Ensammast i världen

: Konceptdriven designforskning och designriktlinjer till Seriösa spel mot negativa effekter av ofrivillig ensamhet

Abstract

Involuntary loneliness is a problem that during the COVID-19 pandemic increased, especially among university students, because of isolation. This type of loneliness has negative effects on people's physical and mental health, and there is a need for ways to alleviate the negative effects. The purpose of the study has been to build on previous theory and explore how designers combinatorically implement design aspects for games, that have been shown to alleviate the negative effects of involuntary loneliness, in the context of a Serious single-player game for university students. The study answers the question: How can design guidelines be formulated based on theoretically substantiated design aspects for mental health and reduced involuntary loneliness in games, to support future design work with practical implementation in a Serious single-player game, designed for university students? To answer the question, theoretical design aspects from previous research were combinatorically applied in a game design to evaluate externally with informants. Based on the external evaluation, which was carried out with observations and in-depth interviews, three design guidelines have been formulated for designers. The design guidelines are: Free exploration with simple and clearly marked tasks, interpretable narratives and character choices and Visually and narratively recognizable from the student life.

Date of Award	2022-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Kerstin Ådahl (Supervisor) & Kari Rönkkö (Examiner)