Digital games, developing democracies, and civic engagement: a study of games in Kenya and Nigeria

Abstract

The use of serious games for civic learning and engagement is an area of growing interest. However, research to date has predominately examined such games in established democratic contexts and has primarily focused on the potential of in-game content and game mechanics for achieving learning and behavior change outcomes. This study used in-depth interviews with key developmental stakeholders for two civic-focused games, Haki2 in Kenya and Your Excellency in Nigeria, to further our understanding in two important but understudied areas: the potential for games to facilitate civic learning and engagement outcomes in developing democratic contexts; and the role of game production and dissemination processes in this potential. I argue that these processes provide opportunities for direct civic engagement, participatory learning, and group mobilization relevant to facilitating civic behavior in developing democratic contexts. While this research identifies critical limitations for games used as stand-alone tools to achieve civic learning and engagement outcomes, it also identifies the potential for game production and dissemination to engage communities in democratic deliberation, in identifying relevant civic-issues and solutions, to facilitate community discussion, and to mobilize players around relevant issues.

Co-design of mini games for learning computational thinking in an online environment

“…For example, in the field of health and medicine, the use of educational games is gaining momentum. Fisher ( 2020 ) recently explored the potential of an educational game to facilitate civic learning in the context of Nigeria. Fisher’s study examined how game approaches provide opportunities for civic engagement through participatory learning in a developing country.…”

How propagames work as a part of digital authoritarianism: an analysis of a popular Chinese propagame

“…Firstly, it is doubtful that the serious games research program wishes to include games that aim at authoritarian persuasion. Current studies focus on progressive political serious games (Fisher, 2020). Secondly, authoritarian states are not likely to make propagames in the form of serious games.…”

Do players communicate differently depending on the champion played? Exploring the Proteus effect in League of Legends

“…Video games are a medium that has a strong potential for social change when designed in prosocial ways (Fisher, 2020;Flanagan, 2006;Keating, 2016;Klimmt, 2009). Our study addresses two main issues around these discussions: (1) the types of characters and roles that players can embody in games (e.g., the Proteus effect, avatars, representations, cultural priming, etc.)…”