3-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1177/1046878118789976
– ident: bibr7-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1109/TLT.2016.2556666
– ident: bibr2-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.15388/ioi.2016.03
– volume: 10
  start-page: 1
  issue: 1
  year: 2011
  ident: bibr9-1046878119872797
  publication-title: International Journal of Computer Science in Sport
– volume-title: MEEGA+: An evolution of a model for the evaluation of educational games
  year: 2016
  ident: bibr8-1046878119872797
– ident: bibr5-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1109/ICEEI.2009.5254771
– ident: bibr6-1046878119872797
  doi: 10.1145/2568195.2568200
– volume-title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching and Education (TECH-EDU 2018)
  year: 2018
  ident: bibr4-1046878119872797
SSID ssj0012694
Score 2.2322562
Snippet Background. Learning programming is a cognitively demanding field of study accompanied with various difficulties. Although there is a high demand in the market...
SourceID proquest
crossref
sage
SourceType Aggregation Database
Enrichment Source
Index Database
Publisher
StartPage 754
SubjectTerms Academic disciplines
Basic Skills
College students
Computer & video games
Concepts
Dropping out
Educational software
Experience
Games
Gamification
Graduate studies
Incentives
Information systems
Information technology
Languages
Learner Engagement
Learning
Learning Processes
Motivation
Programming
Programming languages
Questionnaires
Secondary education
Secondary school students
Students
Teaching
Teaching methods
Title PY-RATE ADVENTURES: A 2D Platform Serious Game for Learning the Basic Concepts of Programming With Python
URI https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1046878119872797
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2325252969
Volume 50
WOSCitedRecordID wos000485777600001&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D
hasFullText 1
inHoldings 1
isFullTextHit
isPrint
journalDatabaseRights – providerCode: PRVSPB
  databaseName: SAGE HSS Package 2015
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 1552-826X
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0012694
  issn: 1046-8781
  databaseCode: AEVPJ
  dateStart: 19990301
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: http://journals.sagepub.com/
  providerName: SAGE Publications
link http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwvV3dT9swED-Vlgde9gVoYd10D2iCh9DW-fRepqwrTBOqIqj4eIpCYm-VaItIOqn__e4ap2WbmHji1XHsxHe2f-e7-xlg3xVBN1WSJlIYurab68xmlGGnXpj7ynFzJZeJwqfBcBheXcm4AdM6F8aMYHHEYVX0RcvFmmc3n0Z3jJOxw47JkHMkyWIWgQw-z8tJUp1215dqcAm7p-cT9mxnHA-5sOvstg1oERTveU1oRYOL-PvK78B5nRV_gW9zB2vH5j99_rmRrdHpg4Cw5R51_PK5_-4VvDBoFqNK_V5DQ03fgFWl_KJZNgo8MNzWh9swjq_ts2g0QNoOB0MOuTj_hBGKrxjfpiUDaOTzutm8wJN0opBK0FDA_kDCqvglJbXCfpVsWeBMY1xFmE24xuW4_InxgvkQdmB0PBj1v9nmtgc7c7qypP1Ae6KrfU02WCa1r2SuHamF0J7WfupKHUhaMLTnaqFzBrZk6VBxFtyEfuY4u9CczqbqLSAZhd28p51U-UwnL1JJI6l8Rq4BtSws6NSSSzLDhM4XctwmPUN-_rcELDhcvXFXsYD8p267VoaklndCuNUT7OKWFnxk4a8fPdbO3lMrvoMtQnGyirFpQ7O8n6v3sJn9KsfF_Qej4b8Bd04KPg
linkProvider SAGE Publications
linkToHtml http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV1LT8MwDLZgIMGFN2I8fUAIDoWStmnDbcB4jqmCicepKm0Ck2BDtCDx73HWbOMhEBLXNLEiO46_NPYXgFWX-XYsBTlSELiWm6rE0ijDir0g5dJxUyk6hcI1v14Prq9F-OGpL6PBbFOnVdGMOpt1z7s7deIuD3R5JB2WmS_8QRhyCbXbJRiqVC_Dk94Vgi7RLKgIuKUH9O8ov8n4HJP6QPNDblcn3ByM_2OiEzBmMCZWikUxCQOyNQXlohAXjTNnuG4YpzemoRneWOeVRhUpSFXrOhHiYgcryPYxfIhzDWtR_0Vrv2R4GD9KpBY0xKx3SAgSd2MyNu4VJZAZthWGRd7Xo-5x1czvMXzTLAUz0DioNvaOLPMGg5U4tshpl1YesxVXpONEKC5FqhyhGFOeUjx2hfIFubHyXMVUquEmnT-oOfFvA544ziyUWu2WnAOko5qdbisnllyTvLNYkGYk13jSJ8msDFtdI0SJ4SfXz2Q8RNuGkvyrRsuw0RvxVHBz_NJ3sWvXqGu6iNCkx_TFsyjDmrZj_9NPcub_2nEFRo4aZ7Wodlw_XYBRwlmiyIJZhFL-_CKXYDh5zZvZ87JZuO_BA-Ih
linkToPdf http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV1Lb9NAEB6VBCEutOUhQh_MASF6MHHXz-0tzYMWqsiCCNqTZeydNlKbVLVbiX_PTLxJSlERUq_r3dFqZ2f3G8_MtwDvfBW5mdFsSHHsO35BuSMow8mCuAiN5xdGzwqFj6LhMD4-1onNzZFaGLuC5UdJq-IZzQ5rse7Lgto2xtiWuGQsJZLsMKtIR4-gyV6NqxrQ7PS_J58XYQQp06zpCEJHBizjlH_J-PNeWoLNW_ldsytnsPrAya7BM4s1sVNvjnVYMZPn0KoLctEadYkfLPP0zgsYJyfO186oj3xZ9YeSEPFtDzuoepicZ5XAW5S_adPrEj9lFwa5BS1B6ykyksT9jJWO3boUssQpYVLnf11Ijx_j6gyTX8JW8BJGg_6oe-DYtxic3HN1xac1BcqlkNhDyjWFRhfkaVKKAqIw8zVFms2ZAp8UFQI72Q_h5jz6GYe5572CxmQ6Ma8B2WVzi13yMhMK2bvKNK-MCQVXRixZtaA9V0SaW55yeS7jPN211OR3V7QFO4sRlzVHxz_6bs51m87VlzKqDJQEoHUL3osul5_uk_Pmfzu-hSdJb5AeHQ6_bMBThlu6TobZhEZ1dW224HF-U43Lq227d38DdHrklQ
openUrl ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=PY-RATE+ADVENTURES%3A+A+2D+Platform+Serious+Game+for+Learning+the+Basic+Concepts+of+Programming+With+Python&rft.jtitle=Simulation+%26+gaming&rft.au=Sideris+Grigorios&rft.au=Xinogalos+Stelios&rft.date=2019-12-01&rft.pub=SAGE+PUBLICATIONS%2C+INC&rft.issn=1046-8781&rft.eissn=1552-826X&rft.volume=50&rft.issue=6&rft.spage=754&rft.epage=770&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177%2F1046878119872797&rft.externalDBID=NO_FULL_TEXT
thumbnail_l http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=1046-8781&client=summon
thumbnail_m http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=1046-8781&client=summon
thumbnail_s http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=1046-8781&client=summon