Abstract:
Software engineering students often struggle to understand how application components interact within larger architectural patterns such as Model-View-Controller (MVC). This paper presents MVC-ARENA, a web-based multiplayer card game designed to support students’ understanding of MVC architecture through interactive gameplay representations. Players construct software systems by placing cards into Model, View, and Controller regions, where gameplay mechanics externalize architectural responsibilities, component interactions, and defensive software engineering practices. The game uses component, defensive, and attack mechanics to encourage students to reason about separation of concerns, abstraction, maintainability, and system resilience. The paper also describes a pilot study investigating how students interpret these gameplay representations and whether the mechanics support understanding of MVC concepts and relationships between application layers and system responsibilities.
PPIG 2026 - 37th Annual Workshop
MVC-ARENA: A Card-Based Representation for Reasoning About MVC Architecture