Gaming to Change the World

5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 1 Gaming to change the world? Serious Games and the refugee crisis A thesis by Angeliki Kerpitsopoulou Utrecht University Master of New Media and Digital Culture S.N: 5558506 Thesis Supervisor: Joost Raessens Second Reader: Teresa de la Hera Conde - Pumpido 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgments 3 Abstract 4 Introduction 5 Methodology Structure 9 10 1. The notion of Refugees, the impact of Serious Games and Social Change 12 1.1 Refugees and the impact of Serious Games 12 1.2 Social Change through, or, and attitude change 13 2. Gaming and Persuasion: A theoretical model 15 2.1Questioning procedural rhetoric’s validity and the need of an interdisciplinary theoretical model 15 2.2A theoretical model for persuasiveness in serious games 17 3. 1000 Days of Syria & Against All Odds 26 3.1 1000 Days of Syria 26 3.2 Against All Odds 36 Conclusion 41 Bibliography 44 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would first like to thank my thesis supervisor Prof. dr. Joost Raessens, who holds the chair of Media Theory at Utrecht University. Prof. Joost Raessens was always available to dedicate time in order to provide me the correct guidance through the difficult journey of thesis writing. I would also like to acknowledge Teresa de la Hera Conde-Pumpido, postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in New Media and Digital Culture at the Department of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University. As the second reader of this thesis, I am gratefully indebted for her very valuable comments on this thesis. Finally, I must express my profound gratitude to my parents, Anastasia and Panagiotis Kerpitsopoulos and to my sister and brother, Stavroula and Konstantinos Kerpitsopoulos for all their support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study, as well as through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Special thanks to Maik Arets for his text editing and to Tom Waits, who his music kept me strong all these moments that I was feeling disorientated. Thank you. Angeliki Kerpitsopoulou 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 4 “It is games that give us something to do when there is nothing to do. We thus call games pastimes and regard them as trifling fillers of the interstices of our lives. But they are much more important than that. They are clues to the future. And their serious cultivation now is perhaps our only salvation.” Bernard Suits, philosopher (Suits 1978, p.159) Abstract This thesis aims to discuss serious games as instigators of social change. This paper will attempt to provide a better understanding of how serious games may contribute to social change, focusing on attitude change towards refugees. Here the term serious games will be used in such a way that it includes persuasive games and refugee games. Therefore, a definition for games called refugee games will be posited, specifying three different focuses. This thesis aims to be useful for scholars from various fields who are interested in seeing serious games not only as educative and informative devices but also as elements that can affect values, attitudes and ideas, as well as those who are more specifically interested in attitude and social change in connection with serious games. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 5 Introduction In the last decade, a movement has grown in the game industry referred to as serious games, a type of game that aims to deal critically with social and educational issues. Even though games have been designed for serious purposes throughout history, it has only been during recent years that serious games were seen as a notable phenomenon in the game industry. In fact, figures from 2010 show that serious games’ market value was more than 1.5 billion euro (Djaouti, Alvarez, Jessel1 & Rampnoux 2011, p.25-43). More recently, as the game scholar Ian Bogost claims in his book, Persuasive Games: The expressive power of video games, the study of computer games as powerful artefacts has become more relevant with the development of persuasive games, which aim to persuade players to think a certain way regarding a specific issue (Bogost 2007, p.4). Because of the progress made in computer science and design, video games themselves have become more interesting than ever before to analyse as interactive tools with the potential to convey strong messages able to affect a players’ ideas. The Entertainment Software Association claims that in America alone, 155 million Americans around the age of 30 play video games (ESA – Annual Report 2015). The Interactive Software Federation of Europe claims that the percentage of active European players in 2015 was between 40 and 60 per cent (GameTrack Digest 2015). With such a wide user base, a good part of the world’s population interacts on a regular basis with story, design, gameplay and many other characteristics of a digital game. This fact has not gone unnoticed by video game designers, and various designers have already created and circulated games for change that they believe will make us question the world around us and critically interact with existing and sometimes sad truths. BBC News reports that, in the last year alone, over a million people have sought refuge in Europe in order to escape terror and death from conflict zones elsewhere (Rodgers, Gritten, Offer & Asare 2016). This is not to say that immigrants have traditionally been accepted in their host societies. In fact, lack of acceptance has often been the case, with integration sometimes outright failing and most recently, public opinion in some places has swayed against keeping the borders open. Immigration was, and still is, a topic that needs to be explored in depth to understand the reasons behind it and to make the associated human experiences relatable. It is not surprising, then, that non-governmental organizations such as the United Nations and Free Press Unlimited 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 6 inform people about forced mobility, as they attempt to inspire understanding and action for the foreign other (Todorov 1984, p.248 & Raessens 2015, p.245). In the wake of such international attention for refugees and design and computer science-related developments that have propelled the game industry forward, it is interesting that game designers choose to work for this purpose and to create games that have ethical and possibly behaviour-changing implications. This study of how serious games might cause attitude change regarding refugees, therefore, could also lead researchers to further explore other social or political issues and open up a channel for discussing social change through gaming. This thesis will try to answer the following question: How can serious games motivate social change by inspiring, or, persuading humans to rethink and possibly change their attitudes regarding refugees? In order to answer this main question, it is necessary to first address the following sub questions:  What are serious games and their connection to refugees? (This sub question will be addressed in Chapter 1.1),  How does social change through attitude change happen? (This sub question will be addressed in Chapter 1.2),  How may serious games convey a persuasive message that is able to affect players’ attitudes and ideas? (This sub question will be addressed in Chapter 2), and  How do 1000 Days of Syria & Against All Odds convey the persuasive message to the player? (This sub question will be addressed in Chapter 3). One strategic model, which is able to affect humans’ behaviour, ideas, and attitudes, is persuasion. Methods of persuasion and rhetorical mechanisms have emerged, disappeared, and transformed throughout the ages. One could argue that with the advent of the new technological age and the complexity of contemporary societies, more of these methods and mechanisms have become available for critical use and thus persuasion needs to be examined in a broader context. According to game designer B. J. Fogg, persuasion is “a non-coercive attempt to change attitudes or behaviour” (Fogg 2007, p.134). The key factor of persuasion in this definition is that it constitutes a free attempt to inspire, influence and motivate for action. It is understood that two actors are involved in persuasion, hence if the sender of the message cannot force the receiver to 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 7 accept his/her message, he/she has to motivate him/her. In order to focus more on how the game persuades the player, this paper will assume that the player has been already been motivated to play the game. Game designers, academics and theorists of game studies, media studies, and persuasive studies, support different perspectives to explore how a digital game could be an effective tool able to inspire attitude change on socio-political issues. Each of the above fields focus on isolated characteristics in digital games that could communicate persuasiveness to the player. This thesis will use a part of Teresa De la Hera CondePumpido’s interdisciplinary theoretical model in order to explore how persuasive communication happens in serious games about refugees. Although this theoretical model was created to support her dissertation’s research question, regarding how persuasive messages have been communicated through advergames, in this paper the model will be used to examine persuasive communication in connection with attitude change in refugee games. De la Hera identifies eleven persuasive dimensions of digital games, which could operate on the three different levels of a game’s signs, system, and context (De la Hera 2014, p.85-96). According to semiotic principles theory of game scholars Salen and Zimmerman, digital games are systems that have specific rules and characteristics, include a series of signs. Through interpreting these elements within a game’s system and context, a player establish a relationship with and generates meaning from the game (Salen & Zimmerman 2004, p.364). This paper will try to answer the third sub-question, how serious games and in our case refugee games may convey a persuasive message that is able to affect players’ attitudes and ideas, by using seven of De la Hera’s persuasive dimensions, that have been identified to this paper’s case studies, and functioning on all of the three operating levels. At the core of this paper’s theoretical model lie De la Hera’s signs of the game, namely “the acts and objects that function as signs in relation to other signs” (Chandler 2014). Signs are given meaning from interpretation within a specific context, through the production of texts and the relations that have been generated between the various signs of a system. Serious games, when seen as digital systems may contain numerous signs that could be presented to the player in specific “modes” based on function, and this is where the element of persuasion comes from (De la Hera 2014, p.85-96). Every mode responds to a specific persuasive dimension and aims to persuade the player in different ways using language, visual elements and sound (De la Hera 2014, p.92). For 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 8 the level of signs in refugee games, three different persuasive dimensions will be explored in this paper, namely linguistic, visual and sonic persuasion. The second level of persuasion, the system, is the digital place where signs are given meaning (De la Hera 2014, p.92). The system is connected to a game’s rules and the processes that occur through these rules within the game in order to raise an argument, namely procedurality. De la Hera identifies two more important factors, the narrative and the cinematic function of the representative content of the game (De la Hera 2014, p.92). In this paper, I will also attempt to explore concerning the game’s system, the persuasive dimensions of procedural, narrative and cinematic persuasion. Lastly, the third level of persuasion, the context, is the place where the player meets the system and undergoes interaction in order to generate meaning. The context of playing a game could affect the meaning created from the game since a player’s prefabricated ideas might interfere with the game’s intentions. This issue can, in turn, be solved by the notion of metacommunication which is the game’s “capacity to influence the perceptions and beliefs of the player, not only in the game world but also in the physical world context that it intersects” (De la Hera 2014, p.94-95). The game is possible to affect players’ ideas and attitudes by using signs that are able emotionally and psychologically to affect them, generating results that could be seen in the real world. Related to this material, I will explore the persuasive dimension of affective persuasion. Due to the limited extent of this thesis, I will explore persuasiveness through digital games focusing on how the design of serious games, in our case refugee games, is able to convey a message that through its affordances could possibly affect, persuade, or, inspire its players regarding specific ideas and actions. In his essay, The Role of Play in Development, the psychologist Lev Vygotsky claims that play “always involves rules which are in the minds of the players and may or may not be laid down in advance’’ (Vygotsky 1978, p.92-104). In this way the definition of play encompasses the player and the general context of the game, as well as the rules of its system. Due to this fact, an interdisciplinary theoretical model would therefore allow us to understand how the design and the affordances of a game could possibly persuade the players and allow them to construct the final meaning of the game. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 9 Methodology In order to answer how serious games could motivate social change by inspiring, or, persuading humans to rethink and possibly change their attitudes regarding refugees, firstly I will provide a definition of serious games and a definition specifically for the games dealing with refugees, namely refugee games. This will help to clarify the main objective of this thesis and to understand how it could connect further with the notion of social change through attitude change. To achieve the understanding of the connection between refugee games and social change, I also provide a contextualization of social change, focused on the attitude change theory of Klimmt (year). After this section it will follow a critical analysis of procedural rhetoric as a main persuasive theory. The critical analysis of procedural rhetoric will be based on a mini literature review, which will summarize the literature concerning procedurality and its critique. A critical analysis may be defined as a ‘’form of intelligent criticism which helps people to reach independent and justifiable conclusions about an issue’’ (University of Bradford). By doing a critical analysis through a literature review of procedurality, this paper attempts to justify the need of a multi-combined theoretical framework to explore persuasiveness in serious games. Furthermore, the basic methodology that I will employ to exemplify the theoretical framework is a content analysis of two case studies. This entails referring to the case studies works by referring and analysing the basic elements of two specific refugee games to provide a framework regarding the way that persuasiveness has been communicated through serious games to the player taking into account the specific context in which play occurs. Robert K. Yin defines a case study as “an empirical inquiry that: investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used” (Yin 1984, p.23). Although the use of a case study as a research method can provide the means to observe a sample of a theoretical model, it is characterized by subjectivity. In order to render this element of subjectivity less detrimental to the validity of this paper’s findings this paper will use a content analysis. A content analysis of the two case studies can provide the reader with explanations of the meaning, the purpose or the effect of any type of communication through the systematically study and evaluation of the internal patterns and the details of games’ content. According to behavioural researcher 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 10 Bernard Berelson, content analysis is “a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of manifest content of communication” (Malliet 2007). Cultural critic Siegfried Kracauer glosses over objectivity in this matter and values higher the deep understanding of the examine issue that this approach offers to its audience, an important element in the exploration of refugee games (Steven Malliet 2007). I chose a content analysis of two video games for this thesis, primarily because it would allow me to perform a focused close reading of each game while avoiding being lost in the contexts and details that a greater number of games might have introduced. Also a content analysis allowed me to explore serious games on more than one level and to provide details in regard to the game as a textual entity that acquires a specific meaning related to its user and the game’s context. Even though, a content analysis of two case studies is able to work as an exemplification of a theoretical framework, it is not a method which can prove games’ effects on the players. A content analysis by providing observations for games’ function makes a number of hypotheses related to the effects of the game on the player, without be able to justify how this translated in players’ real world. Based on this analysis, a conclusion will be drawn regarding how these two games are able to create a persuasive context that might be able to influence a person to change his/her ideas, values, or attitudes. Structure The first chapter, The notion of Refugees, the impact of Serious Games and Social Change, aims to answer my first and second sub-questions: What are serious games, and refugees and How does social change and attitude change happen? For this reason, it will provide a definition of serious games and specifically for serious games that deal with the refugees, named refugee games and the meaning of a refugee itself. Furthermore, in the second part of the first chapter, Social change through, or, and attitude change, aims to clarify the notion of social change, both on the macro- and micro level, focusing on attitude change, micro level (Ballantine & Hammack 2016, p.10). The second chapter, Gaming and Persuasion: A theoretical model, aims to answer my third question, how serious games may convey a persuasive message. The 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 11 first part of the second chapter, 2.1: Questioning procedural rhetoric’s validity and how digital games communicate persuasive messages to the player will offer a critical analysis of procedural rhetoric, which will provide the logical jump to this paper’s theoretical framework. Subsequently, in Chapter 2.2: A theoretical model for persuasiveness in serious games, a combined theoretical framework will be woven from various scientific and humanistic fields in order to explore how serious games can inspire social awareness, action and finally change in people’s ideas and behaviour through persuasion. Specifically, in this part the notion of persuasion will be examined, focusing on the game’s context, player and internal design. Chapter three, Games’ Analysis, will try to answer my last question, how do 1000 Days of Syria & Against All Odds persuade the player? The third chapter will be divided into two sub- chapters (3.1 and 3.2), one dedicated to each game which will follow a content analysis of the chosen case studies. These case studies will relate to serious games that have been released to heighten the public’s awareness of refugees’ reasons to emigrate by providing a realistic context. The case studies will be based on the games Against All Odds – The game that lets you experience what it is like to be a refugee (2005), released by the United Nation’s High Commission on Refugees, and 1000 Days of Syria (2014) composed by the journalist Mitch Swenson. Against All Odds and 1000 Days of Syria explore the same issue of emigration, but with different chronologies and design elements, providing two different perspectives of the refugee crisis by using different persuasive dimensions. Against All Odds, which is based on images, videos, sound and text, allows the player to experience directly the situation of emigration, and 1000 Days of Syria is based explicitly on text that describes the conflict zone of the Middle East, a situation that for many people is profoundly disturbing enough to force them to emigrate. I believe that the combination of these two games together gives the player a deeper understanding of the complicated and unfortunate situations that lead to emigration or that a refugee experiences in real life. Finally, based on this analysis, a conclusion will be drawn regarding how the game’s story, the player and the internal design of the game, may create a persuasive context in each game. Then, the conclusion will highlight the most significant results and offer points of interest for future researchers who might want to continue investigating serious games and their place in society. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 12 1. The notion of Refugees, the impact of Serious Games and Social Change 1.1 Refugees and the impact of Serious Games The age of today seems to be one of ever-growing human mobility. For some people, mobility could represent a choice to search for the means to enhance their lives and to find a better job or education or a better state system. However, there is another type of mobility – one with an obligatory nature – namely emigration. According to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is defined as a “person residing outside his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion” (Castles 2014). What this citation from the UN makes clear, is that the main reason for this type of immigration, where people are forced to flee from their countries, is for the purpose of personal survival and to secure basic human rights. When mobility is a choice, there is no problem; however when mobility is forced upon a person, problems present themselves and must be considered carefully by others. Contemporary computer games aim to frame social and political issues, such as the refugee crisis. According to Michael and Chen (2005), serious games or persuasive games “do not have entertainment, enjoyment or fun as their primary purpose” (p.21) but aim to express values through various elements in their design structure, deconstructing stereotypes and convincing players of specific ideas. As Raessens (2015) claims in his study Playful identity politics: How refugee games affect the player’s identity, “serious games are games that are designed and used with the intention or purpose to address the most pressing contemporary issues and to have real-life consequences, for the world outside the magic circle of the game as well as for the player of the game, during and after playing” (p.246). Serious games intend to engage players with crucial social issues in such a way that by the end of the game, the players will have already fabricated a specific idea regarding an issue, which possibly will affect their ideas about the real world. Serious games or games for change also feature some sub-categories regarding the techniques that each game uses, the design, or the topics that they deal with. This 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 13 paper’s case studies can be defined as refugee games, namely “serious games that frame refugee issues by allowing the player to taste life as a refugee” (Raessens 2015, p.245). Refugee games simulate the experiences of forced displacement and place the player in different positions in this situation. Some refugee games raise an argument regarding the conflict zone that forced them to flee from their countries. Others describe peoples’ lives during their journey, how it is – what they have to confront – if they succeed in surviving. Such games focus directly on life after displacement, on persons’ new country and the difficulties that they have to face regarding racist behaviour or the understanding of different cultural contexts. Also, there are refugee games that combine with bureaucratic issues, aiming to accentuate the possibly difficulties and the dilemmas of forced immigration from both perspectives, of refugees and of the destination countries. Refugee games thus far discussed fall into the bigger category of games for change (G4G, 2004), a community that supports social impact games as a part of the Serious Games Initiative. This paper’s games Against All Odds (2004) and 1000 Days of Syria (2014), could be defined as refugee games (serious games that frame refugee issues) in order to trigger change on players’ attitudes and social ideas (games for change). The game 1000 days of Syria was released on May 2014 and it aimed to present the threeyear conflict story in the Middle East as Swenson, the game’s creator, saw it or heard it through the people that he met on his journey. Against All Odds, released in 2005 by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, is a web-based game for a single player who can choose to be only one character: a refugee. These games’ main aim is to contextualize emigration from different points of view and to affect people’s values, ideas and attitudes by triggering awareness and action, from individuals, official institutions and organizations. Furthermore, by using these two refugee games as examples, this paper will attempt to make a hypothesis regarding the possibility of social change through attitude change in individuals by a stimulus as serious games. 