How Gameful Experience Affects Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding COVID-19 Among the Taiwanese Public: Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Background In 2019, with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe, public health systems worldwide faced severe challenges. Amid the pandemic, one simulation game, Plague Inc., has received substantial attention. This game has indirectly drawn greater public attention to public health issues by simulating pathogen transmission and disease symptoms. Objective Against this backdrop, this research investigates whether the gameful experience of Plague Inc. has indirectly affected public knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19. Methods An online survey was conducted through social networking services in Taiwan from May 6-28, 2020. Results A total of 486 subjects participated in this study, of which 276 (56.8%) had played Plague Inc. This study had several findings. First, participants who had played Plague Inc. demonstrated higher levels of knowledge (P=.03, median 7, IQR 7-8) and attitudes (P=.007, median 8, IQR 7-8) than participants who had not played Plague Inc. (knowledge: median 7, IQR 6-8; attitude: median 7, IQR 6-8). Second, there was a significant correlation between creative thinking (ρ=.127, P=.04) and dominance (ρ=.122, P=.04) in attitude. Finally, there was a significant correlation between creative thinking (ρ=.126, P<.001) and dominance (ρ=.119, P=.049) in practice. Conclusions Serious games highlighting the theme of pathogen transmission may enhance public knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19. Furthermore, the creative thinking and dominance involved in gameful experiences may act as critical factors in public attitudes and practices regarding COVID-19. These findings should be further verified through experimental research in the future.

Serious Games: A new Approach to Foster Information and Practices About Covid-19?

“…Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of the studies included. We identified four serious game designed to promote knowledge and teach new practices with regard to Covid-19: 1) Escape COVID-19 teaches COVID-19 IPC practices ( Suppan et al, 2021b ; 2021a ); 2) Point of Contact (PoC) explains COVID-19 preventive measures ( Hill et al, 2021 ); 3) Covidgame is about COVID-19 education for students attending the last year of medical school ( Hu et al, 2021 ); 4) Plague Inc. aims at providing knowledge about Covid-19 transmission and characteristics of pathogens ( Peng and Bai, 2021 ). The studies included were carried out in different countries and targeted different populations (general population, healthcare personnel and young adults).…”

“…Teaching medical knowledge through educational games has been found to be as effective as traditional teaching methods ( Crovato et al, 2016 ; Abraham et al, 2019 ; Tubelo et al, 2019 ). Therefore, to spread COVID-19 prevention messages in an original and engaging way, some serious games have been developed, such as Plague Inc. and Escape COVID-19, which have received considerable attention during the pandemic ( Suppan et al, 2021b ; Peng and Bai, 2021 ).…”

“…Plague Inc. is a serious game designed to introduce the public to epidemiology in an unconventional way, allowing users to be informed of the transmission and characteristics of pathogens through gaming. Peng and Bai used a cross-sectional study design to explore the impact of Taiwanese gameful experiences on public knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19, with the aim to investigate the effects of gameful experience of Plague Inc. on public KAP regarding COVID-19 by means of online surveys ( Peng and Bai, 2021 ). A total of 486 participants were recruited for this study, 200 women and 286 men, mostly aged between 20 and 29, who were living with others, had a university degree and a job.…”

“…For young adults, given their ability to use new technologies, the introduction of serious games as an educational tool has certainly been a winning approach, as is the case of Plague Inc. , in which the majority of players were between 20 and 39 years old and had previous gaming experience. In comparison with older participants, during their gaming experience the younger ones showed not only higher levels of knowledge and attitudes but, most importantly, creative thinking and dominance, which are among the most significant factors influencing learning performance ( Parra-González et al, 2020 ; Peng and Bai, 2021 ).…”

Developing a Video Game as an Awareness and Research Tool Based on SARS-CoV-2 Epidemiological Dynamics and Motivational Perspectives

“…Regarding SARS-Cov-2, several projects investigate the impact of serious games on changing players' perceptions of preventive measures [22]. For this purpose, a few games have been developed or studied, including the games Plague Inc. [6,23,24], Escape COVID-19 [23], and Point of Contact [22].…”