G-Motiv project — CRISP Magazine # 1

Designing motivation . Changing human behaviour using game-elements . Achieving lasting change is difficult ; people are often poorly motivated to change their status quo .

Transfer — Effect of user experienced game world on forming , altering , or reinforcing usercompliance , -behaviour , or – attitude , in the real world .

Game World

Persuasive Game Design Model

In his article , Gijs Ockeloen concludes with an example of how the effective use of information can influence or even shape the behaviour of , in his case , drivers . The G-Motiv project has a similar goal : changing people ’ s behaviour by using elements of game design .

In the last decade , we have seen a surge of interest in theory of games , in how they are designed , how they are used , and for what purpose . Although this has resulted in some interesting overviews of the theoretical aspects of games , we have yet to see a unified model of persuasive game design — that is , the design of games aimed at behavioural change . At G-Motiv we proposed a first model integrating the process of game design with the design of behavioural transfer effects .

Playful persuasion

Games and play can be used to persuade people to change their behavior . In the I-PE project gaming is used to lure children away from their TV ’ s and video games to become physically active .

When people think of games , they often think of the attributes required to play a game . Consider baseball : using the baseball bat as it should be used is likely to generate a game experience . But a baseball bat can also be used for other purposes , for instance as a weapon . Using it in a different manner will therefore generate a non-game experience .

For this reason , we think that instead of asking “ what is a game ”, the question to ask is “ when is a game ”. When users experience games , they are typically immersed in a game world that is , to some extent , separate from the real world ( c . f . Huizinga ’ s Magic Circle ). Game worlds differ from real worlds with regard to their behavioural consequences . For instance , unlike the real world , a game world often rewards winning at the expense of a fellow player . Game elements , such as competition , rewards , fantasy , challenge , physical interaction , are symptomatic for game worlds and motivate the user to behaviourally engage with the game world and make the game world experience enjoyable and immersive .

Game designers use these game elements as tools to elicit this game world experience in its users . Persuasive game designers take this approach even further : they not only aim to elicit a game world experience but also seek to use this game world experience to achieve a transfer effect of a user ’ s changed behaviour into the real world .

In the G-Motiv project , we aim to generate knowledge and prototypes for persuasive game design specifically aimed at social , physical , and mental healthcare . The Persuasive Game Design model ( Visch , Vegt , Anderiesen & vdKooij , 2013 ) generalises the knowledge we have gathered in our projects . In the next phase of G-Motiv , we will not only use the model for inspiration to design our prototypes , but also to refine the model theoretically and turn it into an application manual for persuasive game designers . On the right hand page , we give an example of how we can use the model to change behaviour within the context of mental healthcare .

Valentijn Visch — 1971 v . t . visch @ tudelft . nl

. Assistant Professor at Delft

University of Technology , Industrial Design , Design Aesthetics . Project leader CRISP project G-Motiv