=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2055/paper4
|storemode=property
|title=Kindness is Contagious: Exploring Engagement in a Gamified Persuasive Intervention for Wellbeing
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2055/paper4.pdf
|volume=Vol-2055
|authors=Ana Ciocarlan,Judith Masthoff
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/chiplay/CiocarlanM17
}}
==Kindness is Contagious: Exploring Engagement in a Gamified Persuasive Intervention for Wellbeing==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2055/paper4.pdf
Kindness is Contagious: Exploring Engagement in a
Gamified Persuasive Intervention for Wellbeing
Ana Ciocarlan Judith Masthoff
University of Aberdeen University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen, UK Aberdeen, UK
ana.ciocarlan@abdn.ac.uk j.masthoff@abdn.ac.uk
ABSTRACT depression and loneliness [19, 1]. This can lead to numerous
Students are continually exposed to a variety of stressors dur- health complications and have a major negative influence on
ing their academic career, and this can have significant neg- student confidence and academic performance. It is, there-
ative effects on their mental health and subjective wellbeing. fore, critical that students receive appropriate support tailored
In this paper we explore how gamified persuasive interven- to their needs, throughout their academic journey. However,
tions can promote engagement in performing random acts of mental health support services in Universities are struggling
kindness to improve wellbeing and help students manage stres- to meet the overwhelming rising demand for care provision
sors more effectively. In a pilot study we investigated how [8]. Thus, preventive models that target the reduction of risk
participation levels in a gamified persuasive intervention that factors and enhancement of protective factors have attracted
promotes random acts of kindness at University, are influenced considerable attention in recent years and initiatives which
by (1) different persuasive message types, and (2) different focus on proactive responses, promoting general wellbeing,
game challenge categories. Furthermore, we analysed the are highly desirable solutions [28].
impact on behavioural intention by comparing pre-intention
Persuasive interventions can motivate, shape and reinforce
and post-intention to perform random acts of kindness. Par-
beneficial behaviours, as well as help individuals avoid and
ticipants were assigned 5 different quests each morning, for
reduce the negative impact of risk factors [6]. While digital
two days, and asked to complete as many as possible by the
behaviour change interventions can be delivered using various
end of each day. Participants were divided into 2 groups
approaches, persuasive games have attracted attention in re-
and received different types of persuasive notifications dur-
cent research work, due to their strong motivational pull [23].
ing the day: Group A received messages that set out group
Persuasive games are very interactive and require active en-
goals and used the social comparison strategy, while Group B
gagement from participants, which can increase the emotional
received messages that set out individual goals and used the
quality of the intervention [20] and contribute as an incentive
self-monitoring strategy. The findings from the pilot study will
to keep users engaged with the intervention [12]. An increas-
inform the design of a larger study to investigate persuasive
ing number of persuasive games have been developed in recent
game-based interventions for subjective wellbeing.
years as novel solutions for motivating healthier behaviours,
ACM Classification Keywords such as encouraging physical activity and balanced nutrition
Human-centered computing. User studies. Applied computing. [10, 26, 2, 11].
Computer games Despite the growing interest in persuasive games, there re-
mains a need for further research into their application in the
Author Keywords wellbeing domain and design of games which promote happi-
Persuasive Games; Kindness; Wellbeing; Rewards; ness. Games may facilitate the integration of preventive mod-
Engagement; Adaptation; Personality; els and enhance current proactive strategies. Using technology
to promote wellbeing would encourage initiative, empower
BACKGROUND individuals, promote self-care and improve self-management
The number of students in UK Universities who require mental skills. Approximately 54% of students who experience mental
health care is increasing very rapidly and the problems they ill health, feel nervous about receiving care and do not seek
experience are becoming more and more complex [1]. Approx- support from their institution or local practitioners [1]. Thus,
imately 75% of students experience high levels of psychologi- a digital persuasive game would allow a larger number of
cal distress, manifesting in the forms of intense stress, anxiety, individuals to access support remotely and would facilitate
early detection of symptoms, reducing time costs and financial
expenses for mental healthcare providers.
