Month: May 2024

Last Monday’s tutorial prompted me to do a dive into the definition and terms of my research question. Originally, I asked, “How Can Young Gamers with Low Self-Esteem be Supported to Improve their Self-Assurance?” The terms I’m going to define here are self-esteem and self-assurance, so I can have clarity on the accuracy of my research focus.

Understanding Self-Esteem and Self-Assurance

Self-esteem, as defined by Adler & Stewart (2004), refers to an individual’s overall sense of value or worth. It’s about how much one values and appreciates oneself. Self-assurance, on the other hand, according to the Collins Dictionaries (2024), is depicted as the confidence one has in their own abilities.

Looking into these definitions, I realized a critical oversight in my assumptions. The target audience I’m focusing one – those comfortable in online social interactions but hesitant offline – don’t necessarily suffer from low self-esteem. It isn’t about their self-worth but rather their confidence in face-to-face social settings. I’m now even more aware of the importance of using precise language in research.

Shifting Terms

Further research led to me a term that more accurately describes the challenges faced by my target audience: social confidence. Individuals who are socially confident are generally optimistic about their social performance and are not hindered by fears of negative evaluation. They tend to engage more successfully in social interactions because they do not focus excessively on potential failures or negative outcomes (Heimberg et al., 1985; Lorr, Youniss, & Stefic, 1991). I found a mental healthcare website that described social confidence in a way that’s easier for me to grasp, they stated that social confidence is “the ability to feel comfortable interacting with others in a variety of social situations. This can look like being able to talk to family members or peers, freely express opinions and feelings, join in conversations without feeling self-conscious, and navigate complex social dynamics” (Ascend Healthcare, 2023).

With this new understanding, I’ve updated my research question to better reflect the nature of my project: “How can young gamers who struggle with social interactions in real-life scenarios be supported to improve their social confidence?“

This will align my research question more closely with the actual problems some of these gamers face.

References

Adler, N.E. & Stewart, J., 2004. Self-Esteem: The Puzzle of Low Self-Regard. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Ascend Healthcare, 2023. Social Confidence | Assessing Teen Confidence. [online] Available at: https://www.ascendhc.com/teen-rehab-blog/assessing-a-teens-social-confidence/ [Accessed 26 May 2024].

Collins Dictionary, 2024. Self-assured. [online] Available at: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-assured [Accessed 26 May 2024].

Heimberg, R.G., Becker, R.E., Goldfinger, D.A. & Vermilyea, B.B., 1985. Cognitive-behavioral treatment of social phobia: Effectiveness at five-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(1), pp.22-26.

As I look deeper into the development of tabletop game designs aimed at enhancing social skills for gamers, I’ve been looking at a lot of existing games for inspiration and context. Surprisingly, I discovered a vast array of games designed specifically to improve social skills, many of which targets predominantly to the younger underage audiences. Coming across this was both enlightening and daunting.

The more I looked, the more I realized how crowded this field already is. Many games are already out there, offering everything from simple card interactions to complex role-playing scenarios, some even requiring professional therapists to facilitate like the D&D therapy sessions. This saturation made me question the uniqueness of my initial intervention idea – to create a game that blends role-playing elements of games with therapeutic elements for gamers who struggle socially offline.

Despite the crowded landscape, my passion for helping this specific community, gamers who find online interactions more comfortable than offline ones, remains the same. However, I acknowledge that creating another game from scratch might not be the most effective approach.

Reflecting on this, I’m considering a shift in my approach. Instead of building a new game, why not leverage the plethora of existing games? Many of these games, though already well-designed for therapeutic purposes, might not be reaching or resonate with the audience I want to help. My new vision involves making a guidebook, curating a collection of these games, each selected for its potential to develop specific social skills, but still fun enough to also grab the attention of my target audience.

Imagine a guidebook that not only lists games but also explains how each can be used therapeutically, and also categorize what type of social skills each game will help build. This resource could be helpful for individuals or even organizations like Game Therapy UK, which already utilizes trained professionals and tabletop gaming as a form of social therapy. If I could partner with such organizations, I could gain insights into practical application of these games in therapeutic settings and refine the guide to ensure that it truly benefits gamers.

Moreover, I’m also thinking of including a marketing approach to help elevate the guidebook and this practice of using games as a form of social skills training, increasing visibility and impact, encouraging more widespread adoption and helping it reach those who could benefit most. This potential pivot from creating to curating doesn’t diminish the project’s value; rather, I think it enhances the feasibility and potential impact.

The road ahead looks clear: research, connect with experts, and start compiling a guide that could make a real difference. But I need someone to check my ideas first, not sure if I’m on the right path or no.

EDIT 5/13/2024 4:56PM

After the tutorial today and the incubator session, I was able to share my intervention with a few tutors and students, I’ve also talked to them about the challenges I’m currently facing (create or curate?), and why I have the urge to change track. A lot of the people I spoke to today thinks that I should stick to my guns, the target audience I am going to address is very different and unique. I will seek more feedback in the next few days.

