Using Serious Games for Antismoking Health Campaigns: Experimental Study

Abstract

Background Serious games for health have been gaining in popularity among scholars and practitioners. However, there remain a few questions to be addressed. Objective This study tests the effects of a serious game and fear appeals on smoking-related outcomes. More specifically, this research aims to understand how serious games function as a more effective vehicle for a health campaign than a traditional medium, such as a print-based pamphlet. Further, while serious games utilize a variety of persuasive strategies in the game’s content, it is not clear whether fear appeals, which are widely used persuasive-message strategies for health, can be an effective strategy in serious games. Thus, we are testing the effect of fear appeals in a serious game. Methods We created a computer game and a print brochure to educate participants about the risks of smoking. More specifically, a flash-based single-player game was developed in which players were asked to avoid cigarettes in the gameplay context. We also developed an online brochure based on existing smoking-related brochures at a university health center; antismoking messages on the computer game and in the brochure were comparable. Then, an experiment using a 2 (media type: game vs. print) x 2 (fearful image: fear vs. no-fear) between-subjects design was conducted. The study recruitment was announced to undergraduate students enrolled in a large, public Midwestern university in the United States. After a screening test, a total of 72 smokers, who reported smoking in the past 30 days, participated in the experiment. Results Overall, gameplay, when compared to print-based pamphlets, had greater impacts on attitudes toward smoking and the intention to quit smoking. Further, the game’s persuasive effects were especially pronounced when messages contained fear appeals. When fearful images were presented, participants in the game condition reported significantly more negative attitudes toward social smoking than those in the print condition [F(1,67)=7.28; P=.009; ηp2=0.10]. However, in the no-fear condition, there was no significant difference between the conditions [F(1,67)=0.25; P=.620]. Similarly, the intention to quit smoking [F(1,67)=4.64; P=.035; ηp2=0.07] and susceptibility [F(1,67)=6.92; P=.011; ηp2=0.09] were also significantly different between the conditions, but only when fear appeals were used. Conclusions This study extends fear appeal research by investigating the effects of different media types. It offers empirical evidence that a serious game can be an effective vehicle for fear appeals.

A serious gaming approach to experiencing the effects of unsolicited help and loss of autonomy (Preprint)

“…Learning is achieved through the chosen mechanics and rules that drive the processes in the game. The anatomy of the game will have maximum procedural rhetoric with this approach [50,51], which makes it appropriate to experience the perspective of another and, by reproducing feelings, makes clear what it means to lose autonomy through unsolicited help.…”

Investigating the Use of Serious Games for Cancer Control Among Children and Adolescents: Scoping Review

“…Adolescents, especially, tend to have excellent adaptability to new technologies and possess substantial knowledge and experience with games as compared to users of other age groups [36]. Given the research on adolescents' engagement with videogames [37] and studies conducted in game-based learning [38] and narrative persuasion [39][40][41], one may anticipate the positive influence of serious games on adolescents' learning and persuasion outcomes. When it comes to cancer prevention, adolescents can learn about complex cancer concepts and relevant prevention and treatment methods by interacting with engaging characters and objects and actively performing game quests embedded in serious games [34].…”

The Role of Agency and Threat Immediacy in Interactive Digital Narrative Fear Appeals for the Prevention of Excessive Alcohol Use: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The study by Panic et al [ 24 ] on children suggested that the interactive game used for the appeal distracted participants, thereby preventing the processing of the appeal content. In contrast, Kim et al [ 25 ] found that a game-based fear appeal resulted in stronger intentions to quit adverse behavior than a brochure. However, it has to be noted that these findings are hard to ground in assumptions of interaction alone, as the difference in the format of the appeal introduces more differences between conditions than interaction alone.…”