Playing or learning, is this the same?

Over last few years an emerging trend of games in the area of e-learning has been observed. From early isolated reports on conferences and books reflecting about possible application of games for learning,  more and more practitioners and researchers embraced the idea, including the e-learning community. The main characteristic of an educational game is the fact that instructional content is blurred with game characteristics. Based on a presented model of game-based learning, we will explore the interaction within the game, thus playing and learning in more detail. Furthermore, we will look at how a role-play semester looks like and what were the results and opinions of participating students.\\ With the intention to outline the potentials of application of games in the area of medicine (as a serious discipline in contrast to the computer games, that are often seen only as an a leisure activity or even as a waste of time), some known and documented cases of application of game-based learning as part of the medical curricula will be presented. Furthermore, games can be also used as part of the treatment. The presentation will point out the value of game-based learning.