Digital Transformations in the Challenge of Activity and Work

5Serious Games for Vocational Training: From Emotional Labor to Knowledge Transfer

Based on research on a serious game used for training purposes, this chapter aims to analyze knowledge transfer related to emotional labor between gaming and work situations. After defining emotional labor, we will discuss issues related to the use of a serious game as mediation; whether or not it is accepted; and whether it contributes to the possibility of better regulating emotions. The results suggest that knowledge transfer, in and around work situations, is related more to the acceptance of mediation, including its debriefing, than to the playful attitude itself.

5.1. Introduction

Among the many definitions of serious games, we refer to the definition from video game designers Chen and Michael (2005): “A serious game is a game that is designed for purposes other than pure entertainment.” According to this definition, a serious game can apply to a large number of sectors: education, health, advertising, communication, politics, humanitarian, defense, religion, art, etc. – serious games can be digital or non-digital (Abt 1987). To specify the digital form, the term “serious video game” may be used.

Alvarez et al. (2016) define the serious game as a: device, digital or non-digital, whose initial intention is to combine, with consistency, both utilitarian (“serious”) aspects such as, in a non-exhaustive and non-exclusive way, teaching, learning, communication, or information, with playful ...