What are serious games?

Play and fun

Serious Game

Simulation and learning

A serious game or applied game is a game designed for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment. The “serious” adjective is generally prepended to refer to products used by industries like defense, education, scientific exploration, health care, emergency management, city planning, engineering, and politics.
Wikipedia, Wikipedia.org
“A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.”
Jesse Schell
“[…] all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.”
Jane McGonigal
Serious games describe a group of games which are designed not only to satisfy entertainment goals of the players, but also to address serious aspects like education or training of skills.
Kankaanranta, Neittaanmäki 2009