MR POWERFUL How can a game give students between the ages of 18-25 a better understanding of what they can do to help Amnesty Nederland fight for Freedom of Speech?
FAY GRAMBERG
LISA MAIER
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS KEYWORDS
RADOSLAV GULEKOV
ROB BOERMAN
L o e s B o g e r s , R o l a n d v a n Ve e n , M a r t i j n K o r s
H u m a n R i g h t s , Awa re n e s s , S t u d e n t s , G a m e s , P er s u a s i o n , M ot i va t i o n
ABSTRACT In this poster we present a game called Mr Powerful. The aim is to make students experience, in a playful way, how Amnesty takes action against the violation of Freedom of Speech and persuade students to contribute to this cause. You play the oppressor who violates Human Rights and is therefore criticized by the media, protesters and petitions. As a player you feel the rising pressure from these three channels. It is up to you to withstand the pressure and remain calm.
1. Interviews with professionals from Amnesty 2. Interviews & questionnaires with target group 3. Creative sessions with experts and literature research on persuasive gaming
• Deliver the message in a tangible way.
Dislike • A pushy approach • Being overwhelmed with information • Not being aware of how their contribution is used
PROPOSED SOLUTION
INSIGHTS INFLUENCING THE SOLUTION
• Create a feeling of choice.
Persuasive games can affect a player’s attitude towards a concept or object beyond the game (Kors 2015). A game is therefore a good way to change the students’ attitude towards Amnesty. Ian Bogost defines persuasive games as “games that mount procedural rhetoric effectively” (Bogost 2007). A Persuasive Game can not only communicate a message, it can simulate an experience. The story is not only told, but experienced through interaction. Other research points out that people are weary when they come into contact with a proposal, offer or message for change (Knowles & Linn 2004). For that the game is designed in such a way that through play you can become aware of your personal contribution without any forced explicit information; you can draw your own conclusions.
Like • Feedback of their action • A positive message • A Tangible message
We looked for a way to show students how Amnesty takes action and how they can be a part in this. We used the following research methods:
• Show feedback of user’s actions.
Amnesty International is a non-governmental organisation focused on human rights with over 3 milion members and supporters around the world. Amnesty Nederland is facing a problem; their members are aging and they have difficulties with reaching students. Therefore we looked for other ways to approach the students. One of the values of Amnesty is ‘dare’, but user research showed us that this value is not coming across.
We asked students about their current and desired experience with non-profit organizations in the Netherlands. The userresearch gave us the following insights:
CONTEXT
experience the story.
3 PERSUASIVE GAMING
2 USER
Through this game the player experiences the effect of Amnesty’s actions in an interactive and playful way.
• Instead of telling the story, let users
1 AMNESTY
In order to create an experience for the students that gives them the free choice to take action, we created a game that brings Amnesty’s message across. The student plays as Mr Powerful - the opressor. In this way the student can experience the pressure power of Amnesty. The game, ‘Mr Powerful’, consists of three mini-games. Each mini-game stands for a different kind of pressure. It is either the pressure of the media, the pressure of petitions or the pressure of a protest. If you lose a mini-game there will be extra stress added on your stress-
bar. When you succeed, you get no extra stress. The stress-bar has 4 levels; 1 Nervous, 2 Stressed, 3 Panic & 4 Mental Breakdown. When Mental Breakdown is reached, the game is over. Now the player can choose to Play Again or Unlock a New Character. Once the new character is unlocked, a switch to reality is made. The player is given the choice to contribute to the pressure power of Amnesty towards real human rights violators.
CONCLUSION
THANKS TO
Standing in the shoes of the violator - rather than telling the story of Amnesty with words allows users to experience the pressure power of Amnesty in an autonomous way. As a solution to Amnesty’s problem with reaching students, we present the game Mr Powerful, which shows Amnesty’s work and how YOU can contribute.
Prasand Baidjnath Misier Elke Kuijpers Juke Fluitsma Bert Menting Bert Achterkamp Maarten Beckers Suzanne Fennema Bart van Kuijk Geert Hagelaar Menno Deen Rob Tieben - Idee Brouwerij Paul Bierhaus - Yip Yip Marcel Bloemendaal - Yip Yip Nick Boshuijer
REFERENCES Knowles, Eric S., and Jay A. Linn, eds. Resistance and persuasion. Psychology Press, 2004. Bogost, Ian. Persuasive games: The expressive power of videogames. Mit Press, 2007. Kors, M. Towards Design Strategies for Persuasive Gameplay. Version 8. Unpublished, 2015.