Moving Beyond Fun

Abstract

Games are normally considered to be "fun", though recently there is growing interest in how gameplay can promote empathy and encourage reflection through "serious experience". However, when looking beyond enjoyment, it is not clear how to actually evaluate serious experience. We present an evaluation of four games that were submitted to a student game design competition; the competition challenged teams to design a game that inspired curiosity around human error and blame culture within the context of healthcare. The entries were judged by a panel of six experts and subjected to a round of play testing by twelve participants. Methods included gameplay observation, questionnaires, post-play interviews and follow-up email questions. We discuss the utility of these methods, with particular emphasis on how they enabled a consideration of the immediate and longer term impact of serious experience on players.

"Horror, guilt and shame" -- Uncomfortable Experiences in Digital Games

“…In contrast, the final theme, where discomfort acted as a catalyst for reflecting on life, the universe and everything, is more concerned with 'enlightenment' i.e., where players reflected on themselves and what they were capable of, or on wider societal issues. As with previous work, it is clear that uncomfortable experiences can lead to reflection [e.g., 4,18,23]. However, while transformative reflection in games appears to be relatively rare [29], we did observe occasions where experiences led to significant changes in gameplay (e.g., P30 deciding to play through the game without killing Raiders) or in terms of understanding that extended beyond the game itself (e.g., P42 investigating how people to become murderers).…”

“…The previous section indicates how players experience moving moments and emotional challenge in games that are played for entertainment. Other research has also suggested that uncomfortable gameplay experiences can facilitate enlightenment, particularly when they cause empathy and increase understanding around a particular issue [1,18].…”

“…With respect to games, research around learning and gameplay [19] indicates having a break can later improve performance, particularly if taken as an opportunity to reflect. However, while research on negative emotions discusses how games resonate with individuals [4,18], the fact that it may be necessary for players to take some time out has not been considered. In extreme role-play experiences, aftercare is as an important part of the process, where players usually debrief together afterwards [31], though this is generally not available to players of digital games.…”

"A Game that Makes You Question..."

“…Second, reflection is a crucial component of learning [7,14,41], where already a substantial body of work considers how games and gaming practice support learning [24,46,48]. Third, recent work has explored games to promote thought-provoking 'serious experiences' [27,37] to raise awareness or persuade. Some have pointed towards games as a means to facilitate transformative reflection [44], which could give way to attitudinal and behavioral change [19].…”

Design Frictions for Mindful Interactions

“…This approach is particularly useful for drawing people's attention to important but difficult issues that they might naturally want to avoid. For instance, the game Nurse's Dilemma [20], where players take on the role of a nurse faced with a series of difficult decisions, has been used to invoke reflection on themes such as responsibility and blame within healthcare.…”