Our wider research project investigates the design of a persua-
sive game for preventing mental health problems and improv-
ing subjective wellbeing in a student population [4]. The inter-
Positive Gaming: Workshop on Gamification and Games for Wellbeing
vention will use persuasion to promote student engagement in
A CHI PLAY ’17 Workshop meaningful, achievable and enjoyable challenges, that increase
October 15, 2017, The Netherlands
©2017 Copyright held by the authors/owners.
happiness and help students manage stressors effectively. Our Research Questions
work is inspired by positive psychology research, as described The pilot study was designed to investigate the following 3
in [13], and focuses on adapting happiness-inducing chal- main research questions:
lenges, which suit user values and interests. Recent work in
Positive Psychology has shown that that practicing kindness 1. How do different persuasive message types affect partici-
has a positive impact on one’s subjective wellbeing [15]. In pant engagement?
this paper we present the results of a pilot study which investi- 2. How do different game challenge categories influence par-
gates how a gamified persuasive intervention can encourage ticipant engagement?
random acts of kindness and the effect of different persuasive
notifications on participant engagement levels. The findings 3. What is the impact on behavioural intention?
from the pilot study will inform the design of our larger studies
to investigate persuasive game-based interventions for subjec- Participants
tive wellbeing. For the pilot study, we recruited a total of 10 unique partici-
pants to take part in experiment (5 females and 5 males, age
ranges between 24 and 43 years old). Participants’ geographi-
cal territories of origin were Asia and Pacific (2 participants),
Europe (4 participants), Africa South of the Sahara (2 partici-
STUDY DESIGN pants) and The Middle East and North Africa (2 participants).
The aim of this pilot study was to investigate how engagement Participants were postgraduate research students and postdoc-
levels are influenced by different game challenge categories toral researchers, recruited from the Computing Science De-
and different persuasive notification types. We also wanted partment at University of Aberdeen. Participants reported that
to explore how gamified persuasive interventions affect be- they generally played phone or computer games a few times
havioural intention towards performing random acts of kind- per year (5 participants), a few times per week (2 participants),
ness. The experiment ran over the course of two days, with every day (2 participants) and almost never (1 participant).
participants being provided with 5 daily quests each morn- Participants were not offered any monetary payment or reward
ing, a persuasive notification during early afternoon and a to take part in this pilot study. Table 1 shows demographics
daily questionnaire in the evening. A pre-questionnaire and and group division of participants.
post-questionnaire were also completed by the participants. To
achieve our aims, all quests involved performing small random Participants took part anonymously and did not know there
acts of kindness and were centered around 5 key categories were 2 groups or which of the groups they were assigned to.
that inspire positivity and promote wellbeing: being positive, However, given some participants shared offices and the public
having meaningful interactions, expressing gratitude, being nature of some of the tasks, participants may have become
helpful and cheering up or encouraging others. aware of the identity of other participants. This may have had
some influence, which we tried to minimise by participants not
Participants were divided into 2 groups and received different knowing they have been distributed into groups. Additionally,
types of persuasive notifications during the day: Group A re- some participants knowing the experiment leader, and hence
ceived messages that set out group goals and used the social the source of the persuasive messages, could have had an
comparison strategy, while Group B received messages that impact (see [18] on the impact of the source of persuasive
set out individual goals and used the self-monitoring strategy. messages). We ensured these participants were distributed
Numerous persuasive strategies have been identified to influ- evenly over the groups.
