Evaluating the quality of games designed for learning programming by students with different educational background: An empirical study

Programming competences have become an important aspect in many different professions. Considering that games give enjoyment to their players and stimulate their curiosity, they represent a convenient tool for gaining programming skills. With an aim to examine the quality of games designed for learning programming from both pragmatic and hedonic perspective, an empirical study was carried out. Study participants were students enrolled in different programmes at two Croatian higher education institutions. Data was collected with subjective measuring instruments. The reported findings uncovered pros and cons of evaluated games meant for leaning programming concepts.