10 simple rules to create a serious game, illustrated with examples from structural biology

TL;DR

This paper presents ten simple rules for creating effective serious scientific games, illustrated with examples from structural biology, to enhance outreach, education, and research activities.

Contribution

It offers a set of practical guidelines derived from experience and literature to help develop or improve scientific serious games.

Findings

Established ten rules for serious game creation

Provided examples from structural biology games

Highlighted the impact on outreach and education

Abstract

Serious scientific games are games whose purpose is not only fun. In the field of science, the serious goals include crucial activities for scientists: outreach, teaching and research. The number of serious games is increasing rapidly, in particular citizen science games, games that allow people to produce and/or analyze scientific data. Interestingly, it is possible to build a set of rules providing a guideline to create or improve serious games. We present arguments gathered from our own experience ( Phylo , DocMolecules , HiRE-RNA contest and Pangu) as well as examples from the growing literature on scientific serious games.