ence behavioural determinants, in order to promote behaviour
change. For example, Fogg [6] has developed 7 persuasive Table 1. Participants’ demographics and division into groups
approaches, Cialdini [3] has developed 6 principles of per- Group Participants Goal Type Strategy
suasion, and Oinas-Kukkonen [21] built upon this work to Total Males Females
identify 28 persuasive system design principles. Furthermore, A 5 3 2 Group Goal Social Comparison
Michie et al. [17] have recognised 93 techniques for promot- B 5 2 3 Individual Goal Self-Monitoring
ing behaviour change. Social comparison is a strategy which
allows participants to compare their performance with others
and setting group goals allows participants to work towards Materials
a shared objective. This strategy was chosen as it has been We created 10 quests that were assigned to the participants
increasingly used in interventions, as humans feel motivated to each morning. Table 2 shows the resulting quests for the
perform better if they are competing with their peers [6]. Self- first day (Q1 to Q5) and the second day (Q6 to Q10). On
monitoring provides the means for participants to track their the first day we used group and individual goal-based persua-
progress and builds on self-understanding. This strategy was sive reminders ("If participants cumulatively reach the target
selected as Health Interventions that combine self-monitoring of at least 30 completed quests in total for today, everyone
with other persuasive strategies (e.g. setting goals) have been will receive fruit and cake as a reward"; "If you reach the
shown to be more effective than other types of interventions target of at least 4 completed quests for today, you will re-
[16]. Participants’ pre-intention and post-intention to perform ceive fruit and cake as a reward";). For the pilot study we
random acts of kindness pertaining to the key categories were chose a tangible reward because it was the easiest to opera-
also evaluated. tionalise, whilst meeting ethical constraints (e.g. ethics board
raised issues regarding social status rewards). Future work using the NEO-PI-R inventory [9]. Participants were then
will need to investigate both intangible rewards and different asked to fill in the TIPI scale [7] to determine their personality.
types of tangible rewards. On the second day of the study we
used encouragement messages focused on social comparison Table 3. Target Behaviours promoting Kindness
(e.g."This is the Top 5 leader board for yesterday! Very well Category Behaviour
done, you are on the second place with 4 quests completed.
Let’s see if you can maintain your position in the top or even Being Positive I will try to make a spontaneous nice ges-
improve it!") and self-monitoring ("Very well done, you have ture for someone;
completed 4 quests yesterday! Let’s see if you can keep up Meaningful I intend to have meaningful conversations
or even improve your performance today!"). Additionally, we Interactions with someone; I will try to listen to some-
provided designated poster areas, cards, coloured markers and one share their emotions and experiences;
a submission box for participants to complete their quests.
Expressing I plan to express my thanks to those who
Table 2. Daily Quests Gratitude have been kind to me; I intend to reflect on
things I am grateful for in my life;
Category Quest Description
Being helpful I intend to volunteer to help someone with
Being Positive (Q1) Write a nice anonymous card ad-
a small task;
dressed to a PhD Student; (Q6) Write a nice
anonymous card addressed to a member of Cheering up I will try to cheer others up; I plan to en-
staff; others courage others;
Meaningful (Q2) Ask someone how they are; (Q7) In-
Interactions troduce yourself to someone you have not
Day 1
talked to before;
An email notification was sent to participants, outlining the 5
Expressing (Q3) Leave a note about one thing you are daily quests for Day 1. A detailed description is provided in
Gratitude grateful for in your work; (Q8) Thank some- Table 2 (Q1 to Q5). Materials required by participants were
one or a group of people; made available in the indicated locations. Early afternoon, a
Being Helpful (Q4) Volunteer to help someone in your de- reminder was sent to the two groups. Participants in Group
partment with a small task; (Q9) Take some- A were told that there would be a fruit and cake reward if all
one on a short walk around the University; those who are taking part in the study cumulatively reach a
target of at least 30 quests completed in that day. Participants
Cheering Up (Q5) Leave a joke or a funny message; in Group B were told that there would be a fruit and cake
Others (Q10) Make a small, nice drawing; reward if they individually reach a target of at least 4 quests
completed in that day. At the end of Day 1 participants filled
in a questionnaire describing their experiences. For each quest
Procedure participants were asked if they have completed it. If the answer
Participants were told that the purpose of the pilot study is was "Yes", participants were asked further questions about the
to investigate what influences behavioural intention change quest, as detailed in Figure 1. If participants answered "No",
and engagement in a persuasive game that promotes random they were asked to explain why they have not completed those
acts of kindness. Consent forms and information sheets were quests.
provided and participants were informed that taking part in the
study was voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time,
for any reason. All materials produced by the participants Figure 1. End of Day Questions for Completed Quests
were stored securely.
