Character Attachment in Games as Moderator for Learning

The Entertainment Education Paradigm (EEP) offers a new way to think about education by blending entertainment with educational experiences. Video games provide an excellent format for entertainment education because of both the prevalence and enjoyment of playing video games and the ways in which individuals of today learn. Role-playing games are one of the better game genres for entertainment education. They provide both high levels of entertainment and a strong connection between player and game characters (models) which lead to an increase in learning. Based on the theories of parasocial interaction, identification, and social learning, this chapter offers a measurement for character attachment and introduces this new construct as a moderator for learning in role-playing video games.