Serious Games as Strategic Communication Tools: An Analytic Framework for the Study of Digital Games in Public Relations Research

Reshaping the Battlefield: The International Committee of the Red Cross, Video Games, and Public Relations

“…The focus on purposeful design to achieve various "serious" goals is pertinent to the concept. Historically, the majority of serious games have had an educational focus, but beginning in the early 2000s, serious game foci and the industries involved in their use have expanded greatly (Djaouti, et al, 2011;Fisher, 2021Fisher, , 2022Sawyer & Smith, 2008). Zyda's (2005, p. 26) definition more clearly captures this expansion, describing serious games as those designed to "further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives [emphasis added].…”

“…Importantly, Bogost's (2007) focus, like much of the research in this area (Fisher, 2022), is at the level of the game: he is concerned with how persuasive games produce arguments through procedural rhetorics, or, to oversimply, the rules of the game. De la Hera (2019) also uses the term persuasive games in her analysis of games designed for advertising purposes.…”

“…In her usage, persuasive games can be understood more-so as a sub-category of serious games, and she focuses on the various layers of persuasion that take place within a game-space. While there is a broad body of literature examining advergames and in-game advertising, there is a dearth of extant scholarship analyzing the use of video games from a PR perspective (Fisher, 2022)-an oversight that led Seiffert and Nothhaft (2015) to argue that video games are the "missing media" in PR research.…”

“…Recently, Fisher (2022) identified strategic communication games as a sub-category of serious games. Fisher (2022) defined serious games as those "that are purposefully designed and used by an organization or other entity as a tool to engage in conversations of strategic significance to its goals" (p. 5). This definition draws attention to the importance of the organization as a site of analysis for understanding the game product (Fisher, 2022).…”

“…To date, this is the first scholarly work to analyze the ICRC LifeRun campaign. I draw on critical PR theory and Fisher's (2022) analytic framework for the study of strategic communication games. Using a variety of data sources, including in-depth interviews with key participants in the LifeRun project, organizational documents, and media interviews, I analyze the ICRC's motivations and goals for developing LifeRun, the ways in which PR considerations shaped this project, and what this project can illuminate about the future development and use of strategic communication games for humanitarian and other similar organizations.…”