Peggy Wu, Principal Investigator, SIFT

There are a number of challenges associated with making games for behavior change to help the player make healthier lifestyle choices. The game needs to incorporate the magic formula of fun and engagement, incorporate an educational component either through experiential or didactic learning, tied to real world detection and/or consequences, all to change the mindset of the player with lasting effects. This talk will provide an overview of several research projects related to games for behavior change, discuss applicable theories from psychology and sociology, how those theories could be used to help systematically design a game, and some of the challenges and lessons learned by the game designers.