A Serious Games Perspective for Virtual Interactive Exhibition: A Case Study of the Bronze Age of Yunnan Exhibition at Yunnan Provincial Museum

Background and Aim: This study has three main objectives. The first explores how virtual interactive exhibitions can be effectively narrated through serious games by integrating plot, character, setting, theme, and narrative perspective to enhance audience engagement and understanding. Secondly, using the Bronze Age of Yunnan Exhibition at the Yunnan Provincial Museum as a case study, this analysis examines narrative strategies from a serious game perspective. Thirdly, an application will be designed to combine serious games with virtual exhibitions, validating the study’s effectiveness and demonstrating its potential for broader museum applications. Materials and Methods: This study is a mixed-methods study, comprising both quantitative and qualitative components. The sample group used was visitors to the Yunnan Provincial Museum, the method used was a questionnaire survey, and the research tool was an online questionnaire. 2. Qualitative research. The main informants were 1 staff member of Yunnan Provincial Museum, 2 university professors, 1 virtual interactive display designer, and 1 virtual interactive application designer, totaling 5 people. The data collection tool was the interview form, and then the conclusions were summarized descriptively. Results: This study evaluates the application effect of narrative serious game virtual interactive displays in the Yunnan Provincial Museum’s Bronze Age exhibition from multiple perspectives. Results show a 42% increase in audience engagement and a 35% improvement in cultural comprehension scores compared to traditional virtual exhibits. The approach effectively enhances participation, supports the dynamization and exploratory nature of cultural relics display, guides active learning, deepens cultural memory, and promotes digital heritage education. It provides both an innovative paradigm and a practical case for future virtual exhibitions in museum contexts. Conclusion: Through an interdisciplinary approach to designing prototypes and conducting empirical evaluations, we verified that serious gamified virtual interactions can enhance audience engagement and cultural comprehension, promote digital transformation of museums, and propose innovative models that can be applied to digital cultural heritage education. At the same time, the study suffers from methodological limitations, insufficient samples, and potential bias, and there is room for further improvement in the future.