Game Design for Covertly Combating Covid-19 Vaccination Hesitancy

ABSTRACT

Digital games have over the past few years have become increasingly important, particularly during Covid-19 lockdowns, not just as a way to spend free time but also in many more serious fields. One such area is healthcare, where applied games are increasingly utilized to educate individuals and encourage compliance with health measures, such as vaccination. This paper analyses several techniques for developing persuasive games that help change people’s attitudes and therefore their behaviours, in this case focussed on Covid-19 vaccination. These techniques are based on a covert approach to persuasion to avoid triggering individuals’ reactance and hence reaching a wider audience. Evaluation of the designed game shows promising results in terms of the impact of emotional engagement on attitudes toward vaccine uptake. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.