Understanding the Effect of Fantasy in Augmented Reality Game-Based Learning from a Player Journey Perspective

Contemporary young generations face numerous 21st-century learning challenges, including motivation deficiency, distraction, low effectiveness, etc. Fantasy in game-based learning, creating imaginative and fictional situations that deviate from real-life has demonstrated powerful effects on engaging young participants. Fantasy in games empowered by Augmented Reality (AR) can further immerse participants by generating a "magic circle" where the boundary of digital fantasy and the physical real world is blurred. Despite these positive potentials, there are still concerns regarding the effect of fantasy on player experience, educational contextual adaptation, learning motivation, and learning effect. In this work, we explore the effect of Fantasy in Augmented Reality game-based learning from a player journey perspective, which contains four phases. Four phases are analyzed through an empirical study for each phase. In each study, the effects of fantasy and real-life versions are compared. The purpose of this work is to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of fantasy in AR game-based learning and to provide designers with effective design strategies that help learners overcome the challenges of 21st-century learning.