Abstract
Persuasive games are a relatively new phenomenon, and hold promise as effective vehicles for persuasion. As yet, however, there are few set rules guiding how to design persuasive games to be interesting, compelling, and effective. Furthermore, little theory exists that guides their development from a persuasive technology (PT) perspective. The results of a recent pilot test on Smoke?, our persuasive game about smoking cessation, highlighted several design issues related to persuasive games in general. In this paper we discuss some of those issues, contextualizing them in terms of B J Fogg’s PT strategies, in order to both explain underlying forces, and point towards potential design solutions. The five issues we discuss are: managing player attention, balancing “replayability” with reality, player control vs. system control, identity issues, and target audience.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Nelson, M.R., Keum, H., Yaros, R.A.: Advertainment or Adcreep? Game Players Attitudes toward Advertising and Product Placements in Computer Games. Journal of Interactive Advertising 5 (2004)
Deal, D.: The ability of online branded games to build brand equity. In: Proceedings of the Digital Games Research Association 2nd International Conference (2005)
Slater, S.G.: New Technology Device: Glucoboy, for Disease Management of Diabetic Children and Adolescents. Health Care Management & Practice 17, 246–247 (2005)
Khaled, R., Barr, P., Fischer, R., Biddle, R., Noble, J.: Factoring culture into the design of a persuasive game. In: Proceedings of OzCHI 2006 (2006)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: You Can Quit Smoking (2000), http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/quits.pdf
Fogg, B.J.: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2003)
Sicart, M.: The ethics of computer game design. In: Proceedings of DIGRA 2005, Simon Frasier University, Burnaby, BC, Canada (2005) (CD–ROM)
Garite, M.: The ideology of interactivity (or video games and taylorization of leisure). In: Copier, M., Raessens, J. (eds.) Level Up Conference Proceedings, University of Utrecht, Utrecht (2003) CD Rom
Davidson, D.: The rhetoric of gameplay (last accessed April 1, 2007), Available online at http://waxebb.com/writings/gamerhet.html
Barr, P., Biddle, R., Noble, J.: Videogame values: Human-computer interaction and games. Interacting With Computers (2006)
Cialdini, R.B.: Interpersonal influence. In: Brock, T.C., (ed.): Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives. Allyn and Beacon, pp. 195–217 (1994)
Reeves, B., Nass, C.: The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places. University of Chicago Press (1996)
Petty, R.E., Cacioppo, J.T., Strathman, A.J., Priester, J.R.: To Think Or Not To Think. In: Brock, T.C. (ed.) Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives. Allyn and Beacon, pp. 113–147 (1994)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Khaled, R., Barr, P., Noble, J., Fischer, R., Biddle, R. (2007). Fine Tuning the Persuasion in Persuasive Games. In: de Kort, Y., IJsselsteijn, W., Midden, C., Eggen, B., Fogg, B.J. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4744. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77006-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77006-0_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-77005-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-77006-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)