Development and evaluation of a 3D game for the museum of marble crafts of Tinos

Abstract

Museums and galleries offer a wide variety of learning experiences with a unique contribution; work with real objects that emphasize sensory awareness [30]. In some occasions the enhancement of the interest and engagement of visitors of cultural sites such as museums can be achieved with the use of technology. Such a task can be complicated and difficult to accomplish but if successful could enrich the learning experiences offered by the museum. The goal of this thesis can be divided in two parts. Firstly, to design and implement a video game that would allow young visitors of a museum to gain new knowledge and show increased interest in that museum and its exhibits by playing the game. Secondly, an evaluation of the game had to be performed to demonstrate if the game was successful to its design goals or not. The evaluation method used was based on an existing methodology that involved visitors playing the game and completing questionnaires and knowledge tests pre- and post-game. Additionally, museum staff members, after having played the game, should complete their own set of questionnaires and take part in semi-structured interviews. The findings of this thesis indicate that learning was achieved through the game for all participants. Gender had no effect in the percentage of learning while smaller children performed slightly worse than older ones. Also, the final satisfaction of the players by the game was depending mostly on the initial interest of them for the learning subject and on their motivation to video games. From the completion of this thesis it becomes apparent that learning games in some occasions, like in the case of cultural sites, can provide important assistant in learning and engaging visitors to a certain subject that otherwise would be difficult to get engaged to.