Minimal Effects of Playing a Game about the current Refugee Situation

Portrait picture of Jeroen Jansz

The persuasive games Against All Odds and My Life As A Refugee aim to increase their players’ understanding of the current refugee situation in Europe. Former Media, Culture & Society student Annika Meeuwes and prof. dr. Jeroen Jansz studied the effects of Against All Odds, in collaboration with colleagues from Nijmegen University.

Playing this game about the refugee crisis did not result in substantially stronger willingness to help, relative to the control conditions. Video and printed text resulted in more immersion than the digital game, but playing the game resulted in a higher level of identification with the refugee character. The results contribute to a better understanding of the effects of games about current affairs, but also show that sometimes the effects of playing persuasive games are less powerful than intended.

Serious Gaming MOOC

The MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on serious gaming has reached more than 40.000 visitors. Take a look or join us, it’s for free. You can find the course on Coursera here.

Compare @count study programme

  • @title

    • Duration: @duration
Compare study programmes