1.2 Social Change through, or, and attitude change Serious games have been already applied in various areas, such as health, education and culture, however this paper will explore how they can inspire social change through/ and attitude change. The notion of change through society has concerned theorists from 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 14 ancient years until Marx’s theory of change and also more recent exponents from various fields of research. It is difficult to arrive at a clear answer to the question of what social change is, although theorists have tried and come up with different definitions. According to Leicht (2007), social change is defined as “the significant alteration of social structure and cultural patterns through time” (p.17). In this definition society is a whole, which is constituted from two separate but related parts, namely structure and culture, the main societal layers in which change occurs. This idea of society makes the elucidation of social change complicated, since social structure and culture are two different fields that work within society interdependently. Social structure can be understood as the macro structure of society referring to the organized context where people interact with and relate to each other, which together with institutions constitute society (Leicht 2007, p.19). On the other hand, culture can be defined as the micro structure of society, within which people share their ideas and values and follow specific behavioural norms in order to live together and communicate (Leicht 2007, p.19). The above definitions contextualize the notion of society by highlighting its two basics patterns of function that interact in order to shape peoples’ lives and keep them in balance. The change in social structure can be understood by sociologist Kingsley Davis’(2002) approach, which holds that, “…by social change is meant only such alternations as occur in social organization – that is, the structure and functions of society” (Dushi 2012). Here, Davis exclusively focuses on the macro structures of change, perhaps neglecting the people, or micro levels, that can make structural change possible. In Davis’ approach, individuals are understood as part of specific organizations or institutions, in which they are engaging in several different behavioural models connected to these (Puntenney 2002, p.2). This macro-structured perspective has as its main characteristic that it is based on an action that just occurred in society and that was caused by historical or socio-political forces. In this view, individuals simply have to accept the changes and deal with them, since making a difference is ultimately futile. The opposite focus is chosen by Klimmt, who claims that social change can be possible only if a significant part of society succeeds in adjusting its behaviour regarding specific issues (Ritterfeld, Vorderer & Cody 2009, p.247). This paper focuses on Klimmt’s perspective, which understands the micro structure of society as the important part that could make change happen through the alteration of ideas values and 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 15 attitudes. The idea is that the change begins within small groups of people or individuals and later has the power to affect society’s structure and for example force to change laws or stereotypes (Puntenney 2002, p.2). The micro structure change mechanism is based on the affection of individuals’ ideas and values from a powerful stimulus, which slowly and subconsciously, and later on consciously, alters people’s attitude regarding specific social issues. Most of the scholars that explore change within society claim that these two types of social change are inextricable, since a shift in one type of definition influences the other (Puntenney 2002, p.2). An alteration in macro-structure layer of society will deeply affect the micro structure layer and vice versa. Even if change is not directly visible within society, the groundwork will have been laid, and the results will affect peoples’ lives in the long term. Because of the inextricability of these two types of social change, it could be said that, for conditions to change for the better, human individuals must be moved, affected, or, persuaded into thinking and acting differently. 2. Gaming and Persuasion: A theoretical model 2.1 Questioning procedural rhetoric’s validity and the need of an interdisciplinary theoretical model The development of video games has given rise to a myriad of options for the game developer to influence a large group of people through his or her work. Specifically, researchers have identified two main, different perspectives that could persuade someone based on a video game. These two perspectives of a games’ power of persuasion can be explored through proceduralism, which is a machine-centre perspective, and through a playing-centre perspective, which focuses on the player and the context of play (Sicart 2011). A machine centre perspective refers to the idea that the meaning in a digital game is generated exclusively from the rules that are structured in the game and internal design. Bogost’s theory of procedural rhetoric and the power of the machine as a persuasive tool that described in detail in his books constitute a revolutionary approach regarding procedurality in persuasiveness. Bogost (2007), in his book, Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames puts the terms procedural and rhetoric together to define a new persuasive 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 16 context for conveying ideas effectively, combining traditional rhetoric with visual and digital rhetoric in serious games. Bypassing the undoubtedly also interesting aspect of visual design, proceduralists focus on the – more internal – system of games and their representative selections, or the “ability of a computer system to execute a series of rules” (Bogost 2007, p.4). This opens up a unique channel for rhetoric without speech or visual aids, a procedural rhetoric. This way, the player ends up in the flow of a game, and the software may impart in the player certain ideas about human relations without the performance of discussion. In this sense, proceduralism focuses on the way that values and ethics apply to the player exclusively through a game’s design. Even though procedural rhetoric gives a useful model to explore persuasion, persuasive mechanisms are not limited to a machine’s aspects but include the player and the context of the game. Due to this fact, many scholars, turned critically against procedurality and its validity supporting a more playing-centre perspective. Sicart in his article, Against procedurality, argues that Bogost’s proceduralistic theory does not take into account a player’s expression, turning play into an instrumental action (Sicart 2011). While proceduralists claim that the rules generate the final meaning, Sicart argues that the meaning is generate from the machine because of its interaction with the player (Sicart 2011). Likewise, game scholar Simon Ferrari speaks about the danger of a player’s manipulation at the hands of the designer’s “dominant rhetoric,” (De la Hera 2014, p.6) since the player is condemned to play a prefabricated game without having any power to affect it. According to Raessen’s observations regarding serious games as mediums able to convey a meaningful message to the players, the term meaning in digital games “is really influenced by the ways in which configurations of technology, user positioning, desire, media text, and context take shape in specific games” (Ritterfeld, Vorderer & Cody 2009, p.507). Due to the complexity of contemporary societies, technological developments and unstable human’s physiological factors, it must be clarified that there are more persuasive characteristics in a digital game than there is procedural rhetoric. Players’ personalities and the context in which a game is being played are main elements that must be taken into consideration when we explore the notion of persuasiveness in serious games and how they are able to communicate a persuasive message to the player. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 17 2.2 A theoretical model for persuasiveness in serious games The mini-critical analysis of procedural rhetoric that occurred in the first part of this chapter aimed to allow us to understand that persuasion in serious games has to be explored in a broader context. The complexity of the relationship between the human and the machine has made the inclusion of a model for analysis that considers both the human and the machine necessary. This thesis will use the seven persuasive dimensions in three persuasion levels that were identified in the introduction and contain both approaches of the machine and the play-centre perspective. 1000 Days of Syria is based explicitly in text so it will be explored in regard to how the persuasive message is communicated through its linguistic, sonic, procedural and narrative elements. Against All Odds, combines different elements of construction, therefore it will be explored through its linguistic, visual, sonic, procedural, narrative and cinematic elements. In both games the affective persuasion, which is inextricable from the other persuasive dimensions of the games it will be taken under consideration. The Signs of the game - Linguistic Persuasion To be able to function as a persuasive tool and convey a specific meaning, linguistic persuasion relies on the power of language, both spoken and written. Within serious games, linguistic persuasion takes the form of every element that uses language in order to state something, including the game’s title, descriptive texts, names of the characters and places, texts and paratexts with information regarding the game’s issue. Language, as a form of signs in a system, in our case in a digital game’s system, could be seen as a symbol (Stalmaszczyk 2010, p.197-202) that can adopt a specific meaning within a context. As communication scholar Berger claims, language as a symbol might not only convey true information but also inaccurately portray the communicated meaning, due to the cultural context in which the language is used (Stalmaszczyk 2010, p.179-202). Historically, linguistic persuasion first appeared as the art of persuasion, known also as rhetoric in Ancient Greece. According to Aristotle’s model of persuasion through language, there are three stages in this procedure: ethos – the notion of credibility in one’s man speech concerning his knowledge on the topic and his moral character, 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 18 pathos – the power to trigger emotion through storytelling and metaphors and lastly logos- the talent to mount valid arguments and think critically (Aristotle's Three Modes of Persuasion in Rhetoric). If Aristotle’s concept of persuasion is to succeed, it needs to affect people’s senses and reason. By using Aristotle’s model of persuasion as a starting point, we can identify some uses of language that could act to persuade someone. Arguments could be raised in serious games referring to logos by using deductive or inductive logic. Deductive arguments begin with a general hypothesis based on a satisfactory amount of reliable evidence and ends with a specific idea. Inductive arguments begin from a specific case and then draw general conclusions. Consequently, pathos is the emotional part of humans that is able to be affected by a metaphorical use of language and hypothesises that could provoke empathy in the reader or listener. Metaphors state that A is the same as B to prove a point about or to give a specific characteristic to B. They help in structuring the way that the player sees and understands the story, much like humans understand the world (Lakoff & Johnson 1980). Meanwhile, hypothetical evidence questions the player using a what if-motif regarding a specific situation, thereby helping him/her to visualize the case and to empathize with it. Finally the ethos of the person that uses language in a specific context is an important persuasive factor. In the case of this paper’s refugee games, the focus is given to the people who create the texts of the game and their morality and fame. Another important element of linguistic persuasion is the use of codes in the representation of language. A code is a collection of rules for all members of a given society and culture and is able to affect how someone will understand a verbal or written text (Irvine 2004-2012). Codes are used in order to emphasize specific content based on the content’s style and in this way affect a person’s interpretation of the content (Irvine 2004-2012). In written language, it matter where and how it is written and the relation to other elements of the context. Because of a codes’ ability to exist in a context, as well as have an underlining specific meaning, which does not make the intention obvious to the receiver, codes can function as a