ABSTRACT
Given the nature of their labeling, games are expected to be fun! Popular and commercially successful digital games are all fun entertainment games. But the fun appeal can be instantly diminished when a game is labeled a serious game-stereotyped by games designed for purposeful educational endeavors and prosocial causes. While Ratan and Ritterfeld (this volume, chapter 2) provided an overview of currently existing serious games, we focused on extracting fun factors in the context of entertainment games. What is fun may be contingent upon individual players and their play contexts; and what makes entertainment games enjoyable may not have the same magical effects in serious games. Yet, by identifying game elements that contribute to overall enjoyability, we can establish a useful frame of reference for understanding media enjoyment in both entertainment and serious games, and for exploring new strategies to improve the fun quality of serious games.
