Towards Design Strategies for the Persuasive Gameplay Experience

Games are increasingly used for purposes that stretch beyond their primary strength as medium for entertainment, including games used for training, education and critique. Among this stretch we also find games that argue a particular point of view; to shape attitudes and shift perspectives towards real-world concepts or objects. Unlike most contemporary media to persuade games are unique in their interactive affordances; providing players with the ability to evaluate given arguments to a system that responds, and essentially allows the player to engage in an indirect discussion with the designer(s). Although persuasion through games is not a new venue of research, the discipline unfortunately still lacks practical game design strategies aimed to aid designers in maximizing the persuasive potential of their games. The presented research is therefore concerned with how to design for persuasive gameplay and what strategies (models, frameworks, guidelines, methodologies, etc.) could support the designer throughout this design process.