Revealing New Hidden Curriculum and Pedagogy of Digital Games

This chapter examines hidden curricula and pedagogy of digital games in order to clarify their educational meaning and importance. The experiences which players get from the inherent ideology of digital games was categorized into four areas: fantasy, immersion, representation and identification, and making sense of the game’s system or model. These hidden curricula are important for learninggame designers to consider in that they are internalized subconsciously. Also these hidden aspects of games are important for teachers to help motivate players for learning, to facilitate self-directed playing and learning, to improve gender sensitivity, and to help with the transfer of knowledge from games to real life. Games have the magical ability to inspire players through compelling stories, challenges, and activities. The hidden curricula of games are bound to continue to be an issue of great concern for educators in coming years.