Abstract

     Internet of things has been one of the predominant research areas for the past two decades. Many application domains have embraced it to solve challenges that have long been considered hurdles. A recent trend in information communication technologies is integrating miniature sensing devices to elevate the experience in serious games. Serious games are games whose sole aim is not entertainment but rather to serve as a source of information and learning in a playful manner. Serious games are becoming one of the sizzling literature topics and are applied to every part of human lives, such as education, healthcare, and physical training, to name a few. Internet of Things, the biggest provider of modern-day games via personal mobiles, can be utilized to design serious games. However, deploying serious games in the Internet of Things environment engenders new challenges. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey on Internet of things-enabled serious games and investigate the challenges towards their realization. First, we highlight serious game domains and spot the evolution and motivation that lead to Internet-of-Things-enabled Serious Games. Later, we classify the state-of-the-art by devising a comprehensive taxonomy. In the end, we present numerous unaddressed open challenges in the current form of the state-of-the-art and identify future directions.

Introduction

     We live in a COVID era in which all the normal operations have been disrupted. From offline to online classes in education, emergency situation in hospitals, and the persistent restriction affecting people’s mental health are some of the worst effects of this era. Serious games have been effective in education and healthcare. Still, its true potential has yet to be unearthed, which can play a pivotal role in remedying mental health and maintaining quality education considering online mode. Serious games in which the focus is tilted towards a serious job rather than entertainment [1] is termed as serious games. Serious games have proven to be remarkably productive not only as a learning tool in many domains such as engineering, healthcare, physics, and history [2] but also in playfully achieving a particular job.

     Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have moved games to the next level. The gameplay in earlier serious games was based on experience and prior knowledge and sometimes secured from humans in the form of surveys and questionnaires [3]. Nevertheless, these experts-based data get outdated with the passage of time since the nature of the data is static and is not updated with the newer strategies of the players. [4], [5] is the realization of a vision where everything in the real world would interconnect and make smart decisions [6]. The plethora of miniaturized sensing devices generates real-time contextual information that can be exploited to make informed decisions [6]. Over the past few years, many application domains have embraced IoT to provide smart services and add more value to human lives [7].

Conclusion

     Serious games are a promising way to engage users to perform a serious job in a more fun way. In the last five years, the emerging trend in different domains of serious games paved the way to explore the possibility of integrating them with IoT to reach its true potential. Conventionally, serious games are played with a dedicated terminal, which was limited in scope and did not offer a scalable and ubiquitous aspect. The IoT’s inherent ubiquitous and pervasive characteristics have paved the way for a more pervasive experience in serious games. While the adoption of IoT in serious games makes them more scalable and smart, its implementation engenders significant challenges in play on-demand and on-premise.

     In this survey, the integration of IoT with serious games is studied comprehensively. To this end, we first described the history and background of serious games and identified the core application areas. Additionally, we also demonstrated the never-fading research trend since the last century and emphasized game evolution in this period. The need to evolve serious games forms a basis for IoT discussion. Thus, the core architecture of IoT and the adoption of IoT with complementary technologies have been elucidated in terms of distinguished attributes of serious games. Furthermore, we have classified the IoTeSG based on existing state-of-the-art and presented a comprehensive taxonomy. Finally, numerous challenges and open issues are identified in the light of the current state-of-the-art.