XBadges. How soft skills are boosted by video games: Improving persistence, risk taking & spatial reasoning with Flappy Bird, Pacman & Tetris

Abstract

Abstract — XBadges is a research project based on the hypothesis that commercial video games (nonserious games) can train and promote certain soft skills. With a pre and post test model, Persistence, Spatial Reasoning and Risk Taking were measured before and after in the subjects (15 divided into groups of 5) trained for 2 hours with the video games: Flappy Bird, Tetris and Pacman (respectively). In addition, the emotions of the players were captured too (thanks to a facial and emotional recognition system), to determine if emotions also have something to do with the skills acquisition. The results show how Tetris significantly improves spatial reasoning and how Pacman significantly improves prudence in certain areas of behavior. As for emotions, they reveal that being concentrated helps improve performance and skills acquisition but frustration is also shown as a key element in the process. With the results obtained we can begin to glimpse multiple applications in the education sector and Skilling Development area.