D4.2: Findings on games as tools for remembrance - Dataset

D4.2 Findings on games as tools for remembrance presents the findings from two user-based evaluations designed to assess how serious games can foster empathy, historical awareness, and reflective engagement with the past. These evaluations followed an iterative process, beginning with a small-scale pilot using the third-party game Train to Sachsenhausen, and culminating in a large-scale assessment of the Beta version of Gulag Diaries, one of the narrative-driven serious games developed within MEMENTOES. Both trials were designed as control studies, comparing findings with other games, involving 129 participants. The datasets for these trials are included here. Across both phases, the work applied and refined the multi-dimensional evaluation framework developed earlier in the project, combining validated quantitative tools with custom historical awareness and empathy instruments, structured observation, and semi-structured interviews. Findings from the first study informed the design of the experiment of the second user study. This process ensured that the final study assessed Gulag Diaries not only for usability, immersion, and satisfaction, but also for its capacity to engage players emotionally, provoke reflection on contested histories, and support remembrance as a form of informal learning. The study demonstrates how iterative, evidence-based testing can inform the design and evaluation of serious games in the cultural heritage domain and supported the refinement of Gulag Diaries. The study also offers a transferable methodology for assessing the educational and cultural impact of serious games, linking player experience with historical awareness, reflective learning, and the complex role of empathy in remembrance-focused gameplay, and highlighting game attributes that contribute to each goal. -- Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.《D4.2 作为记忆工具的游戏研究发现》报告了两项基于用户的评估研究成果，旨在探究严肃游戏（Serious Games）如何培养共情、提升历史认知，并推动人们对过往历史展开反思性参与。两项评估遵循迭代流程：首先依托第三方游戏《开往萨克森豪森》开展小型试点研究，最终针对MEMENTOES项目开发的叙事驱动型严肃游戏之一《古拉格日记》的Beta版展开大规模评估。两项试验均采用对照研究设计，将试验结果与其他游戏进行对比，共招募129名参与者。本数据集包含这两项试验的相关数据。 在两个试验阶段中，本研究沿用并优化了项目前期开发的多维评估框架，结合经验证的量化工具、定制化历史认知与共情测评工具、结构化观察法以及半结构化访谈法。首项研究的成果为第二项用户研究的实验设计提供了参考。该迭代流程确保最终研究不仅从可用性、沉浸感与满意度维度对《古拉格日记》进行评估，还考察了其在情感层面吸引玩家、引发玩家对存有争议的历史展开反思，以及将记忆作为一种非正式学习形式加以支持的能力。 本研究阐明了迭代式循证测试如何为文化遗产领域的严肃游戏设计与评估提供参考，并助力《古拉格日记》的优化工作。此外，本研究还提供了一套可迁移的评估方法，用于测评严肃游戏的教育与文化影响：该方法将玩家体验与历史认知、反思性学习，以及共情在以记忆为核心的游戏玩法中的复杂作用相结合，并明确了助力实现各类目标的游戏特性。 本项目由欧洲联盟（European Union）资助。然而，文中所表达的观点仅代表作者本人，未必反映欧洲联盟或研究执行局（Research Executive Agency）的立场。欧洲联盟及资助机构不对本文内容承担任何责任。