Pre-Questionnaire
After the collection of demographic information, participants
were asked to describe their happiness level on a scale from 1
(not very happy) to 7 (very happy) at the time of completion.
The Subjective Happiness Scale [14] was used to measure
the global subjective wellbeing of the participants. We were
interested to learn about the participants’ pre-intentions for
performing random acts of kindness. We asked questions
about their intention for performing 8 different acts of kindness
reflecting the selected 5 key categories (as described in Table 3)
and used a semantic differential scale to measure their attitude
towards random acts of kindness. In the final section of the
pre-questionnaire we assessed participants’ level of gratitude,
using the VIA scale [22], as well as level of altruism (sub-scale
of Agreeableness) and friendliness (sub-scale of Extraversion)
Day 2 Figure 2. Daily Challenges Completed by Groups A and B
Participants were sent a new email notification in the morning,
containing the daily quests for Day 2. A detailed description
is provided in Table 2 (Q6 to Q10). An encouraging message
was included in the notification for each group. Participants in
Group A were shown a Top 5 Leaderboard displaying partici-
pant codes and numbers of quests completed on the previous
day and encouraged to maintain their record or even improve it.
For Group B, the message informed participants of their own
performance only on the previous day and encouraged them
maintain or improve this during the course of Day 2. In the
evening, participants filled in the questionnaire which asked
them which of the tasks they have completed, what motivated
them to take part, which tasks they did not do and why.
Post-Questionnaire
In the post-questionnaire, participants were asked to describe
how the different reminders and encouragement messages
influenced them when completing the quests during the two
days. We reassessed the attitude towards performing random
acts of kindness using the same semantic differential scale as
in the pre-questionnaire. Finally, we measured participants’
post behavioural intention to perform the 8 acts of kindness
described in Table 3 in the upcoming 2 weeks.
RESULTS
Having described our approach, we now present our findings.
The results are structured around the research questions we
investigated in the pilot. the messages influenced them. Overall, participants in Group
A reported that the messages had a stronger impact on their
Q1: Influence of persuasive message types performance than those in Group B.
A total of 75 challenges have been completed during the pi-
On Day 1, participants in Group A reported that the persuasive
lot study. On Day 1 participants cumulatively completed 41
notification motivated them to attempt to complete a higher
challenges (20 challenges were completed by Group A and
number of quests. Two participants were encouraged by the
21 challenges by Group B). On Day 2 a total of 34 challenges
potential reward offered if the group goal was achieved (PA5:
have been completed (both Group A and Group B completed
"I wanted to complete more quests because I like cake"; PA4:
17 challenges). Table 4 summarizes the mean and standard
"I thought fruit and cake can be a good opportunity to share
deviation in changes of participation levels for each group over
ideas and feelings"). Participants also mentioned that the no-
the two days of the pilot. For both groups there is a negative
tifications allowed them to maintain progress (PA2: "I was
mean change in participation over time potentially motivated
reminded that there was a task I had not done that I could com-
by time constraints and other commitments of participants.
plete"). One participant (PA1) said that the reward was not a
Table 4. Means and SD for number of quests completed motivating factor as they "enjoy doing good things". Similarly,
Mean (SD) the majority of participants in Group B (PB2, PB3, PB4) re-
Group A Group B ported that the persuasive message had very little influence on
them as they "were not expecting a reward for doing acts of
Number of Quests Completed on Day 1 4.00 (1.00) 4.20 (0.83) kindness".
