Limitations
Our prototyping and evaluation are currently only up to the story development stage. Hence, only the domains of effectiveness, unintended effects, and attractiveness, were preliminarily evaluated, but not the game mechanics.
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We note that the final delivery of the story, including the articulation of the scripts, and the development of clues, might affect not only the levels of empathy triggered in users, but also the ease of understanding the messages of interest. However, due to time limitations, we were not able to proceed to developing and testing a prototype that mimics the final product.
Future Directions
Below shows our future plans of prototyping and evaluation to test for the effectiveness, unintended effects, game mechanics, and attractiveness of our LARP game before its official launch. We strive to ensure:
the game's effectiveness in
facilitating reflection in our users on mental health stigma related issues, and
inducing in them a more open and accepting attitude towards people with mental illness
the game would not induce unintended effects such as inducing or further consolidating mental health stigma or deterring help-seeking behaviors
the game mechanics (e.g. clues, between-scene activities) are logical, coherent, and easy to follow
the game's story plot is attractive
Schedule of Prototyping
May, 2022
Finalizing the story plot
June, 2022
Writing up the entire story plot, and the stories of each character
July, 2022
- Clue development
- Between-scene activities development
- Debriefing guidelines development
Aug., 2022
- Writing up the character's scripts
- Rapid prototyping & evaluation of the debriefing guidelines (recruit university students)
Sept., 2022
- Prototyping the final product
- Internal playtesting (recruit friends to play the full LARP game and offer feedback)
- Modification of the prototype
Oct., 2022
- External playtesting (round 1) (recruiting university students to try our final product)
[Feedback collection via qualitative interviews for evaluation]
Nov., 2022
- Modification of the prototype based on external playtesting (round 1) results
- External playtesting (round 2)
Dec., 2022