Bringing Families Closer - Designing a Game for a Complex Social Situation

Amani Naseem and Ida Marie Toft

Abstract

This paper describes the design process of the Location Based Mobile game (LBMG) KENARDUMA that tackles the problem of loneliness among Danish teenagers. This article demonstrates a research through design process. Research of the families everyday situation is drawn in to make a game that is relevant to the issue. Examination of design assumptions, ideologies and framing and reframing of the design situation allows for a versatile design process. The issue addressed is This paper describes the design process of the Location Based Mobile game (LBMG) KENARDUMA that tackles the problem of loneliness among Danish teenagers. The paper demonstrates a research through design process. This paper draws on literature and methods from design practice, HCI and interaction design to develop a game that is relevant to the problem addressed. The problem is considered complicated, heterogeneous and indefinable and using a transdisciplinary approach, knowledge from various fields are drawn in to explore disparate aspects of the design situation. Qualitative interviews were used to gain an understanding of the lived and felt experiences of the people and the everyday life situations where problems occur. The situation and future possibilities are further explored through design practices of framing and reframing, and through critical examinations of the concepts and their relevance to the situation, a parallel understanding of the concept and the design situation is developed. As qualitative interviews are data based research and open for interpretation and new understandings, the data contributed to an advancement of this process of framing and reframing.

We suggest that when designing games relevant to complex social problems, it can be advantageous to bring in stories from lived and felt experiences to get a broad understanding of the situation within which the problem occurs. We further recommend letting this knowledge inform a critical examination of the properties and ideologies inherent in the platform and technology the game is based on. This can open up for an exploration for spaces of playful moments as well as an investigation of how games can relate to the issues that people experience in their everyday life.