"Game-based learning" refers to teaching-learning actions carried out in formal and/or informal educational settings by adopting games. It encompasses the use of both games designed expressly for fulfilling learning objectives (educational games) and "mainstream games" -- i.e. those games that are developed for fun when used to pursue learning objectives (Kirriemuir and McFarlane, 2004 p.19).

A characterization of the term from a design perspective is:

1. Having learning driven by personally meaningful scenarios;
2. Constructing problems to extend previous understandings and shape future ones;
3. Paying close attention to users' pre-existing beliefs;
4. Carefully designing for what the user experiences from moment to moment; and
5. Situating facts and knowledge in the context of doing."(Squire 2005 p.26)