Where (many) serious games fail

In a general sense, Phone Story isn't "successful" as a serious game. As predicted by Kaufman and Flanagan (2015), the aggressive and uncompromising narration may "trigger players’ psychological defenses or reduce players’ potential engagement with – and enjoyment of – the game experience." Judging from the other responses this week, it doesn't seem to have moved many players to seriously reconsider their dependence on smartphones. A response from mozkam summaries a common reaction: "However, because I am not in the government, I cannot necessarily do anything to change this because I will not just stop using my phone. Essentially, the problem is too far removed form me." Initially I had a somewhat similar response and attempted to rationalize my own complicity. After all, I've only owned one phone my entire life, and when I bought it three years ago, it wasn't even the newest model. In doing so, I was ignoring the four different computers I've bought/built since I purchased my phone and managed to ignore the message of the game completely.

When you purchased this phone, it was new and sexy.

You've been waiting for it for months.

Phone story fails where many other serious games, and many proponents of them, do. It attempts to speak in broad, universal truths. For both serious games and those who speak about them, it can make it hard to take them seriously. I find that Jane McGonigal suffers from this particularly. My first introduction to McGonigal's work was her viral TED Talk "Gaming can make a better world" where she makes the claim that "according to [her] research at the Institute for the Future, ... if we want to survive the next century on this planet, ...[we need] 21 billion hours of game play every week." 15 minutes later in the talk, she all but reveals that the 21 billion hour number has no factual basis and is as good as made up. Her book "Reality is Broken" suffers from the same issue. The chapters we read rely purely on anecdotes and attempt to generalize those experiences without any sort of empirical evidence to back them up. Even as someone who wants to believe that video games "can change the world," it's hard to believe her claims. Game designers, of all people, should know better. One of the defining features of games is their ability to adapt the narrative and gameplay in response to players. In their attempt to gain serious credibility, some designers seem to be following the established form of documentaries or other formats which are accepted for addressing serious issues. Although the initial release to the App Store and the requirement for player involvement does contribute to the message, Phone Story does very little that a documentary could not achieve. If, for example, the game determined device information based on the user agent and other identifiers and adjusted the game to address the player directly for their choices as a consumer, it would have likely been more effective.

You didn't meet the goal.

Don't pretend you are not complicit

During my second play through of Phone Story, I was able to look past the fact that I don't quite fit into the player it addressed directly, and recognize how my habits of consumption make me just as responsible. The problem is, most players would have no reason to give it a second chance. As soon as they feel criticized by the game, they can close the tab and forget about it. This isn't to say that serious games can't be or aren't ever successful. There's plenty of cases where games excel in serious contexts where other media struggle through embedded elements and their ability to disarm player's defensive instincts. However, when games over generalize, it becomes easy for players to put up a wall and discount them for not being fun.

References: Kaufman, G., & Flanagan, M. (2015). A psychologically “embedded” approach to designing games for prosocial causes. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 9(3). McGonigal, J. (2010). Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. Penguin.