Persuasive Gaming: From Theory-Based Design to Validation and Back. An Introduction

This chapter offers a multifaceted reflection on persuasive gaming divided into three pillars: persuasiveness, design, and validation. The first section on persuasiveness is a critical review of previous and current persuasive gaming theory and analysis. It argues that the contemporary gaming landscape needs to expand theoretically and presents a multidimensional persuasive approach as one way in which this can be done. The following section on the design of persuasive games looks at research on design principles, which are the defining characteristics of persuasive games. The final section on validation discusses existing studies on the effects of persuasive games and the case-based assessment of the impact of new games.