Learning and Videogames: an Unexploited Synergy

In a social context marked by the crucial relevance of the development of the individual, it is of primary importance to focus the attention on those social phenomena that can contribute to it and are often underestimated and underexploited in terms of learning processes. Videogaming (i.e., the activity of playing a videogame) is certainly one of such phenomena, and its importance and popularity in our contemporary society is a good reason to analyze its relevance of learning processes.
What are videogames? What is their relationship with learning processes? Is the didactic potential of videogames fully exploited? This paper is an effort to answer these questions analyzing how the current approaches to educational game design underexploit the didactic potential of videogames, which naturally engender important learning processes. Additionally, the work proposes an alternative approach that might lead to the creation of products capable of offering a better gaming experience and richer possibilities of development for the player.