A comparative analysis of programming games, looking through the lens of an instructional design model and a game attributes taxonomy

The emerging trend of teaching computer programming to more and younger people has led to the development of game-based learning and teaching approaches. In this context, educational games are considered as a promising learning platform. However, research in the field of programming games has mainly focused on what is being taught in these games. Less is known, however, about how programming games afford learning and playing by design. To address this, we performed a qualitative, comparative analysis of 19 programming games from an instructional and game attributes perspective. The findings showed that a majority of programming games presents only a moderate alignment with established instructional principles. Furthermore, significant differences in the presence and prevalence of their game attributes were found. Our analysis resulted in a systematic classification of programming games according to their alignment with instructional principles and their positioning on a playing-versus-programming spectrum. Informed by this twofold classification, we explored whether particular programming games can still be conceptualized as games, as opposed to learning or programming environments. Accordingly, we formulated opportunities and restrictions towards their potential context-of-use.