Game design strategies for collectivist persuasion

Abstract

A fundamental feature of serious games is persuasion, an attempt to influence behaviors, feelings, or thoughts. Much of the existing research on serious games and, more generally, on persuasive technology (PT), does not address the important links between persuasion and culture. It has tended to originate from Western, individualist cultures, and has focused on how to design for these audiences. In this paper, we describe the design of one of two versions of a serious game we developed about quitting smoking titled Smoke? which is targeted at collectivist players. We show how the design was informed by persuasive strategies we identified from the cross-cultural psychology literature, intended for use in games for players of collectivist cultures: HARMONY, GROUP OPINION, MONITORING, DISESTABLISHING, and TEAM PERFORMANCE. We then discuss the results of a quantitative investigation of the effects of both game versions on both individualist and collectivist players.