How to make an educational game interesting

As the "Gamers have skills. Let's tap 'em." mentions, there are many benefits behind games in an educational way. However, how to get people to play those educational games is a question. Along with the first educational non-electronic games invented in 1958, educational games became quite popular with some teachers in schools. However, it has "never became a core feature of the educational system" (p209, Nielsen). Part of the reason is that it is often quite hard to make students to be engaged in these educational games since they can be less entertaining than normal games.

According to Nielsen, edutainment refers to teaching players certain specific skills, such as algebra, spelling, problem solving, and other basic skills (p210). And the rationale behind "edutainment" can help to analyze what makes a game interesting or uninteresting to its players. First of all is the little intrinsic motivation. In this motivation, "edutainment relies on extrinsic motivation," which is the promise of rewards. In my opinion, this is the best method since players tend to be more interested in the game thus leading to stronger learning experiences. The second one is "no integrated learning experience." In the method, "the player will often concentrate on playing the game rater than learning from the game" simply because there is no learning experience in this method. In the followings, there are also the Drill-and-practice learning, simple game play, and no teacher presence that are explained in the book.

What I feel like is that not all the educational games are interesting. Therefore, in order to make students learn from those games, including an authoritative figure may be a very good idea. Also, the discussion about "control" that Nielsen points out in the book is what I find very interesting. Since I used to play Grand Theft Auto, I clearly know how having the ability to control can be very fun to players. However, i think that control and challenge should coexist in order to make the funness of the game last longer.

Question for you all: I feel like most methods said in the book are basic knowledge that we already know. What are some other "creative ways" to make an educational game interesting?