I wonder why we keep discussing the term ‘serious gaming’ and ‘applied gaming’ while movies have genres, but are never discussed for their purpose. A serious movie would be different then ‘just’ a movie? Is a movie only ‘serious’ if entertainment is not it’s first intention? The entertainment is for a movie priority and should be in gaming too, what is gained or achieved aside from the entertainment purpose, is up to the maker and the player.
Russel Crowe mentioned this at the end of this Award Speech (play at: 2:12)
“A beautiful mind is just a movie. It’s just a piece of entertainment at the end of the day, folks. But hopefully it helps us open our harts, gives us a little understanding, gives us a little more compassion. And also it gives us something the believe that in our lives something extraordinairy can always happen”
Let us design games like that!