EDIT 5/15/2021 11:52PM

Went to see Richard during office hours today to seek feedback regarding my current predicament, it was quite enlightening. I want to approach the problem of supporting gamers with low self-esteem, guiding them to more accessible help, and I proposed two different ways to approach: a specially designed game or a zine helpbook. I was thinking in the line of committing to one and only doing one approach, but Richard pointed out to me that why not test both? It’s quite complementary to each other. Just like that, it’s like that mental block in my head is removed. In hindsight, it was quite obvious that I was being way too solution-focused, even having a solution directly embedded into my “how can” question. With this new insight, my new refined question, without being too solution-focused, is “How Can Young Gamers with Low Self-Esteem be Supported in Improving Their Self-Assurance?” This way, I can try different approaches and adjust as needed.

I tested my early barebones prototype of a card game today! When I first started to conceptualize this game last weekend, I thought that my extensive experience in both online and tabletop gaming would making the design process a breeze. Well, it turns about that crafting game mechanics is more challenging than I anticipated. After some intense brain-squeezing sessions, I pieced together a concept for a social deduction game I’m calling “Spycraft.” Here’s an overview of this barebones very early iteration of what I’m working on:

Game Components:

Role Cards: Each player randomly selects a role card that defines their character for the game. Example roles could include: Spy, Diplomat, Hacker, Journalist.
Character Traits: Alongside the role, each player is assigned traits that suggest specific behaviors or styles of communication they should exhibit, like “charismatic”, “suspicious”, or “secretive.”
Conversation Cues: Prompts that help start interactions, such as “What brought you here tonight?” or “I heard you have information on the upcoming tech launch.

Basic Rules:

Setup: Each player draws one role card which comes with traits at the start
Gameplay: The game revolves around players asking questions or making statements based on their roles and traits, trying to guess the opponent’s role while masking their own.
Point System: Points are lost for breaking character or making incorrect role guesses.
Ending the Game: It concludes when a player successfully identifies the other’s role or when a player’s role is revealed after losing three points.

Role Cards:

Spy: Traits include Observant and Persuasive
Hacker: Traits include Paranoid and Resourceful
Diplomat: Traits include Charismatic and Elegant
Journalist: Traits include Inquisitive and Persistent

Conversation Cues:

1. What do you do in your free time?
2. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to think on your feet?
3. What gadget or technology do you find most indispensable on your missions?
4. Ever had a cover nearly blown? How did you handle it?
5. What’s your strategy for blending into a new environment?
6. Is there a particular location where you always wanted to go undercover?
7. How do you unwind after a high-stakes operation?

The game was designed to immerse players in their roles and to practice conversation skills in a fun, engaging setting. For a first test of the game mechanics and effects, I created a very simple barebones prototype using cardboard and markers.

I tested this early version with a subject who is an avid tabletop gamer, and is also someone who struggles with public speaking. We played for about 40 minutes, tweaking as we went. Here’s some of the feedback I received:

Before the Game:

Question: Do you play online games? Do you have online friend groups that you play with?
Answer: I do a lot of mobile gaming and yes, I do play with friends online frequently.

Question: Do you feel socially anxious in the offline world as opposed to the online world?
Answer: Compared to online? A little bit, but it doesn’t really affect me too much besides doing public presentations.”

After the Game:

Question: Do you think the game has helped you in any way to help make you feel more socially confident?
Answer: The game feels very unfinished and the game flow is too fast. I’m just starting to get immersed into my character and the game abruptly ends. I played too little to tell you, I can’t really give you an answer.

Question: Do you think the game was fun or engaging?
Answer: Playing the game was fun and refreshing, trying to be subtle with my character and even trying to misdirect you to make you think I’m another character, while still staying true to my real role really had me thinking about how I should act and how I can act to trick people. But again, the game feels unfinished and is too fast.

Feedback on Mechanics

Question: Do you have any feedback about the game mechanics?
Answer: It was very hard to roleplay characters I am not familiar with, I have to roleplay it but also still be subtle about it to keep you from guessing who I am, it feels a little be contradictory.

Question: Was there anything you find disturbing about the game?
Answer: One thing about the rules where the gamemaster deducts points from the players when they don’t act accordingly to their roles sounds a bit problematic. You have to either really define the game rules and define what is acting accordingly and what is not, or else the gamemaster could get really biased and the game wouldn’t be fun or immersive for anybody. Also, when a GM tells you you’re doing badly it could be discouraging.”

These are great feedback. It’s clear that I need to refine the game, particularly around incentivizing role-playing rather than penalizing players for breaking character. My next steps include tweaking some rules to enhance gameplay consulting with more experienced designers in the industry to perfect the mechanics.