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Guiding Principles For Teen Games

This talk shares insights identifying common qualities of games that may promote teen thriving with positive psychology practices. iThrive utilized a two-tiered approach to find these qualities and create a road map for developers to design for positive psychology practices. Experts at a series of think tanks, lead by McDonald, deconstructed the positive psychology concepts into guidelines for positive psychology constructs, both in terms of what systems and features might help and harm the promotion of these practices in players. A semester’s long study with design students, lead by Rusch, revealed that games with the strongest positive psychology components were those that had the most emotional impact, and few game features. Insights from both investigations will be shared, including exemplar games that align with a set of positive psychology practices; the common qualities those games share; and design tips for creating products that can support teen thriving. Positive psychology practices promote positive youth development, but how can these practices be embedded in games? Drawing from insights collected from industry experts and game design students engaged in a semester-long study, we constructed a road map of the qualities of games that might lead to positive psychology habits.

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Guiding Principles For Teen Games

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  1. Guiding Principles for Teen Games Susan Rivers, PhD Executive Director & Chief Scientist and Heidi McDonald Senior Creative Director #thisishowithrive @iThriveGames

  2. Growth Mindset Cooperation Empathy Curiosity

  3. MISSION Empower teens to thrive with great games

  4. Competencies Skills, knowledge, practices Thriving Teens Agency Sense of influence over world & life path Integrated Identity Sense of personal consistency across personal & social roles

  5. Competencies Skills, knowledge, practices Thriving Teens Agency Sense of influence over world & life path Meaningful Experiences Integrated Identity Sense of personal consistency across personal & social roles

  6. Meaningful Experiences

  7. ➔ Don’t tell me what to do ➔ Don’t tell me what’s wrong with me ➔ Don’t tell me what I should do ➔ Don’t assume I... ◆ don’t know ◆ don’t understand ◆ don’t care ➔ Don’t try to fix me ➔ Don’t try to manipulate me ➔ Don’t treat me like a child

  8. Standing out Measuring Up Fitting in Committing

  9. The Matrix Project Explore and identify features of games that might promote teen thriving. Doris Rusch Associate Professor Game Design DePaul University

  10. The Matrix Project GAMES This War of Mine To The Moon Papers, Please Gone Home Journey Empathy Gratitude Growth Mindset Purpose Resilience Cooperation Contentment

  11. “In general, although the Matrix collects a lot of really good data, I feel like it leaves out some of the most important subjective data about positive emotional reactions to games. Two vastly different games can allow the player to have a positive emotional experience, and I think the Matrix doesn’t really get at the subjective nature of the players’ experience with the game. ...” - Jack Bogaard

  12. The Matrix Project: What are elements of Meaningful Games?  Relatable issues  Great story  Games where your choices affect other’s perceptions and feelings of you  Plots that have twists and turns and details that aren’t obvious at first  Likeable characters you care about  Emotionally powerful scenes that force you to take actions that are conflicting  Ability to choose your own path  Multiplayer games that facilitate cooperation in and outside the game with real players  Sandbox games that allow creation  Provided escape from real life issues  Changing emotions throughout a game  Quests that provide a sense of purpose  Realistic scenes of tragedy  Shocking outcomes

  13. The Matrix Project: Meaningful Games facilitate players’ experiences, they don’t bully them into it.

  14. Scientific summary, for Design Hive pre-reading Literature review What games exemplify this practice? Narrow the list to a curated list. Identify common themes or mechanics. “Design Recipes” for developers.

  15. Matrix Study Results Design Hive Output Game Design Studio Developer Consults Game Projects Game Jams Developer Workshops ETC Journal

  16. Resource Center www.ithrivegames.org

  17. Growth Mindset Cooperation Empathy Curiosity

  18. How will you make meaningful games for teens? www.ithrivegames.org Share with us! Join us!

  19. Thank You Susan Rivers, PhD Executive Director & Chief Scientist @susanerivers susan.rivers@ithrivegames.org Heidi McDonald Senior Creative Director @Death_Bow heidi.mcdonald@ithrivegames.org #thisishowithrive @iThriveGames

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