Participatory Serious Game Design for Societal Intervention: Exploring the Effectiveness of Participative Game Design Processes Between Communities and Police in the United States as a means for Reduced Police Bias

Few efforts have been allocated to exploring the effectiveness of participatory serious game design (participatory SGD) as a means for intervening socially. In other words, can participatory SGD be an effective method for societal intervention? Such inquiry is the basis of this research, where the complex societal problem of biased US policing serves as an application to this study. Through a mixed methods approach involving quantitative elements of inferential and descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative elements of content analysis, sentiment analysis, and micro-interlocutor analysis, group brainstorming data, workshop observation data, and semi-structured group interview data was explored in an effort to understand if and how participatory SGD can be leveraged effectively for societal intervention in the context of US policing and beyond. With regard to improving police-community relations through societal intervention, results from this research indicate that while relations between US police and BIPOC communities are in a dire state of mistrust, police accountability in intervention efforts can support communities in their ability to welcome police efforts in relationship building. In considering participatory SGD as an intervention study, results also indicate that participatory SGD can be particularly effective when the topic of intervention is taboo, discomforting, or difficult to talk about. Similarly, a participatory SGD approach to intervention can effectively foster safe and inclusive spaces where all participants feel able to engage and contribute to discussion, regardless of their diverse backgrounds. Finally, this research has also demonstrated that in ensuring a diversity of participant backgrounds and perspectives, echo chambers, polarity, and groupthink can be avoided in participatory SGD interventions. As such, more meaningful intervention outcomes and creative problem-solving has the potential to arise. This study provides several potential contributions to the fields of intervention science and serious game design. It also has several potential implications for society and public policy.