xAPI SG Profile

The Experience API Serious Games (xAPI-SG) Profile is an standard tracking format developed to collect general information from serious games. The Profile is a result of the analysis of the interactions commonly used in serious games, and has been implemented in Experience API (xAPI) in collaboration with ADL, leaders of the community that created xAPI. The goal of the profile is to provide a common set of interactions commonly used in serious games that provide useful insight but that is general enough to be game-independent.

The profile can be accessed at xAPI-SG Profile. It defines a set of verbs, activity types and extensions. The ones included in the profile are:

• Verbs:

  • accessed: Indicates that the actor has gained access to the object.
  • completed: Always associated to completable activities.
  • initialized: Used when the player starts a completable, for instance, a serious game or a level.
  • interacted: Used when the player interacts with a game object in the game. Interact can be to speak, use, kill, etc.
  • pressed: Indicates that the actor made physical contact with the object.
  • progressed: Always associated to completable activities, and contains as result a progress value.
  • released: Indicates that the actor released the object from one's grip from or a specific state.
  • selected: Used when the player selects an option in an alternative (e.g., a weapon, an arena, a circuit, a world, a quest, an answer in a dialog).
  • skipped: Used to indicate the actor skipped forward or backward while watching a video.
  • unlocked: Indicates the actor unlocked an option that was previously unavailable.
  • used: Indicates the actor used a virtual object.

• Activity types:

  • area: An identified area inside the game world.
  • controller: A game controller whose input affects the action in an activity.
  • cutscene: A non-interactive scene that can be skipped.
  • dialog-tree: An alternative presented during a conversation with an non-playable character.
  • enemy: A game object that poses a threat inside the game world.
  • item: A collectable game object whose use or interaction results in an effect in a game.
  • keyboard: A keyboard whose keystrokes affects the action in an activity.
  • level: A level of a game or of a gamified learning platform.
  • menu: A menu with several buttons/options whose selection produces different effects.
  • mouse: A mouse device whose clicks and movement affects the action in an activity.
  • non-player-character: A character that can offer a conversation or other type of interaction inside a game.
  • quest: A accomplishable challenge or mission presented inside a game.
  • question: Many serious games use the Q&A mechanic to assess players. This activity covers that.
  • screen: A game screen where a concrete game task is developed.
  • serious-game: A game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. For instance, an educational game or a game-like simulation.
  • touchscreen: A touchscreen the player can press.
  • zone: An identified zone inside an area of the game world.

• Extensions:

  • health: Used to represent the remaining health of the player (e.g., number of hearts, energy bar).
  • position: Used to represent the current position of the player inside the game world.
  • progress: Indicates the progress in a completable.

More details can also be accessed in the interactions model at xapi-seriousgames where the different activity types and verbs are linked.

The main reference of the xAPI-SG Profile is: Applying standards to systematize learning analytics in serious games. Ángel Serrano-Laguna, Iván Martínez-Ortiz, Jason Haag, Damon Regan, Andy Johnson, Baltasar Fernández-Manjón (2017) Computer Standards & Interfaces 50 (2017) 116–123, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2016.09.014

The higlights of the paper are the following:

• Literature review of serious games tracking learners in-game interactions.
• Develop a general model to track serious games derived from this review.
• Analyze current learning analytics standards to represent the tracking model.
• Experience API specification is selected to propose an implementation of the model.
• Our conclusion is Experience API is a good fit to track learning in serious games.