Rationale
The popularity of computer games led to thinking about their application in education. Games become an integral part of modern society. They are the ideal platform for presenting new content and new technology-a lot of people play computer games and accept them as a normal form of entertainment. In contrast to all existing media, games have the opportunity to interact, allowing the user to actively participate, not just passively receive information. In recent years educational gaming has been progressively perceived as a very effective tool for improving teaching-learning activities in higher education (Minovic, 2010).

After initial exploitation of the games in the educational area, new term of gamification emerged, as the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems (Zichermann, 2011; Marczewski, 2012).

According to the new HORIZON 2020 call, given under ICT 2014 section, with the topic of advanced digital gaming/gamification technologies “Digital games and gamification mechanics applied in non-leisure contexts is an important but scattered industry that can bring high pay-offs and lead to the emergence of a prospering market. Digital games can also make a real change in the life of a large number of targeted excluded groups, enhancing their better integration in society. This requires however the development of new methodologies and tools to produce, apply and use digital games and gamification techniques in non-leisure contexts, as well as building scientific evidence on their benefits – for governments, enterprises and individuals.”

Major aim of this track would be to bring actual theoretical and applied research in the field of game application and development in different areas, such as education and training, business, marketing, product development, group problem solving, etc.

Topics
Gamification in Education
Gamification as a methodology for solving problems
Games, Tools and Design Frameworks
Use of existing commercial games
Game theory and decision making
Virtual worlds and simulators
Virtual identities and security aspects
Relation between fun and learning
Games and Natural user interfaces