Too many theories

So games theory are a growing field where people are paying more attention to the affects and limitations behind the actual game play, this puts a position where a definitive line draws on which you believe. What is the definition of persuasion? Does educational purpose labelled games really 'educate people' like a lesson in a school or a lesson in life? How is this even measured without severe uncontrolled testing, where an outcome is not affected by any other factors such as the observer being known to the testing subject.
What I can see from computer games from childhood such as the click and react type games where the adventure depends on the child's interactivity such as 'Madeline', where a few french words are being tossed into your mind and used in the appropriate times. Games develop a child's need to pass the level or bet the computer, a sort of early competitive person growing inside of you being expressed in the game. Days where Mega man with your siblings is a favorite pass time as being a team, (one shoots, the other jumps and walks around) is entertaining enough until he finds he does much better without you.
The educational part?- quite unsure, but the parents seemed to think games covered with numbers or ABC's looks good enough. Ian Bogost is correct about learning game play while playing the game as systems give different codes in order for a player to win or complete the game. These sets of skills are either adapted while playing, taken from previous similar game experiences and used to quickly learn and adapt how the game works. Possibly the amount of time taken for a gamer to adjust , or be 'good' at a certain game may be measured. But what it is measured against is an entirely different problem.
Decisions within a game heavily affect the game out come, although some games are intended to have only a few ways to get the goal, the ultimate achievement that began game play. These choices a person makes ties in with the mood placement theory, where your personality is an important part in not only what games you choose but how you choose to play it. This is also another unexplored area not only in computer games but also films, TV ect. Only print mediums such as books and magazines have tackled this genre.
An example of a game which provides choices but needs wit or cunning-ness to understand how to complete the levels are these, first off they seem challenging but after a few levels of understanding the wacky way to solve an almost obvious puzzle, you start to enjoy the questions that come next or the next obstacle.

http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/superstacker2.jsp

http://www.addictinggames.com/puzzle-games/theimpossiblequiz.jsp

http://www.members.shaw.ca/gf3/circle-the-cat.html

http://www.bored.com/game/play/151368/The_Red_Button.html

http://armorgames.com/play/4309/this-is-the-only-level

The only thing I hate is the fact that you have to start all over again if the time limit exceeds your brain power.