Player Perceptions of Informal Learning in Non-Educational Games

This study examines how adult players perceive that they learn from games designed primarily for entertainment rather than education, drawing on an online survey of 1,046 adult gamers in the United Kingdom and United States. Through content analysis of open-text responses, the research identifies 11 main categories of perceived learning, with thinking skills (54.2%), embodied behaviours (25.0%), and interpersonal skills (24.5%) reported most frequently. Beneath these categories sit 117 subcategories, among which problem solving and language skills appear most often, suggesting that players attribute substantial cognitive and communicative benefits to their gaming.

A subsequent cluster analysis of 1,202 respondents identified three distinct informal learner types. The largest group, "Learning to perform" (n=601), emphasized thinking skills and embodied behaviours. The "Learning practices and communalities" group (n=278) emphasized practical and interpersonal skills and reported the highest overall motivation to play, particularly for social and immersive reasons. The "Learning perseverance" group (n=323), emphasizing coping and self-enhancement, was the least motivated and showed more balanced gameplay preferences. The authors interpret these patterns through self-determination theory, focusing on autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and conclude that perceived learning may be closely linked to player satisfaction.

The authors frame these links as tentative and call for further study to establish their direction and strength. The study's evidence base is survey-derived and self-reported, and its geographic scope is limited to adult gamers in two Anglophone countries. Its conceptual foundations draw on educational psychology, game studies, and lifelong learning policy, situating informal learning in non-educational games as a potentially significant but still under-examined dimension of adult skill development.