Playing a Serious Game for Earthquake Preparedness

Abstract

This study investigates the potential for learning about and motivating earthquake preparedness through video game play. 112 participants played a custom-built video game for between 5 and 30 minutes in an experiment involving two avatar selection conditions (choice vs. random assignment) and two avatar power conditions (more resources vs. fewer resources). We assessed pre- and post-test changes in levels of self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and intent to act relating to various preparedness and response actions. We found that playing the game increases these scores significantly in all game conditions immediately after play. Where avatar characteristics were significant, more resources led to higher scores. However, contrary to our predictions, randomly assigned avatars led to higher increases in scores than when players chose and named their avatar. Future studies are planned to explore a variety of other game features designed to maximize motivation and behavior change in young adults.