Ökonomischer Kompetenzerwerb durch kommerzielle Aufbau- und Managerspiele

Starting point of this study is the notion, that adolescents in Germany do not primarily acquire economic competence in school but in informal setting, i.e. outside formal settings like commercial digital games. Significant for the case of Germany are manager games and build-ups, which are quite successfull. Known titles like the Bundesliga Manager series, Zoo Tycoon or Rollercoaster Tycoon belong to the former category, whilst the games of the Anno and Settlers series belongs to the latter.
Based on newer works, the definition of competency can be considered broadly. But due to practical reasons this study relates to knowledge and attitudes. To relate to a model of stages of competency and the question of social, motivational and volitional dispositions there is a lack of survey methods in economic education research.
Based on theories of media effects research und game studies, hypotheses on influencing factors are deducted which is relevant in connection with the general thesis that acquiring competencies depends on individual use of a game and the interpretation that game events are prototypical for events outside the game world.
Subsequently the author analyses the games considered in this study to determine what potentially could be learned by using the games. The games consistently contain a high amount of economic content which however was represented in a distorted way and was not explained in the games.
In the quantitative data analysis it was confirmed that with regards to knowledge, there is no learning effect of the games. The most important predictor of knowledge acquisition was age. Learnt knowledge about the game world is confined to the game world as it is shown in the qualitative analysis.
With regards to economic attitudes there was no difference between the control group and the treatment group either. But in contrast to potential knowledge transfer the games considered differ substantially with regard to potential attitude effects. In build-ups (Anno series, Settlers series, Civilization IV) players face an oligopolistic market in which competition is existence-threatening. Success of one actor means a loss of an other actor. Therefore, the economy is generelly regarded as more static by the group of players favouring build-ups. In manager games (e.g. Fussball Manager series, SimCity, Zoo Tycoon, Rollercoaster Tycoon), by contrast, the market structure is atomistic. Competitors are not simulated as ingame actors but the competitive situation is simulated by customer flows. This group regards competition as more positive and the economy as potentially able to grow for everybodys benefit. Notwithstanding the negative results with regards to informal learning through commercial entertainment games, the results highlight their potential if they were integrated into formal learning settings.