In terms of the appeal of science games in particular, I think it very much depends on the type of game. Axon appealed to casual gamers, because that’s the audience we were aiming for and designed it for. It wasn’t intended for use in formal education, so kept the educational aspects fairly light. I think games of this type (easy learning curve, quick to play etc) could potentially have wide appeal amongst anyone who plays games, particularly if done on mobile as well.

If you wanted to reach kids, you’d do a different type of game and put it in a different place. And if you wanted to reach them with the aim of providing deeper learning, or for it to be used in a classroom, you’d do it in a different way again. So it’s always useful to find more out about what parents and teachers are looking for in games, since those are effectively the target audience for many educational games that are intended for kids to use since they are making the initial decision about what to use/download.

In terms of a more general audience for games, again, it depends very much on the type of game. Different game types and platforms have different player demograhic profiles. The actual number of game players when you factor in all types of games out there is a really large percentage (can’t remember off hand).

I know that’s all a bit “it depends” but it really does. I don’t think science games are different from any other type of games in this regard, depending on how they are done. Does that make sense? I guess it would be interesting for PAS 2014 to probe a little deeper into science games and how they are used. And will need to take account of the fact that when you ask people if they are “gamers” or even if they play videogames will often say no, because they think that’s for a particular demographic and aren’t including mobile games, board games or the likes of solitaire in their thinking.

Look forward to your response!