Number of Quests Completed on Day 2 3.40 (0.54) 3.40 (0.89)
Number of Quests Completed in Total 7.40 (1.34) 7.60 (1.34) On Day 2, all participants in Group A said that the leader
board encouraged them to try and maintain or even improve
Figure 2 shows the distribution of completed quests for Group their performance (PA2: "It was motivating to see I had done
A and Group B based on different persuasive message types. so well"; PA1: "I wanted to maintain my position in the top";
Based on qualitative responses, the persuasive messages influ- PA5: "I wanted to do better"). The social comparison strategy
enced both Group A and Group B to complete quests. How- influenced one participant who felt motivated to see that other
ever, there is a larger cluster of participants from Group B participants are also performing well (PA3: "I can see a lot of
who individually complete more quests than in Group A: the good people around me. I am proud of it"). Most participants
median number of quests completed in Group B is 4 com- in Group B reported that the self-monitoring strategy had very
pared to 3 in Group A. This suggests that individual goals and little influence on them (PB5: "I would have tried to do my
self-monitoring may lead to increased levels of participation, best on the second day too"; PB1: "I was already motivated
in comparison to group goals and social comparison. How- to complete the quests"). One participant (PB3) said that the
ever, this result does not reflect how participants perceived notification "brought competitive spirit" to the experience.
Q2: Influence of game challenge categories Figure 4. Participants’ Perceptions of Different Challenge Categories
To evaluate each of the 5 key challenge categories we analysed
participants’ responses on how happy the challenges made
them feel and how enjoyable, motivating and meaningful they
found the quests to be. In general, participants said that the
quests made them feel happy, were enjoyable and meaningful.
However, the quests were considered to have a lower impact on
the participants’ motivation. Figure 3 shows how participants
engaged in different challenge categories and Figure 4 shows
how participants rated the quests in the 5 key categories.
Being Positive Quest Category
Participants indicated that quests from the "Being Positive"
category were the most efficient at providing a feeling of hap-
piness and meaningfulness. The quests in this category were
also perceived as enjoyable and motivating, more than most
of the other challenge categories. Participants mentioned that
they were motivated to complete this type of of challenge
mostly due to a pre-existing desire to acknowledge a colleague Meaningful Interactions Quest Category
or member of staff, based on personal experience (PB1: "I When asked to introduce themselves to someone new or to
wanted to tell a member of staff that they have improved a ask someone how they were, participants indicated that their
student’s experience", PB5: "Staff is great and I have things engagement levels were mainly influenced by their perception
to thank them for", PA4: "I am being thankful for the peo- of the meaningfulness of the challenge. Overall, this cate-
ple in the department"). Respondents were also encouraged gory of quests was considered the least effective at giving
by the fact that the quest was to be completed anonymously, participants a feeling of motivation. It is important to note,
considering that this makes the process of recognizing a col- however, that on Day 1, this challenge category has the highest
league or member of staff for their merit easier (PB5: "I like percentage of non-completion throughout the entire duration
to acknowledge and thank staff for the help I get, and it’s even of the experiment, with only half of participants completing
better anonymously"; PB1: "This is a good way to give some- it. The main reason for this is that some participants felt it
one praise without the anxiety of a response"). Participants was difficult to engage in conversation with strangers (PB5:
argued that one issue is that this challenge category requires a "Personally, I find it difficult to strike a conversation with new
certain amount of creative effort to complete (PA1: "I had to people"). An interesting observation is made with participants
think about what to write", PA2: "I intended to say something who although reluctant, completed the task (PA1: "Even if I
motivational or inspiring but it was difficult at first"). On each didn’t like introducing myself to a stranger at first, it wasn’t
of the days, only 3 out of 10 participants did not complete the that bad", PB4: "Randomly asking someone how they are
challenge belonging to this category, with "time constrains" might seem strange, although it could turn into a conversa-
being the reported cause. tion starter"). The overall difficulties that some individuals
encounter when communicating with strangers may account
for lower perception of benefits that participants gain from this
Figure 3. Participation in Different Challenge Categories type of quest.
