Evaluating multiple aspects of a digital educational problem-solving-based adventure game

• A multi-aspect approach is suggested to empirically evaluate educational games.
• Students who lack knowledge/experience of PC assembly may benefit from the game.
• Flow state and game acceptance might be related to learning effectiveness.
• Various dimensions of flow are significantly correlated with game acceptance.
• Appropriate challenge levels and clear goals may increase the game acceptance.

This study aims to evaluate multiple aspects of a problem-solving-based educational adventure game, Boom Room©. The learning effectiveness, game acceptance, and flow experience of the game were empirically investigated. The game was designed and developed for teaching knowledge of computer assembly. Sixty-seven university students in Taiwan were asked to complete a pre-test before playing the game and a post-test after playing the game. These students also provided evaluations of not only the usefulness, ease of use, and design elements of the game but also their experience with various flow dimensions of the game. A 2-stage cluster analysis was also conducted to explore the potentially different groups of students by categorizing them in accordance with their performance, degree of game acceptance and flow states. The results suggest that this game is beneficial for students with insufficient background knowledge of computer assembly, allowing these students to obtain vital knowledge of this topic if they achieved a sufficient acceptance of the game and an adequate flow experience from their game-playing experiences. The various dimensions of flow that were experienced by these students were significantly correlated with game acceptance. Suggestions for future study, game design, and instructional practice are discussed.