Berlin  - Many parents get upset when their kids spend hours in front of the gaming console. This might soon be changing as learning-centred games or so-called serious games are becoming more popular, experts at the Lerntec trade fair in Karlsruhe reported.

These games aim to entertain and teach in a playful manner as well. Truly entertaining serious games are rare, though - and not every game dubbed "serious" really deserves the honour.

"'Fun' promotes the learning process - such as easier learning of street sign rules by rolling it up as a game," says Prof Gernold Frank, who researches the issue at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. Computer games have the advantage over textbooks that gamers can learn about the subject matter interactively.

Games boost successful learning while eliminating the inhibition threshold for working with serious topics, says Arne Busse from the German Federal Centre for Political Education in Bonn. His organization, the bpb, released a game called Genius to teach younger players the basic rules of democracy.

A wide spectrum of learning software is available. Topics can range from brain teasers, economic simulations and yoga lessons to much more difficult ground: "Global Conflicts: Palestine" is an attempt to highlight the issues behind the Middle East conflict.

Current titles from the normal gaming industry are generally more lavishly designed and more technically savvy than the serious games, Frank says.

"The learning-centric games can't keep up in graphics." Nor do all serious games offer the same fun factor as pure entertainment games, says Prof. Breitlauch. "Ideally it would help you learn something without the feeling that it's just another mandatory drill." (dpa)