Interactive geovisualization in educational escape games: Assessing 2D vs 3D designs on animal welfare awareness

Agricultural education is highly experience-based and context-dependent, which limits the effectiveness of conventional teaching methods for conveying practical applications. To support more immersive and applied learning, we introduce two educational escape games on vision-related animal welfare aspects in poultry production. One game is implemented in 2D and uses text, pictures, and simple animations, while the other takes place on a virtual 3D farm that allows free movement and spatial arrangement of riddles and puzzles. Both versions cover the same educational content. A comparative user study with university students showed that both games improved knowledge levels in reference to a conventional lecture baseline. The 2D version achieved slightly higher user acceptance as a tool for university teaching, whereas the 3D version led to better quantitative learning outcomes and superior time efficiency. Both games were perceived as motivating and suitable for agricultural knowledge transfer.