“Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education

The topic of consent within interpersonal relationships is sensitive and complex. A serious game can provide a safe medium for the exploration of the topic of consent. In this paper, we aim to alleviate the challenges of designing a serious game artefact with the implicit goal of exploring the topic...

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Main Authors: Autumn May Aindow, Alexander Baines, Toby Mccaffery, Sterling O’Neill, Frolynne Rose Martinez Salido, Gail Collyer-Hoar, George Limbert, Elisa Rubegni, Abhijit Karnik
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Virtual Worlds
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2813-2084/3/3/19
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author Autumn May Aindow
Alexander Baines
Toby Mccaffery
Sterling O’Neill
Frolynne Rose Martinez Salido
Gail Collyer-Hoar
George Limbert
Elisa Rubegni
Abhijit Karnik
author_facet Autumn May Aindow
Alexander Baines
Toby Mccaffery
Sterling O’Neill
Frolynne Rose Martinez Salido
Gail Collyer-Hoar
George Limbert
Elisa Rubegni
Abhijit Karnik
author_sort Autumn May Aindow
collection DOAJ
description The topic of consent within interpersonal relationships is sensitive and complex. A serious game can provide a safe medium for the exploration of the topic of consent. In this paper, we aim to alleviate the challenges of designing a serious game artefact with the implicit goal of exploring the topic of consent. The resulting artefact, “Case By Case”, is a VR-based serious game targeting university students, which uses an allegory-based approach to achieve its goal. The participants play the role of a detective who is tasked with determining if individuals have committed theft, which serves as an allegory for breach of consent. “Case By Case” provides the users an opportunity to reflect on their decisions within the game and apply them to the complex situations of consent such as victim-blaming and bystander awareness. To evaluate the effectiveness of the game in achieving its implicit goal, we ran a user study (n = 24). The results show that “Case By Case” provided a safe environment for the users to reflect on the concept of consent and increase their understanding about the topic further.
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publishDate 2024-09-01
publisher MDPI AG
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series Virtual Worlds
spelling doaj-art-6085c73b31ec44dfb73c08e6c7129f272025-08-20T01:56:13ZengMDPI AGVirtual Worlds2813-20842024-09-013335436710.3390/virtualworlds3030019“Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent EducationAutumn May Aindow0Alexander Baines1Toby Mccaffery2Sterling O’Neill3Frolynne Rose Martinez Salido4Gail Collyer-Hoar5George Limbert6Elisa Rubegni7Abhijit Karnik8School of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKSchool of Computing and Communications, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4WA, UKThe topic of consent within interpersonal relationships is sensitive and complex. A serious game can provide a safe medium for the exploration of the topic of consent. In this paper, we aim to alleviate the challenges of designing a serious game artefact with the implicit goal of exploring the topic of consent. The resulting artefact, “Case By Case”, is a VR-based serious game targeting university students, which uses an allegory-based approach to achieve its goal. The participants play the role of a detective who is tasked with determining if individuals have committed theft, which serves as an allegory for breach of consent. “Case By Case” provides the users an opportunity to reflect on their decisions within the game and apply them to the complex situations of consent such as victim-blaming and bystander awareness. To evaluate the effectiveness of the game in achieving its implicit goal, we ran a user study (n = 24). The results show that “Case By Case” provided a safe environment for the users to reflect on the concept of consent and increase their understanding about the topic further.https://www.mdpi.com/2813-2084/3/3/19virtual realityconsent educationserious game
spellingShingle Autumn May Aindow
Alexander Baines
Toby Mccaffery
Sterling O’Neill
Frolynne Rose Martinez Salido
Gail Collyer-Hoar
George Limbert
Elisa Rubegni
Abhijit Karnik
“Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
Virtual Worlds
virtual reality
consent education
serious game
title “Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
title_full “Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
title_fullStr “Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
title_full_unstemmed “Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
title_short “Case By Case”: Investigating the Use of a VR-Based Allegorical Serious Game for Consent Education
title_sort case by case investigating the use of a vr based allegorical serious game for consent education
topic virtual reality
consent education
serious game
url https://www.mdpi.com/2813-2084/3/3/19
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