Games Just Wanna Have Fun…Or Do They? Measuring The Effectiveness of Persuasive Games

Authors

  • Terry Lavender

Abstract

How much influence do videogames have on the people who play them? While this topic is usually addressed with reference to violent games, it is also an important issue for the emerging field of persuasive games (which include educational games, advergames, political games and social advocacy games) – games that deliberately seek to influence and change opinions and behaviours. How effective are these games as agents of persuasion? Because of the interrelationship of factors such as game quality, intent, player predisposition and game message, it’s difficult to generalize about their effectiveness. Using a persuasive game that I have created, I intend to try and measure its effectiveness as a social advocacy tool and isolate some of the factors that contribute to that.

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Section

Borders