Expressing Gratitude Quest Category
Participant responses indicate that the Expressing Gratitude
category was very well received by most, based on existing rea-
sons to be grateful towards colleagues. These quests provide
the drive for participants to engage themselves in recognizing
the efforts of those around them and experience feelings of
genuine gratefulness (PA4: "I felt the gratefulness coming with
thanking people", PB1: "Feeling genuinely thankful towards
some people", PA3: "This may be the most enjoyable quest
from my perspective", PB5: "I love thanking people", PA2:
"It is one of the best way of appreciating other people."). This
type of challenge was also the most engaging, with only three
participants failing to complete the quest over the two days
period. Time constrains were listed as the main reason. Par-
ticipants rank this type of quest highly, with small variations
between how happy, enjoyable, motivating or meaningful the
experience was, as opposed to how other type of challenges
were perceived.
Being Helpful Quest Category Figure 5. Behavioural Pre-Intention and Post-Intention
When asked to provide assistance to someone, participants that
completed the quest reported very positively on how happy the
task made them feel and also how enjoyable, motivating and
meaningful it was. This type of challenge was received well
by participants, as they were motivated to complete it because
it offers the possibility of direct benefits for themselves (PB3:
"Helping the person, I gain knowledge", PB5: "I took a break
from writing my report"). However, the style of the quest poses
a significant effort, with some participants having difficulties
diverting time from work to complete the task or difficulties in
engaging with someone that requires assistance. This was the
main reason accounting for six non-completed quests, but was
also noted by those who completed it (PA2: "I did not speak
to anyone who might need help with something", PB2: "I was
In general, employing individual targets and self-monitoring
busy working"). Considering how well this type of task was
as persuasive strategies had a higher practical impact on the
perceived by participants, but also the extra effort required
level of engagement than group targets and social comparison.
to complete it, it is suggested that more complex tasks can
Overall, participants found all challenge categories enjoyable,
provide higher emotional rewards.
motivating and meaningful, but expressed a preference for
Cheering Up Others Quest Category quests belonging to the "Being Positive" category.
The tasks of cheering up others either by leaving a joke or A future study could build on the findings from the pilot ex-
drawing was perceived by participants as the least motivating periment and investigate the influence of persuasive message
or meaningful of all the categories. However, participants types and challenge category in a virtually-delivered persua-
agree that this category of task was enjoyable and made them sive game. A larger number of participants will be recruited
feel happy. The task received good overall participation with and the influence of other characteristics will be measured
only five non-completions due to time constrains as the main as well (e.g. personality, wellbeing level). For example, it
reason for not completing the quest. Participants considered has been found that adapting messages to personality may
the challenges to be motivating, as it required them to do an impact persuasiveness [24, 25], and we have done some initial
activity that they generally consider enjoyable (PB1: "I enjoy qualitative research on how to adapt challenge complexity to
jokes and puns", PA4: "It is very funny, and it may make personality, stress level and attitude [5]. Further investigation
people smile as it made me"). Some participants noted that is needed on how behavioural intention is changed and the
this type of challenge can be seen as a strenuous creative task influence of the persuasive game-based intervention on actual
(PA2: "It is difficult to think of something to draw", PA3: "A participant behaviour. Additionally, we will investigate other
little bit frustrating. It was hard to make a joke", PB5: "I persuasive message types, building for example on the work
generally doodle stuff but it doesn’t feel like a meaningful by Vargheese et al [27].
or motivating action"). This characteristic reflects in the low
motivation and meaningfulness mentioned by participants. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank all the volun-
Q3: Impact on Behavioural intention teers who participated in this pilot study and provided helpful
Overall, behavioural post-intention shows an increase from comments. The first author is funded by an EPSRC doctoral
the baseline pre-intention, suggesting that a persuasive game- training grant.
based intervention can encourage people to perform more ran-
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