Exploring In-Game Scaffolds for Higher-Order Learning in a Case-Based RPG Learning Game

This study examines how in-game scaffolds shape higher-order learning among undergraduate geography students playing Stories of a GeoFarmer, a case-based role-playing game prototype about sustainable agroforestry and its socioeconomic impacts in south and east Asia. The game places players in ill-structured, no-win scenarios involving a corporation's environmental exploitation, and the authors test three scaffold types: metacognitive (an environmeter and populameter), procedural (non-player character guidance and a tutorial), and conceptual (corporate signage). Using an exploratory mixed-methods design, the researchers analyzed post-game survey responses from 63 volunteer students, drawn from a 124-student Regions and Nations course, through collaborative thematic coding and Fisher's Exact Test correlations.

Students readily recalled how their in-game actions affected the environment and linked these outcomes to the metacognitive meters, and many described morally fraught choices prompted by interactions with non-player characters. However, far fewer students recognized the core learning objective, that the problem had no single solution. Those who did reported significantly higher perceived self-efficacy in learning, while measures of enjoyment, perceived guidance, and perceived usefulness showed no significant differences.

The authors conclude that the metacognitive meters drew attention so strongly that they sometimes overshadowed the game's broader conceptual message, while the passive corporate signage was largely unrecalled and procedural scaffolds came to function mainly as support for the meters. The findings suggest that the number and visibility of scaffold types must be carefully balanced, particularly for adult learners engaging with higher-order problems. The study is limited by its single course, single game prototype, and self-reported data, and it calls for further research on how scaffold design and external factors influence the attainment of higher-order learning goals.