powerful persuasive tool. In verbal communication, the focus is on four characteristics, namely intonation, pitch, pacing and timbre, which relate to how and when someone will speak, how fast and the personal sound of each person’s voice (De la Hera 2014, p.100). Linguistics and its techniques make persuasion possible through the notion of denotation and connotation. Connotation is ‘’the positive or negative associations that 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 19 are emotionally and socially connected to the words’’ and depending on the feelings provoked in the reader it could be positive, negative or neutral (Connotation & Denotation). Denotation however, is the act of expressing something through a sign and provides the literal meaning ((Connotation & Denotation)). It must be clarified that in order for linguistic persuasion to succeed it has to increases the players’ engagement in the game, depending on the selection of the message, how it is communicated and by whom. - Visual Persuasion In 1969, philosopher Burke asserted that persuasion could be understood as, “the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or include actions in other human agents” (Burke 1966, p.12). In this definition, Burke does not limit himself to traditional words and recognize the technological evolution that started to take place from the early 60’s and the new channels of communication that this evolution brought with it to change words into different forms of visual and non-verbal expression. This new channel of communication inspired by photography and cinema defined as visual rhetoric refers, to the way that we interpret and make meaning out of anything we see on a screen. Visual rhetoric as a communication technique is affected by complexities and variables between the sender of the message and the receiver, since the different stylistic elements that someone uses to persuade are also visual. In this paper’s case study, visual persuasion will be explored through two perspectives, namely interface’s and characters’ (De la Hera 2014, p.104). The use of visual representations in a game from the starting screen until the game over screen is able to affect player in various ways, such as to increase and decrease interest in the story or to convey a specific meaning. Interface design in a persuasive context creates a process guide for the user in which through their interaction affect his ideas and attitude about a specific issue through decision making. The design of characters’ is able to communicate a persuasive meaning to the players of refugee games. The identity of game’s character, his/her name, his skin colour, his age and nationality is possibly to provoke the player to empathize with the character and therefore to lead to a better understanding and identification with the refugee. Through empathy, the player is able to see what it is like to be a refugee and in this way the foreign other, is not foreign anymore but becoming I or We. These two perspectives of persuasion can communicate 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 20 persuasive messages to a player through visual representations and their conceptual content and to affect his/her ideas and attitudes. - Sonic Persuasion Sonic persuasion refers to how a persuasive message is communicated and interpreted by the player in the form of sound (De la Hera 2014, p.107-111). With the word sound this paper refers to anything that can be heard from the player, such as noise and music or total absence of sound impulse, namely silence. The perception of sound is distinguished into a causal and reduced listening (De la Hera 2014, p.107-111). The ability of a player to perceive a sound of a game and to focus on it and its source and to identify the type of object that produces the sound helps him to select and categorize the given information and to interpret this information by semantic listening (De la Hera 2014, p.107-111). In this way the persuasive message can be communicated through the sound in a refugee game to the player. According to De la Hera, sonic persuasion can work in a digital game through interface sounds, sound effects, and ambient sound beds (De la Hera 2014, p.107-111). In this paper only the persuasion through ambient sound beds will be explored that refers to simulative sounds of a specific situation or sounds that the player is able to hear during a game’s stage (De la Hera 2014, p.107-111). Ambient sound beds are able to create a realistic context for the player and allow him to identify himself with the character of the game through the feelings that he will experience. Therefore, the persuasive message here is communicated through the interest and maybe the curiosity of the player to become more involved with a game’s given situation. The system of the game: - Procedural Persuasion According to Bogost, digital games can to raise arguments for an issue through their internal rules’ representations and interactions (Bogost 2007, p.ix). In procedural persuasion the rules of the game lead the player to the end of an argument through many paths and unconsciously persuade him to have a certain idea or desirable attitude regarding an issue. As game scholar Sicart argues proceduralists “claim that players, by 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 21 reconstructing the meaning embedded in the rules, are persuaded by virtue of the games’ procedural nature” (Sicart 2011). Therefore, according to Murray, a potentially important but basic characteristic of the procedural rhetoric model is interactivity (Bogost 2007, p.42). Murray’s idea of interactivity opens up the possibility for a player’s engagement with an internal set of rules, allowing the player to make choices and influence gameplay. In this paper, procedural persuasion will be explored based on two types of rules that have been identified by game scholar Frasca as persuasive elements. First are the model rules that describe how the game and its functions can work, in short what can a player do and do not do inside the game. Consequently, the goal rules are the rules that define what a player must and must not do in order to win or lose a game, but for these types of rules it has to be acknowledged that is always possible for a player to cheat in order to win (De la Hera 2014, p.118). The rules are able to convey meaning exclusively by allowing the game’s signs to relate to each other and to exist inside its system, sustaining the communication of serious games’ messages (De la Hera 2014, p.119). - Narrative Persuasion ‘As digital games are a different system of rules, they entail representation and function as traditional storytelling mediums, it is logical that they need to be explored differently. In order to understand how narrative communicates persuasive messages, game scholar’s Gordon Calleja’s approach will be adopted in which narrative is distinguished into scripted and alterbiography. This depends on who has the control of narrative’s creation, the designer does in scripted narration, which follows a script, and the player does in alterbiography where the story generated through playing (De la Hera 2014, p.121). According to De la Hera, there are three basic elements that could be taken into consideration in both types of narrative in order to explore persuasion, namely story, characters and space (De la Hera 2014, p.120). It is only in alterbiography that the interaction between the player and the game’s rules has to be considered as an important element due the fact that in order to produce a meaning through the story, the performance of the player is a basic factor (De la Hera 2014, p.121). The story of the game is the ‘’dominant mode of narrative’’ (Calleja 2009) that is able to communicate 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 22 messages persuasively to the player by narrating occurrences in a specific order. Narrative digital games can defined as interactive dramas with a plot that sometimes progresses only through a scenario or combined with players’ decisions. According to some social psychologists, stories, fictional or not, can be very effective in inspiring change of ideas and attitudes by providing a compelling experience to players (Green, Garst, Brock & Chung 2006, p.267–285). A story has the power to transport the player into an imaginary world and to engage them with it through the given information, to such an extent that the player cannot possibly critique a game’s narrative arguments. The cognitive resistance of the player decreases as the narrative affects him more emotionally and in this way persuasion "lead[s] to belief changes that persist counterinfluence and that persist longer over time" (Green & Brock 2002, p.336). Consequently, another important factor that contributes impacting players’ ideas and attitudes through the narrative persuasion is a game’s characters. Characters have particular characteristics and modes of expression (attitudes, skills, habits, tastes, psychological drives, etc.) which play a crucial role in story progress and, as such, have a particular narrative function. Players are able to identify themselves with a digital game’s character through the feeling of empathy that arises through a narrative and a character’s specific role in that context (Lee, Seung-Jin, Park & Kang 2009, p.30). In her theoretical model, De la Hera mentions that especially during an alterbiography narrative, empathy may change a narrative’s story procedure, as the player makes decisions not as a distanced third person, but while he feels connected with the character (De la Hera 2014, p.124). To sum up, when examining characters as a persuasive factor of a game it is necessary to first decode a series of relationships between the character and the player and also between the character and the game’s context and other characters (De la Hera 2014, p.125). Finally, the last persuasive element of a narrative scripted or not, could be space. Plot, especially in alterbiography narrative, is able to lead the player to infer other story spaces than those presented to him on screen by a ‘’combination of spatial, temporal and thematic mapping able to result in a non-linear and personal storyline’’ (Bruckman 1990, 1). Space could be defined as implicit, namely the ‘’off-screen space that is visible or audible to the characters’’ and the ‘’world that represented in interface every moment’’ (De la Hera 2014, 126). Game space as a persuasive element succeeds by giving the player the impression of having control during playing and in this way 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 23 decrease resistance to the persuasive message by providing a strong motivation to return to the game’s space to explore it further (De la Hera 2014, p.126). According to Jenkins, there are four ways that the use of the space can communicate a persuasive message (De la Hera 2014, p.125). In this paper it will be explored in only one way, the creation of an interactive space, in which the player would be able to generate his own experience through the exploration of space. In this mode, the given elements to the player combined with the feeling of freedom and control in the space are able to gain persuasion. - Cinematic Persuasion Cinematic persuasion is the power of a digital game to communicate persuasively a message using cinematic techniques in order to represent the content (audio and visual) of its story. The cinematic techniques that can be identified in a digital game refer to every element that could be used under a cinematographic approach. Due to the fact that some of them, such as story or characters, have been categorized in another persuasive dimension, this paper will now focus on framing a scene, camera movements, and editing (De la Hera 2014, p.128). The framing of a scene, “refers to the way a shot is composed, and the manner in which subjects and objects are surrounded by the boundaries” (Dirks Filmsite). By framing a scene, the designer functions as a cinematographer who chooses how he frames a story’s moment, taking into consideration all the objects of the scene and the relationship between them, with the final aim of communicating a message. In order to succeed in communicating persuasively, he has to use codes that will associate with the player’s previous experiences and knowledge (De la Hera 2014, p.129). Camera use and how it represents a scene, an object or a character and how it moves inside a game’s story can be a powerful tool in cinematic persuasion. Camera movement is responsible for what and how the player will see something, and therefore how he or she will interpret it. The basic element that gives to the camera this function is the angle used in order to present something or someone. The angle of a shot can depict objects smaller and weaker -high angle- or bigger and powerful -low angle(Brooklyn College). Also, a head-on frontal view allows the viewer to feel engaged with the person, the object or the