Creativity in Video Games; a Review of Literature Creativity in Educational settings

Review of Literature

A video game is “an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device like a TV screen or computer monitor or any type of display device that can produce two- or three-dimensional images. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms. The term ‘platform’ refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Video_game).

Video games are categorized by their genre. Green & Kaufman (2015) listed and defined eleven genres for video games and after a delicate analysis concluded that most research has focused on games that are action-oriented and highly engaging and games that highly motivated players usually play. They studied cognitive, social, emotional and motivational effects of video games to support the idea that video games increase creativity. Among the advantages of Action games, they stated such games increased problem-solving skills, evaluate options, formulate plans, and consider changing strategies and/or goals before proceeding with an alternative plan, which are cognitive effects of video game playing. In terms of social effects of video games, they posited online video games encourage cooperation rather than competition. Regarding emotional effects, they stated that video games have high flow effect because gamers get fully engaged in an intrinsically rewarding activity. One important motivational effect of video games, which can truly help creativity, is building a positive attitude towards failure. Unlike how traditional education system trains students against failure, video games let them fail as much as they want until they learn the skills needed to pass a level of a game and this helps them not to be afraid of failing and trying different approaches towards solving a problem. Games keep players in their “zone of proximal development” gives them immediate and tangible feedback and rewards continual effort.

… decisions have to be made not only quickly but creatively. The games are designed to assure that the obvious move is the incorrect one. It’s the ability to anticipate the unanticipated that leads to success in video games. Simply put, video games encourage creativity (Green & Kaufman, 2015).

Although Green and Kaufman (2015) strongly support the high impact of video games on creativity, there are other studies which show uncertainty about this idea. Hamlen (2009) studied the relationship between time spent playing a video game and general creativity among 4th and 5th grade students. He found no significant relationships between time spent playing video games and general creativity. However, he posited that there might be a relationship between the students’ creativity and the types of video games they play. We should consider the fact that Hamlen studied the effect of commercial video games not educational or serious video games.

Hsiao, Chang, Lin, and Hu (2014) developed a digital game-based learning (or educational game) system called ToES to improve students’ creativity. The game was designed based on Williams’s (1972) cognitive-effective interaction model and on the findings of Malone (1981b) (as cited in Hasiao, et al., 2014). Malone (1981b) identified three key elements of game design that encourage engagement: challenge, fantasy and curiosity. According to Rieber (1996) fantasy can help imaginative and creative thinking (as cited in Hasiao, et al., 2014). The content of the game was electrical science and the role of the students in the game was to solve the game’s tasks and acquire knowledge about electrical science. They found that the students’ creativity and their performance on manual skills grew when they were trying to solve problems in the game environment, which developed creativity and generation of flow experiences. They concluded that ToES was an effective tool to develop creativity and improvement of manual skills.

In another study, Ott and Pozzi (2012) confirmed the hypothesis that digital tools can contribute to the growth of creativity. They used ‘digital brain training games’ or games that have formerly being used as ‘brain gym’. They showed that during the 3-year study, primary school children grew creative skills related to generating original solution strategies during the digital games significantly increased. According to Ott and Pozzi (2012), not all digital games have the ability to support creativity development and design and specific features of the game are important elements to be considered. This might be the reason why Hamlen (2009) could not find a significant relationship between playing video games and creativity. Different games can have different effects.

In 2006, Hsiao, Wong, Wang, Yu, Chang, and Sung used Cognitive Affective Interaction Model to construct the On-line Game to improve the learners’ creativity. They studied on-line games because in such games many players play in the same scene and they have to talk, bargain, attack and build their country together and with collaboration. The content of the game is based on the history of technology and there are missions embedded in the game that learners have to accomplish. The designers of the game used the mechanism of Problem Creative Solving. According to this model, the learners face problems like mess-finding, data-finding, problem-finding, idea-finding, solution-finding and acceptance-finding. Hsiao and et al (2006) developed a checklist of creative thinking to check what aspect of creativity is improved in different tasks. Fluent thinking, Flexible thinking, Original thinking and Elaborative thinking are the main four elements of the checklist. They concluded that Fluency, Flexibility, Elaboration, and especially Originality have a positive relationship to the creative thinking game.

Eow and Baki, (2010) had a different perspective towards games. They did not use games to foster creativity but provided a context for students to create their own computer games. In this study, they adopted Appreciative Inquiry theory as a teaching and learning practice in computer games development. According to Cooperrider and Whitney (2005), every living system has many untapped, rich and positive inspiration; Instead of focusing on problems AI theory seeks to discover what is working well with the students and what they desire to achieve (As cited in Eow and Baki, 2010). Eow and Baki (2010) believed that by creating video games, students could connect their past and present knowledge and skills in computer games. They assumed that AI could help students to be heard and to express themselves without fear, as teachers do not practice criticism, disapproval, or condemnation; they are allowed to explore, take actions, and share their products and dreams. Their result showed that students in appreciative learning approach gained better creative perception in computer games development activity and exhibited a significantly higher Creative Perception Index (CPI).

Conclusion

In this brief literature review, I explored six studies which were focused on video games’ effects on the creativity of students. It can be said that all these studies supported a positive effect on creativity, autonomy, competence and relatedness in students. Because of the special features of video games like graphics, sound effects, problems to be solved, group work and elaboration (in online games), flow theory, fun and many other attractions, it can be said that video games can be great learning tools to enhance students’ and children’s creativity.

Reference

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Benedek, M., Fink, A., & Neubauer, A. C. (2006). Enhancement of ideational fluency by means of computer-based training. Creativity Research Journal, 18(3), 317-328.

Cooperrider, D. L., & Whitney, D. (2005). A positive revolution in change: Appreciative inquiry. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Eow, Y. L., & Baki, R. (2010). Computer games development and appreciative learning approach in enhancing students’ creative perception. Computers & Education, 54(1), 146-161.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 20-20.

Green, G., & Kaufman, J. C. (2015). Video Games and Creativity. Academic Press.

Hamlen, K. R. (2009). Relationships between computer and video game play and creativity among upper elementary school students. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 40(1), 1-21.

Hsiao, H. S., Chang, C. S., Lin, C. Y., & Hu, P. M. (2014). Development of children's creativity and manual skills within digital game‐based learning environment. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(4), 377-395.

Hsiao, H. S., Wong, K. H., Wang, M. J., Yu, K. C., Chang, K. E., & Sung, Y. T. (2006, April). Using cognitive affective interaction model to construct on-line game for creativity. In International Conference on Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment (pp. 409-418). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Jamieson-Proctor, R., & Burnett, P. C. (2002). Elementary students, creativity, and technology: Investigation of an intervention designed to enhance personal creativity. Computers in the Schools, 19(1/2), 33-48.

Malone, T.W. (1981b). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 4, 333–369.

Ott, M., & Pozzi, F. (2012). Digital games as creativity enablers for children. Behaviour & Information Technology, 31(10), 1011-1019.

Rieber, L. P. (1996). Seriously considering play: Designing interactive learning environments based on the blending of microworlds, simulations, and games. Educational Technology Research & Development, 44(2), 43–58.

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Williams, F. E. (1972). Identifying and measuring creative potential. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications.