Effective educational game design must pull together many different aspects of game design to work effectively. Edutainment, which focuses on learning entirely, is thus not effective. If players are placed in a situation where they can solve in-game problems in their own way, the game will be more effective. Also, the end result must be logically important to the narritive. Most of all, the game must be fun to play. I have noticed that many people are not interested in chess as played on a board, but make the same game an important part of a video game, and they will learn quickly, and this can also answer question 2. In an in-game world, students feel more free, and the stakes can be artificially higher than in real life. A student may be bored in a game of chess, but make it in a believable setting and make the stakes high (saving a kingdom) and the student will probably care more to learn. Also, a World War II game, that is faithful to history, will draw students in and cause them to learnand try to understand the events than a book or film alone would do. This should only be one aspect, as a game will not yeild itself very well to understanding a historical event on a higher level, but it can be a starting point.
Girls play games about as much and with as much interest as boys. They like well made games, regardless of how "masculine" they may seem.