situation presented and therefore to identify with it (Brooklyn College). Furthermore, the focus of the camera in the centre of the screen 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 24 must be considered since it constitutes the centre of the viewers’ attention (Newman 2009, p.94). Camera’s chosen angle is an important tool that relates the objects with the story and further on with the viewer through codes, in order to communicate a message, in this case the notion of a refugee and how that feels. Finally the procedure of editing includes the organization of minutiae, intensifying subtleties, heightening emotions, and the blending of countless elements of image and sound to create a scene (De la Hera 2014, p.131). If the editing is successful, can generate visual and emotional connections between seemingly unrelated items and can convey a message through the representation of antithesis. According to Hawkins, the creation of an antithesis can create new signs, therefore new meanings, by the placing of signs side by side (Hawkins 2005, p.223). Editing, serves the conveyance of a persuasive message to the player since it is responsible for the creation of the image that the player will see. The context of the game - Affective Persuasion Affective persuasion is the art of convincing someone of a specific idea through affecting their emotions or moods. The feeling that can affect peoples’ emotions and moods, ideas and attitudes can be defined as empathy. According to game scholars Belman and Flanagan, empathy is able to affect peoples’ emotions and moods, as well as attitudes, also in a positive way and to minimize the negative aspects (Belman & Flanagan 2010, p.4). In order to understand how persuasion may affect a player’s attitude it is important to understand the difference between moods and emotions. Emotions can be defined as intense feelings that are instigated by a person or a situation. On the other hand, moods are feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and occur most of the times without a specific stimulus. Emotions can be distinguished into basic and complex emotions. Basic emotions, like happiness, fear or sadness are common in every culture and civilization and more or less for every person. The combination of various basic emotions generates complex emotions. Contemporary research has brought to light that decision making is based on emotions and not exclusively on cognition as was believed in the past (Davindson, Sherer & Goldsmith 2003, p.619-620). Seeing attitudes towards refugees 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 25 are based largely on decision-making procedures regarding ethical questions, affective persuasion could be a powerful tool to communicate persuade messages to the player and inspire him to think and act in a specific way. 1.1 Visual Representation of De la Hera’s theoretical model (De la Hera 2014, p.96) 3. 1000 Days of Syria & Against All Odds In this chapter I will provide a mini-content analysis of the chosen video games in order to understand how the persuasive messages are conveyed within them. Specifically, 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 26 using the theoretical model that has been outlined in chapter 2.2, I will show how these two refugee games might inspire players’ attitudes and instigate ideological change. 3.1 1000 Days of Syria On the 11th of March, 2011, the city centre of Daraa in southern Syria saw a peaceful protest turn into a bloody conflict. This arose between protesters and national security forces, and marked the beginning of a long story of conflict in the Middle East. The ensuing civil war slowly but violently took on uncontrollable dimensions, costing countless people’s lives and forcing the exile of many others. Journalist Mitch Swenson released the game 1000 Days of Syria (2004) to tell the story of the people during the first 1000 days of this conflict. Through the game, Swenson intends to make people around the world aware of this cruel reality and its influence on people. He aims to inspire players to change their ideas and attitudes about refugees. It is a free-to-play adventure game, based on hypertext historical fiction, or as the creator describes it, a “part electric literature, part new cast and part choose your own adventure” (1000 Days of Syria, 2014). The game is a single-player game, in which someone is given the opportunity to experience three different perspectives: that of a foreign journalist, a mother of two living in Daraa, and a young rebel person living in Aleppo. The game plays out through the player’s choices. These are made at the end of every chapter where a small personal story situated in the broader context of Syrian rebellion are presented alongside the player’s main goal to which is to survive. During the narration, the player is able to click on specific links that lie inside the text; this enables the player to be well informed regarding specific names, places and historical facts. Each character has three possible endings, dependant on the path that is followed, and in some situations one’s story narrative meets the others, in this way shaping a circular, interwoven story. The game does not have any graphics, pictures or video and it is totally structured on reading text and making choices based on the player’s information, instinct and personality. I chose 1000 days of Syria as one of my case studies because it is a game that tells a story of a crucial issue of our era with the main aim of informing, educating and motivating people to think about conflict zones in the Middle East and a key consequence, emigration. The fact that the game is explicitly based on text gives an 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 27 important opportunity to this paper to explore the power of persuasiveness through the narrative and linguistics of the game, almost without any use of visual elements. 1000 DAYS OF SYRIA Linguistic Visual Persuasion Sonic Persuasion Persuasion st 1 Level of - Name of the Game - Instructional Texts - Narrative Texts - Interface Commands Persuasion: The Signs Procedural - Interface design - Ambient sound beds Narrative Persuasion Persuasion 2nd Level Of - Persuasion: The system 3rd Level - Model - Story rules - Characters Goal rules Of Affective Persuasion Persuasion: The context - Basic emoions Complex Emotions 1.2 Visual Representation of the theoretical model as it will be used in this paper for the game 1000 Days of Syria. - Linguistic persuasion The introduction page of the game gives the player four options, Home, Start new game, Maps and People. After pressing Start new game an introduction page appears in the form of an informal personal letter that addresses the player. At the top of the introduction page there are two logos of the awards the game has won. Because of this, 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 28 the player might be predisposed from the start to have a positive view of the game’s value. In the introduction, Swenson gives basic information concerning the game’s creation and goal. Swenson also informs the player that he created the game after seeing and experiencing the situation in Syria personally. With these, the designer appeals to the player’s sense of logic to boost the credibility of the game’s content and to minimize his/her resistance to the persuasive message. Also, the designer gives the player the opportunity to choose the option a trip to northern Syria, and to navigate through Swenson’s personal story in Syria. The option is in red in order to signify that this is something different from the rest of the text and it leads the player to a thirty-one-page story in which the facts behind the genesis of the game and the situation in Syria are disclosed. This text, called The New Total War, raises an argument for how this new type of conflict does not leave anyone unaffected. Swenson uses inductive logic and moves from the general context of the Syrian conflict into his specific experiences and therefore into the game. In doing so, he intends to prove that the only option that is really given to the people in this area is to die or go into exile. Swenson’s autobiographical elements invoke a sense of empathy and reality in the player, immersing the player in the true story of people that lived the Syrian conflict. Swenson’s autobiographical text also contributes to the game’s credibility and persuasiveness, its creation is worthy to be considered because it gives the impression that Swenson himself is a heroic, compassionate person, and therefore. He apologizes in case his game offends anyone and explains the reasons that prompted him to create such a game based on human tragedy and loss. He also states that he does not want to personally benefit from this game, rather that he intends to inspire awareness and possibly attitude change regarding refugees. Both statements highlight his excellent ethos, since it shows his true, selfless interest for showing how the conflict zone has affected people. All the above could minimize the player’s resistance to persuasive messages and increase the credibility and morality of the game designer’s ethos and the game itself. In another part of the introduction, Swenson compares the difficulty of making decisions in the game with making decisions in real life, focusing on their complexity. Swenson refers to a player’s emotions in the decision-making process and forces him or her to identify the game with the real life situation. Through this part in the introduction, one gets the sense that even though the game’s characters might be fictional, “their 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 29 predicaments are very much real” (1000 Days of Syria, 2014). Therefore, the comparison that Swenson draws between the real world and his virtual creation might well provoke a feeling of empathy from the player, allowing the player to identify more closely with the game’s characters. In this way, the game’s characters become more and more organic, as the responsibility that the player takes on to guide his chosen character towards survival increases. Here we have a combination of linguistic and affective persuasion. Lastly, during the game the player may notice the differing coloration of certain words or phrases. If the player clicks on red text, he/she is transferred immediately to another page that links to background information. The player soon starts to understand that these links give him/her the true facts behind a person’s name, a place, an object or a situation. In this way, the designer adds to the game’s credibility and value by appealing to the part of a player’s cognitive thinking that helps him/her to interpret the game’s story as a true one. The player may understand that it is not a fictional fairy tale but a cruel reality not very far removed from truth, and this minimizes the player’s resistance to the persuasive message of the game through a logic argument. - Visual Persuasion 1000 Days of Syria, as this paper has already mentioned, is a game based on text. There is only one part that uses visual elements and this is on the starting page of the game. As soon as the player presses the enter button to become involved with the game, there is a background image behind the game’s basic menu. The picture captures a moment inside a room with a young armed man who is ready to take action. He is situated in the centre of the picture which focuses on his angry and desperate look. Behind the man are different diffuse objects, a gun on a wall and in the corner of the picture, another man seated on a chair. The designer uses the picture to convey his persuasive message through connotation. The player understands that the game deals with people who are ready to fight but do not belong to the official armed force, provoking thoughts of war, death and violence. In this way, by combining a visual representation with the game’s title in the starting page, the designer creates a specific idea concerning the game’s content. In my opinion, the choice to include that specific picture does not help the player to understand the game’s goal, which from the designer’s point of view is to spread awareness. In fact, the 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 30 picture biases the player with misguided feelings about the game and provokes an aggressive mood, since it gives the idea of a war game while glossing over the game’s more humanistic element. This could possibly increase a player’s resistance to the persuasive message, since the nature of the game could seem confusing from the get-go. The game is undeniably about a conflict zone and people fighting, but its strongest focus is on telling the story of everyday people trying to survive as opposed to focussing on weapon use, and this is simply not evident from the game’s first and only picture. - Sonic Persuasion Swenson gives the player the opportunity to experience the game with or without music, but he encourages players to opt for the full experience with music. If the player intends to play the game with music, he has to press the button Maps that leads him to a page with the maps of the conflict zone and at the top of this page there is the option for music called reading music. The designer uses ambient sound beds that bring Middle Eastern instrumental music to players’ minds and contribute to players’ focus on the game’s content that is to aid focusing on the persuasive messages. The use of relaxing music without any words possibly influences the player to immerse themselves in the game’s world, to focus on written language and to create a positive mood. More aggressive or realistic sounds would probably have the opposite results since it could make the player feel anxious or lose his or her concentration. - Procedural persuasion The game’s aim is to spread awareness concerning the conflict zone in Syria and its consequences for peoples’ lives. While persuasion through a game’s internal design usually involves four different types of rules, the designer of 1000 Days of Syria only uses two; model and goal rules. Model Rules: 1000 Days of Syria gives the player the opportunity to choose between three characters: the family: a mother of two living in Daraa, the fighter; a young rebel living in Aleppo and the foreigner; an American journalist based in Beirut. Model rules give the player the opportunity to experience the conflict and its consequences from the point of view 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 31 of these three characters. The mother character has a naturally heightened sense of responsibility because she needs to keep her family safe. The 17 year old meanwhile is forced to choose a side but in the end opts to abandon his personal convictions and ideas to survive. Lastly, the foreign journalist is a seemingly special character, because he in fact chooses to be in the conflict zone. The fact that the game offers three different perspectives might strengthen its persuasive message because it allows a wider range of people to identify with the characters. Goal Rules: The goal rules are the “stated aims that lead to victory” (De la Hera, 2014, p. 213). However, in this specific game, there are no clearly stated aims that lead to victory. Because of the fact that the game tells a dramatic humanistic story in a conflict zone, victory is, in a way, to survive or to flee to safety, away from the country. This is the goal for the two first characters of the game. In order to survive and flee to safety away from the country, the mother of two has to deny her husband and her beliefs, to not trust anyone around her and in the end, completely forsake her identity. Likewise, the young rebel, in order to win (survive), has to sacrifice his identity and beliefs and not trust anything or anyone. However, the goal rules for the foreigner journalist are slightly different. He has to survive but also not flee the country until he has a good story to tell. In order to win, his character needs to organize a strategic plan, to be lucky and to connect with the right people. If a player chooses to play as the young rebel, he/she has to decide whether he/she will help the foreign journalist and escape together, or whether he/she will try to make it alone. If the young rebel chooses to continue his journey alone, he gets killed, while if he chooses to help the foreign journalist, both of them manage to survive. This part of the game is one of the strongest regarding the persuasion message it conveys. The player wins the game only if he acts without any discrimination or negative feelings against the foreigner but based on his feelings, or in other words, acting as humanely as possible. The designer in this way conveys a persuasive message that inspires solidarity and empathy for the other, possibly also affecting a player’s real life. Through the goal rules, the designer conveys the message that even those who survive or are exiled from their country remain deeply affected by the conflict. 5558506 - A.Kerpitsopoulou 32 Narrative Persuasion 1000 Days of Syria intends to convey its persuasive message through its story and characters. The game is based on a combination of scripted narration and alterbiography, this is because there is a specific story but the storyline develops through a player’s choices. The narration alters between second and third-person narration. The historical facts of the Arab spring are written in third person but the fictional part that calls for a choice is written in second person and prompts the player to identify with the character and to experience the situation as though it were real. Story: During the game, the player is called upon to make a choice regarding a situation that is given through the narrative and that is based on ethical and emotional elements. For example the mother of two has to decide whether she will take a child that has lost their parents under her protection, or whether she will leave the child behind. The first option leads her to imprisonment and death, and the second into a refugee camp with her children. Likewise, the young rebel has to decide whether or not he will go to find his father who has not seen him for months. The first option leads him to death, while the second leads him to freedom. Meanwhile, the story of the foreign journalist raises an argument through the antithesis between the two worlds that he experiences. After he successfully returns to New York, he notices that the people still live their lives completely unaware of the tragedy of an entire race of people elsewhere. The whole game is based on these kinds of narrative choices which communicate the persuasive message of the game. These ethical and emotional dilemmas that the game puts to its players help to reduce players’ reliance on cognitive thinking and to provoke their identification with the characters of the game through empathy. The story within the game is used to emphasise that every possible choice is painful and most of the time unethical or un-emotional. In this way, the story helps the player to gain a deeper understanding of the situation that someone has to face before he is defined as a refugee. It is possible that this deeper understanding could then generate a different attitude or way of thinking about refugees. Characters: 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 33 Written descriptions of the characters highlight that they are not representative of people who support extremist ideas and that they have average, quiet but interesting lives. The designer does not describe them physically and this allows the player to create a picture of the character as he/she likes, without limiting his or her imagination, possibly enabling easier identification with the characters. The designer also describes the characters’ sociological reality, psychology and their role in the story. Even though the characters of the game are different, they are all in some way connected through the story and sometimes, in the case of the young rebel and the foreign journalist, they have to collaborate in order to survive. In this way, the designer creates a game world that is similar to the real world, where people from different backgrounds meet accidentally and their actions influence others. This simulation helps the players to connect emotionally with the characters and to imagine themselves in their situation. All of the above contribute to the communication of the persuasive message to the players, attempting to increase awareness and potentially inspire attitude or ideological change. - Affective Persuasion Affective persuasion communicates a persuasive message based on the player’s moods and emotions. In 1000 Days of Syria, affective persuasion is based on the influence of the player’s emotions. Most of the choices that a player has to make during the game are unpleasant, sad or fearful. Even when he/she succeeds to survive or to flee from the country, the player cannot feel happiness or satisfaction, due to the psychological and physical loss that he/she experienced. In this way, the designer communicates successfully the persuasive message of the game and highlights that such a situation, even for survivors, leaves deep scars. Through the irritation of his/her emotions, the player is open to feel empathy and to accept, or at least understand, that refugees are forced to be in this situation after a number of difficult ethical and emotional decisions. In 1000 Days of Syria, affective persuasion can be connected to almost every other persuasive dimension. 3.2 Against all odds Against All Odds has been released to enable individuals to feel and understand the situation that someone has to face when he is forced to leave his country due to conflict 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 34 or a political situation. Through the deeper understanding the game aims to communicate to the players via its persuasive messages, the designers intend to inspire a shift in human ideas, attitudes and stereotypes concerning the notion of refugees and how we deal with them. Against All Odds focuses more on how it is to be a refugee, in contrast with 1000 Days of Syria, which focuses on the reasons that forced someone to become a refugee. The game’s designers use videos, images and music combined with texts in order to organize a strong and efficient interactive structure. The game has twelve stages in total, four for every chapter, and one can play these in the order of their choosing. Each section may end with the player in prison, as a victim of physical and psychological harm, homeless or surviving, depending on a player’s choices in a given situation. The game was designed to target ages between 12 and 15, since this is the period when a person develops his/her ideas about basic social issues However, the game could be beneficial for all individuals, regardless of age, as it aims to simulate understanding of a refugee’s challenges through small interactive stories. AGAINST ALL ODDS Linguistic Visual Persuasion Sonic Persuasion Persuasion 1st Level Persuasion: The Signs of - Name of the Game - Instructional Texts - Narrative Texts - Interface Commands Procedural Persuasion - Interface design Characters design Narrative Persuasion Ambient sounds bed Cinematic persuasion 5558506 2nd A.Kerpitsopoulou 35 Level of - Persuasion: Model rules The system - - Goal rules Story Characters Space - Framing Camera Movements Editing Affective persuasion 3rd Level Persuasion: The context Of - Basic emotions Complex emotions 1.3 Visual Representation of the theoretical model as it will be used in this paper for the game Against All Odds. Introduction: As soon as someone enters the starting page environment of the game he/she will see the title Against All Odds and a welcome text that states the game’s goal as, “the game that lets you experience what it is like to be a refugee” (Against All Odds, 2004). The title of the game itself gives the player a strong message about the game and signals how difficult it is to play with reaching a successful outcome, drawing parallels with the real life situation for a refugee. As the player plays against all odds and realises that it will be difficult to win, he/she makes the connection in his/her mind that in the real world it is also difficult, a refugee must fight against all odds to survive or flee his country. The main phrase that states the game’s goal is written in capital yellow letters and appeals directly to a player’s emotions. As a background behind the letters, there is a picture that frames a possible scene from a refugee’s life, showing a young girl 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 36 clinging to her backpack, followed by two angry police officers with their dogs. The picture combined with the text, through connotations, forces the player to think of the fearful and cruel situation of people trying to survive and to flee their countries. The designer positions all the elements in the centre of the screen, allowing the written message and the young girl to play a leading role in the page. The presentation of this welcome page evokes a player’s emotions and possibly lessens his/her resistance to the persuasive message of the game’s arguments. Here, the game uses a combination of four persuasive dimensions; linguistic, visual, cinematic and affective. The page after the introduction screen still acts as an introduction to the game and includes a small video of scenes from refugees’ lives and the rhetorical question: “…imagine if this were you’ People you see every day but you don’t really see them” (Against All Odds, 2004). I found the persuasive technique of this page, one of the strongest of the game. The video plays the same scene non-stop covered with an ambient sound that reminds one of strong wind and helps the player to become immersed in the video while creating a dramatic and eerie atmosphere. The question is written in capital yellow letters and together with the video it stands in the centre of the page. The rhetorical question, combined with the video and the accompanied sound, directly puts the player in a refugee’s position and at the same time judges him/her for his/her possible indifference or lack of awareness regarding refugees. Here the combination of visual, linguistic, cinematic, sonic and affective persuasion can create feelings of empathy and guiltiness that allow the player to identify with the refugee and to openly accept the associated arguments of the game. Lastly, in the introduction part of the game, there is the game’s basic menu. The game asks the player who are you and gives him/her a space to write his name. Also, the game gives the player the option to choose from seven different people – women and men from different nationalities – that appear in the centre of the screen in front of the player. These people appear very realistic. The genre and the physical appearance of the characters is the only information that the player receives from them, making the story line the same for everyone. By allowing the player to choose a name and a character that he will use in order to experience the game, encourages the player to identify him/herself with the character and to interpret the game’s meaning as though he were experiencing the game’s situations him/herself. On this page, the designers used linguistic, affective, visual and narrative persuasion techniques. Before he/she starts playing, the player must read a text that asks “will you survive”. Here the game appeals 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 37 to a player’s emotions and allows him/her to understand that the situation he/she will face is a binary choice: life or death. Also, this question allows the player to personalize the game’s story and to experience it as if it was his/her own. The game itself is split up in three parts, with four challenges per part. The persuasive dimension will be explored not by genre, but by each part of the game. War and Conflict: Running from Persecution: In the first part of the game, players are exposed to what it is like to live in a country experiencing war and conflict and to try and survive this and emigrate. The main goal of this part is to successfully flee from the country alive. The player needs to face four challenges, namely interrogation, you have to flee, get out of the town and leave the country now. In the interrogation, the player has to answer a number of questions related to his/her personal beliefs and ideas. Every time that the player makes a choice by pressing yes or no, his answers are followed by real-world information in the form of text and visual representations. The combination of these three persuasive dimensions, linguistic, narrative and visual, through the game’s interface design, increases the credibility of the game and conveys the persuasive message through reason and emotional appeal. In the first part, War and Conflict contains only three challenges with proceduralistic persuasive dimensions based on the goal and rules of the game. The player undergoes interrogation, where in order to win and to avoid imprisonment, he/she has to answer a number of questions with yes or no. He/she succeeds only if he/she answers the questions based on what the government wants to hear and not based on his/her personal beliefs. He/she must then leave his/her apartment, causing him/her to lose his home and all of his personal belongings; clothes, books, photos and gifts from his friends and family. Consequently, the player must cross the country borders to flee. In order to succeed, he/she has to make quite tough decisions regarding his friends and family. Victory in this first part is not connected with the normal happy feelings of a win, but with sadness and dissatisfaction to an extent that it could make the player wonder whether survival is worth the loss of so many other things. Also, in the first part, narrative persuasion plays an important role, through its story and spatial exploration. When the player has to leave his country and cross the borders, the game asks him/her to leave family members, friends or neighbours behind – 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 38 and the game asks him/her to choose – as not everyone fits in the vehicle. If he/she chooses to take his/her family, the game informs him/her that he/she made a terrible decision since his family consists of older people and their collective possibility to survive is thus minimized. Also, the story forces the player to choose which belongings he/she will leave behind to travel faster. In order to succeed in crossing the borders, he/she must leave behind all of his/her personal belongings and choose to take water and food. The player must also choose whether or not to take a friend that does not have a passport with him/her, a choice that is made trickier because of police surveillance. Therefore, succeeding to cross the borders really depends on whether a player denies his family, his friends and forsakes his belongings. Against All Odds, uses spatial exploration with persuasive intention in the, you have to flee part. Firstly, the player has to leave his/her apartment in order to avoid imprisonment or death, bringing only some of his/her personal belongings with him/her. The player needs to choose the things that he/she will take, a decision made under time pressure and influenced by the limited space of a backpack. At the same time, a text appears in the top of the scene informing the player that he does not have much time and that the police officers have already arrested his neighbours. This design technique encourages the player to think fast and carefully about the useful things that he/she should bring with him/her in order to survive his/her long trip towards freedom. Also, the player feels stress, possibly inspiring him/her to think and understand better the situation that a refugee has to face. During the entire game, cinematic persuasion is used to increase the dramatic atmosphere and the difficult and disadvantaged position of refugees. During the interrogation scene, the player experiences the game through the character’s point of view. The player sees the blood that flows from his/her face while he/she is beaten by the police officers as though he/she saws himself/herself is sitting in the chair, inside the integration room and therefore feeling totally involved with the game’s story and open to the persuasive messages. On the other hand, in the part get out of the town, when the player has to escape the city, his/her character’s figure is an abstract small form, while the police officers with their dogs are big, strong and realistic. The close up to the police officers could make the player feel threatened. The player sees the action of the scene from an above angle as though he/she is observing from a helicopter or something similar. This gives the player the impression that he/she is watching a scene from a film 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 39 or a TV programme and this possibly minimizes his/her involvement with the story and increases his resistance to the persuasive message. Border Country: In the game’s second part, Border Country, the player’s goal is to be part of a new community and to understand the culture of the new country as well as the mentality of the people. The player needs to face four challenges, shelter for the night, find the interpreter, refugee or immigrant and new in the class. Only the first three challenges include persuasive elements. In the first challenge, shelter for the night, the player’s goal is to find a place to spend the night, and the only given solution is staying in the forest, since other options, such as asking for accommodation from the locals, fails. The player has to explore the space of the new city at night time in order to find a place to temporarily live. He/she tries at the church or in different places around the city but nobody seems willing to provide him/her a bed for the night, so he/she is forced to find a place in the cold forest. Here, through procedural and narrative persuasion techniques, the game communicates its persuasive message providing a logical argument highlighted through the player’s inability to find accommodation for the night. Consequently, after the player survives the night he has to meet an interpreter that will help him/her with his/her new life. He/she must explore the space of an office with four doors while time runs out and the counsellor leaves the building. The player finds him/her-self all alone, as he/she does not understand the spoken and written language of the people there. If he /she fails, he/she will pass one more night in the cold forest. The exploration of space here combined with the pressure of time creates a stressful atmosphere for the player, enabling him/her to identify him/herself with the game’s character and possibly imagine real situations like this. Here the procedural and narrative persuasion is again combined to communicate what it is like to be a refugee. In the third challenge of this part, the player has to correctly identify a person, represented by a picture and a descriptive text, as either an immigrant or a refugee. By the end of the stage, the player may understand the differences between an immigrant and a refugee better. Likewise, his/her capacity for feeling compassion and empathy for refugees through the reading of their personal stories may increase. Here, the designer uses visual persuasion combined with linguistic and cinematic persuasion to appeal to the player’s cognitive thinking by underscoring the forced nature of emigration. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 40 New Life: In the third stage of the game, called New Life, the player has to start building his/her new life in the host country facing four different challenges, looking for a job, time to go shopping, sort by origin and your first apartment. Only in two challenges, time to go shopping and your first apartment, are persuasive elements able to be found. In the second and the last part of this stage, in order to buy a mobile phone and find an apartment, the player has to communicate with other citizens of the buildings and listen to everyone’s different opinions and cultural stereotypes. Also, he/she has to explore the space of a mall and the space of the apartment building. Here, procedural persuasion combined with spatial persuasion allow the player to understand that a refugee’s fight does not end by simply passing the borders but that maybe the real struggle begins once the borders are passed. Also, when he/she has to explore the space of the centre mall, the city and the building, the player again sees everything around him/her from a firstperson perspective. Here the combination of the framing and camera angle offers the player a fuller involvement in the story, encouraging him/her to imagine him/her-self living these situations. This increases his/her identification with the game’s character while at the same time minimizing his/her resistance to the persuasive messages of the scenes. Sonic Persuasion Sonic persuasion in Against All Odds helps to communicate the persuasive message to the player in one way during the whole game –through the use of ambient sound beds. Almost every scene is accompanied by sounds that help realistically simulate the situation of the game. A powerful example of such a scene is the interrogation part of the game where giving an answer that does not agree with government ideas leads to violent treatment at the hands of the interrogators. This scene uses natural thumping or hitting sounds to simulate the abuse as well as exclamations of pain from the player’s character. A similar treatment of sound is found when the player’s character has fled the country and meets a group of racists who mistreat him/her. In fact, realistic sounds are used throughout the game and allow the player to imagine the given situation and to experience it to a greater effect. This could increase a player’s understanding and 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 41 compassion for the foreign other, in turn inspiring a more helpful and positive mind set regarding refugees. Conclusion To sum up, social change regarding refugees could be motivated through the influence of individuals’ emotions and cognitive thinking, with emphasis on the emotional part. A game’s design built with strong persuasive dimensions could function as a powerful tool able to inspire people to rethink and possibly change their attitudes and ideas when they encounter with refugees in the real world. Even though until now, serious games have been studied mostly concerning their educative and informative function, in this thesis the attempt is to position serious games first and foremost as social change instigators. The direct connection of gaming with social change is probably the most significant contribution of this thesis to existing and on-going research. In 1000 Days of Syria, a game based almost exclusively on text, the designer built his arguments mostly based on linguistic, narrative, affective and procedural persuasion. The game’s main goal is to realistically communicate the conflict in Syria and how it is experienced by the people in the area. The designer aims to make players aware of this cruel reality and its influence on people by firstly appealing to players’; emotions and secondly players’ cognitive thinking, providing them with real world information. The impact of players’ imagination in combination with fictional and real world information, inspires them to identify themselves with the game’s character and therefore in turn with the victims of this conflict, the refugees. The player’s identification with the character contributes also to the procedural rhetoric of the game that connects the win or the loss of the game with specific qualities and ideas, which by the end of the game could apply to the real world. In Against All Odds, a game that combines text with visual elements, the arguments build on linguistic, visual, sonic, procedural, cinematic, affective and narrative persuasion. Here, most of the time, the persuasive dimensions generate meaning through their interconnection. The game’s goal is to make people aware of the life of a refugee, before and after he/she fled from his/her country. Against All Odds influence players’ emotions and cognitive thinking by providing real world information and by challenging the player to complete many mini missions within the game. Through the game’s linguistics, procedurality and narration, the player can understand 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 42 the obligatory nature of this type of emigration and the continuing cruelty that a refugee has to face even after his/her departure. Besides the feelings of identification with the refugees that the game may generate for the players, it raises an argument related to the forced nature of this type of immigration in contrast to the other types. Both games intend to change peoples’ ideas and attitudes regarding refugees and to communicate a persuasive message to the player by encouraging him/her to ask him/herself what if this was me. Even though this thesis does not follow comparative analysis of the two games, I feel that I have to mention that 1000 Days of Syria uses more useful persuasive elements and communicates its persuasive message more efficiently than Against All odds. The whole structure of 1000 Days of Syria allows the player to immerse themselves in and accept the messages without resistance. Against All Odds, gives space to the player to raise cognitive arguments against the messages of the game and increases his/her resistance to them. Also, he/she does not wisely use all parts of the game and persuasive elements can only be found in some parts of the game. It is possible for the game to cause players to strongly identify with the characters and this constitutes one of the most important elements that position it within the games that aim to change the world. Even though the game’s design is really important to communicate the persuasive message, it is the player who generates the game’s final meaning which is also impacted by his/her psychology, social background and education. So in order to effectively communicate a persuasive message within a serious game, the designer needs to build a strong persuasive structure that could increase the possibilities for a positive influence and outcome in the player’s real life. In this thesis to identify how refugee games communicate their persuasive message and to examine how this can potentially influence social change, as well as exemplify the theoretical model, I used a content analysis of two case studies. In the first chapter, the definition of refugee games and social change through attitude change helped to clarify the type of serious games and the type of change within a society that concern this thesis. Consequently, a mini critical analysis allowed this thesis to structure and contextualize its theoretical framework and to reason for the use of a theoretical model to examine persuasiveness within refugee games. Due to the limitation of time and to extent of this thesis, I restricted the basic analysis to a content analysis of two case studies. Even though a content analysis is able to provide valid results, it still has the disadvantage of subjectivity. In future research I will attempt to minimize this element of subjectivity by using an ethnographic research that will examine a larger 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 43 amount of refugee games based on players’ and designers’ interviews and epitope research will provide results through experimentation. An ethnographic research could possibly identify the ideological and attitude influence of a refugee game’s design on a player, as well as how this is translated into real life, providing the researcher with useful information that could be used further for change within the society. To conclude, maybe gaming to change the world is not an easy achievement, but a well-structured persuasive design within a serious game could be the first step to creating games that influence us to change ourselves. Change within a society is a possible reality only if the smaller parts of it begin to think and act differently regarding specific issues. By functioning as a powerful stimulus able to shape humans’ ideas and attitudes regarding refugees, serious games, specifically refugee games, could motivate social change or at least significant change within society. Even though the idea of games that could change the world may be a utopia in many peoples’ mind, I already began to recognize the young rebel in my classmates’ eyes, the mother of two in the woman from the bakery and the foreigner journalist in everyone who believes that if you create and share a story persuasively, it is the first step to change the continuation of this story. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 44 Bibliography Against All Odds (2004). The official web page of the game. http://bit.ly/1LHTitV Aristotle (350 B.C.E.). Rhetoric. Translated by W. Rhys Roberts. http://bit.ly/21KWKpf Bernard Suits (1978). The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, University of Toronto Press. Bekhet A, Zauszniewski J. (2012). Methodological triangulation: an approach to understanding data. Nurse Researcher. 20, 2, 40-43. B.J. Fogg, Gregory Cuellar, David Danielson (2007). MOTIVATING, INFLUENCING, AND PERSUADING USERS. Stanford University Press. http://stanford.io/1JJgYIM Burke, K. (1966). Language as symbolic action: Essays on life, literature, and method. Berkeley: University of California Press. Bruckman, A. (1990). The Combinatorics of Storytelling: Mystery Train Interactive. MIT Media Lab. Brooklyn College. Film Glossary. http://bit.ly/25IaDZk Connotation and Denotation, http://bit.ly/1PBg0oZ 5558506 Derryberry A.Kerpitsopoulou 45 Anne (2007). Serious Games: online games for learning. U.S.A. http://adobe.ly/1Ua2o5g (accessed 22 March 2016). Lucy Rodgers, David Gritten, James Offer and Patrick Asare (11/03/2016). BBC news, Syria: The story of the conflict. http://bbc.in/1lCPcBw Daniel Chandler (2014). Semiotics for Beginners http://bit.ly/1FUsxfk Damien Djaouti, Julian Alvarez, Jean-Pierre Jessel & Olivier Rampnoux, Origins of Serious Games, France. http://bit.ly/1pBXfWw Deborah L. Puntenney (2002). Investing for Social Change: A Literature Review. http://bit.ly/29Myy7z ESA Annual-Report (2015). http://bit.ly/29swnkj Enric Llagostera (2012). On Gamification and Persuasion, IT University of Copenhagen. http://bit.ly/1RhnLiE Entertainment software Association (2013). Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data: Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game Industry. http://bit.ly/1UNiVL3 Fernandez – Vara, Clara (2015). Introduction to Game Analysis, Taylor and Francis, New York. Tim Dirks, Filmsite. http://bit.ly/29tPbnB GameTrack Digest (2015). http://bit.ly/29F48mf Gauri Dushi (12/2010). Social Change: Meaning and Nature of Social Change. http://bit.ly/1pBY3uy Games for Changes, http://bit.ly/1kNJNKh 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 46 Georges Dicker (2004). Kant’s Theory of Knowledge: An Analytical Introduction, Oxford University Press, USA. Gordon Calleja (2009). Experiential Narrative in Game environments. http://bit.ly/1XnXEuI Green MC, Garst J, Brock TC, Chung S. (2006). Fact versus fiction labelling: Persuasion parity despite heightened scrutiny of fact. Media psychology. Jane McGonigal (2011). Reality is broken: Why Games make us better and how they can Change the World, The Penguin Press, New York. Jeanne Ballantine, Floyd M Hammack (2016). The Sociology of Education: A Systematic Analysis, Routledge, New York. Jonathan Belman & Mary Flanagan (2010). Designing Games to Foster Empathy, Cognitive Technology, VOLUME 14, ISSUE 2. http://bit.ly/1o7dKbX Johannes Fabian (2006). The other revisited Critical afterthoughts, SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) Vol 6(2): 139–152. http://bit.ly/1MCZZbe Ian Bogost, (September 2006). Playing Politics: Videogames for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy. First Monday, special issue number 7. http://bit.ly/1Mmx9RE Ian Bogost (2007). Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Hawkins, B. (2005). Real-Time Cinematography for Games. Boston: Charles River Media. Keith Stuart (26/10/2006). The 10 political games everyone should play, The Guardian, http://bit.ly/1SDyRef H. W Smith (1975). Strategies of social research: the methodological imagination, London, Prentice-Hall. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 47 Kevin T. Leicht (2007). Exploring social change: America and the world, Pearson Prentice Hall. Lee, K. M., Seung-Jin, A., Park, N., & Kang, S. (2009). Effect of Narrative on the Feelings of Presence in Computer-Game Playing. Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press. Marianne Dainton, Elaine D. Zelley (2015). Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life: A Practical Introduction, SAGE, United States of America. Michael, D., & Chen, S. (2005). Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform (1st. ed.), Course Technology PTR. Miguel Sicart (12/2011) Against Procedurality, Game Studies: the international journal of computer game research. Volume 11 issue 3. http://bit.ly/1Vso2ma Minhua Ma., Oikonomou A., Lakhmi C. (2011). Serious Games and Edutainment Applications, Springer – Verlag, London. Damien Djaouti, Julian Alvarez, Jean-Pierre Jessel, Olivier Rampnoux, (2011). Origins of Serious Games, Serious Games and Edutainment Applications, Springer. Petri Lankoski and Staffan Björk (edit.), 2015, Game research methods: An overview, ETC Press, United States of America. http://bit.ly/1LHK1Sx Robin Munkvold and Line Kolås(edit.), (2015). ECGBL2015-9th European Conference on Games Based Learning: ECGBL2015, Nord Trondelag University College Steinkjer Norway. http://bit.ly/25nnGzS Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 48 Steven Malliet (2007). Adapting the Principles of Ludology to the Method of Video Game Content Analysis, (volume 7 issue 1). On Game Studies: The International Journal of Game Studies Research. http://gamestudies.org/0701/articles/malliet Stephen Castles (May/1/2014). Confronting the Realities of Forced Migration, MPI. http://bit.ly/1VnV2Ly Stenhouse, L. (1995). 'Action research and the teacher's responsibility for the educational process', in J. Rudduck and D. Hopkins,Research as a Basis for Teaching: Readingsfrom the Work of Lawrence Stenhouse. London: Falmer Press. T. de la Hera Conde-Pumpido, (2014). Persuasive Structures in Advergames. Conveying Advertising Messages through Digital Games, Utrecht University Repository (Dissertation) Supervisor(s): Raessens, Joost; Lammes, Sybille. Tzvetan Todorov, (1984). The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other, University of Oklahoma Press. U. Ritterfeld, P. Vorderer & M. Cody (Eds.), (2009). Serious Games: Effects and Mechanisms, New York: Routledge. Yin, Robert K. (1984). Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Newbury Park, Sage Publications. Valerie Frissen, Sybille Lammes, Michiel de Lange, Jos de Mul, Joost Raessens, (2015). “Playful Identities: The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures”, Amsterdam University Press. Amsterdam. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). The role of play in development. In M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman (Eds.), Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. University of Badford, Critical Analysis: So what does that really mean? http://bit.ly/28Vhyab 5558506 A.Kerpitsopoulou 49 1000 Days of Syria, 2014. The official web page of the game. http://bit.ly/1RyB4qP