embedded design
To avoid backfire effects, design systems with:
Intermixing:
Balance on message and off message content
Obfuscating:
Use framing devices to divert focus away from the game’s message
Distancing:
Use fiction to increase the gap between player identity and persuasive content.
https://cyberpsychology.eu/article/view/4343
https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/47211/9789048543939.pdf?sequence=1#page=74
One concern I have about embedded design is that in shorter games it’s difficult since you have to be more overt about your message. No time for subtlety.
Also this kinda reminds me of my thoughts on target the lenses
Examples:
(Taken from my thesis)
In Awkward Moments, a party game where players respond to social situations using response cards drawn from a deck, some of the cards related to situations relating to gender discrimination in STEM. The authors found that increasing the frequency of cards relating to gender discrimination lowered the efficacy of the game. Similarly, in Luminists, a game where players had to interact with STEM role models, having an equal mix of female and male role models was more effective than a version where female role models outnumbered their male counterparts.
When Buffalo, a similar party game, was presented as a party game and nothing more, this increased its transformational effectiveness in comparison to when it was presented as a game about stereotypes.
Another framing device is to present something as neutrally as possible, without presenting the transformational goals until later. One example mentioned by the authors was only mentioning the player character’s sexual orientation until later in a game’s narrative. Similarly, they mention the game Monarchs, whose narrative revolves around feuding nobles. Only later is it revealed that all the game’s characters are women, which causes players to reflect on their views towards gender roles and assumptions.
The authors recommend avoiding examples too close to real life, using hypotheticals, tropes, and fictional settings instead. When a game about public health used a fictional zombie virus (instead of a more realistic virus), players engaged further with the game’s content.
The first minor considerations is misattribution of arousal, where one creates alternate explanations for why things are perceived as intense. When playing a horror game that also explores STEM for underrepresented populations, players think things are intense because of the horror, and ignore the anxiety of the game’s topics. The other minor consideration is implicit priming, the use of color or emotionally charged images / text to prime certain emotional states.
