Creating and validating a paper prototype of a game to fight smokers’ needs for relaxation and social contacts
Nobody starts or keeps on smoking in order to damage health. Therefore, the positive outcomes for smoking are still more important than the negative ones and these positive outcomes have to be challenged. However, most intervention programmes still focus on the negative outcomes smoking has but do not attack the main reasons why someone started and keeps on smoking: social aspects (e.g., smoking in groups, being cool) and stress reduction.
These motives need to be targeted in order to reduce the positive outcomes of smoking. In order to help smokers quit smoking, a serious game was developed in which the positive effects of smoking are constantly attacked, playing the game helps to distract from craving, and other ways to deal with stress and social aspects besides smoking are presented. The framework for Fogland is based on own research results concerning intervention programs (Glock & Kneer, 2009; Kneer, Glock, & Rieger, 2012). Fogland was created as a board game and is a collaboration with the games developer &Ranj from Rotterdam and was funded by NWO.
Output of the project
The game's framework builds upon previous research regarding the effectiveness of games in health communication and the effectiveness of smoking interventions. This KIEM proposal amounts to a close collaboration between the investigators and Ranj that aims translating Fogland's framework into paper prototyping. These playable prototypes enable the investigators to validate single game elements by testing their effectiveness in communicating the intended alternative behaviours despite smoking. The outcomes of the validation studies will result in the realisation of the first goal of this project, i.e., the creation of a complete paper prototype that will be used to attract funders for the development of the actual fogland health game. The second goal is concerned with sharing the knowledge gathered by publishing research papers as well as (online) articles targeted at a general audience.
More about the output of Fogland
