What is Audience Engagement

The chapter aims to explore how serious games can provide cultural organizations with opportunities to attract audiences. In the first part, main terms (games, serious games, gamification, meaningful gamification) are defined, along with some features of players as well as game-related aspects, like dynamics and mechanics, that are identified and described. The chapter presents the main features of an effective design of serious games for cultural heritage. This part is supported by the application of gamification literature concepts and models to cultural heritage and by evidence from applications in the field. In the last part, some controversial aspects connected to the use of gamification for cultural heritage are presented. Some problems in implementing, mostly connected to the lack of resources, and some possible solutions are outlined.