Serious games ? Are u kidding!

The term “serious games” seem to invade our didactical lexicon as a way of using games in learning contexts. What’s wrong with the term “game” alone? Why does it need this ridiculous adjective? I have the feeling that a bunch of consultants, who by the way have no experience in gaming or learning, is inventing ways in order to soften and ease the use of games in corporations. Either they are trying to be poetical by using this fantastic oxymoron or they just don’t know what they are talking about.
My guess goes for the second choice. The history of e-learning has been filled for the last 15 years with buzzwords that make learning activities online look like a fashion show. E-learning offers a bunch of methods that will help develop and increase people’s competencies (hence “learning”, remember? ;-)) but it is important that these methods are well-defined in order to be properly used. One cannot of course understand a concept if the “wording” is incorrect. So please, a game can deal with serious matters, one can play a game seriously but a game is definitively not serious. “What about chess?” Some of you may ask. Well I would say that chess requires strategies and reflection but anyone starting a chess game will do so for the entertainment, the fun, the challenge of beating the opponent but not because it is “serious”.
If you want to start a game within your organization, don’t be afraid of the word. Of course elements like context, target audience, learning objectives and evaluation remain involved in the process, just like for any other methods used in a learning program. And if you need a word, I would advice using “educational game” or “learning game”.
A game has limits, just like any other learning methods. A learning professional should be aware of these limits, just like a stand-up comedian is aware of the limit of a joke. You shouldn’t make jokes about any subjects, you shouldn’t tell joke to anybody and there is always a special moment to tell jokes. On the other hand you can learn a lot from jokes and jokes allow you transmitting messages that a more conventional way of communicating will find difficult. But no one has ever heard speaking of a serious joke!