Inspired by the Good Game Playbook — a comprehensive guide by Safe In Our World and Ubisoft that empowers players to manage disruptive behavior — this article provides developers with the tools and knowledge to create similar player-facing resources.
Reaching players effectively
Creating resources that resonate with your players requires a deep understanding of their motivations, values, and communication styles. It’s crucial to acknowledge that audiences can be quick to dismiss efforts that feel inauthentic or misaligned with their expectations. Even well-intentioned initiatives can be misinterpreted or face resistance.
By investing time in identifying your target audience and understanding their needs, however, you can significantly increase the impact of your efforts. This involves not only considering your primary audience but also those who might be indirectly affected by your messages.
Here are some tips:
- Define your primary audience — Who are you trying to reach with your interventions? What behavior outcomes are you hoping to achieve?
- Identify your secondary audience — Who might be indirectly affected by your interventions? Are there groups who might undermine your efforts or react negatively?
- Develop a player model — Create a player typology or other framework to understand how different player types might perceive and respond to your efforts. Consider their motivations, values, communication styles, and potential concerns.
- Design and assess with intention — Define what success looks like for both your primary and secondary audiences. Identify potential warning signs that your efforts might be having unintended consequences. Continuously evaluate and adjust your approach based on feedback and observed outcomes.
- Acknowledge existing audience adaptations — Incorporate those considerations into your design process. Recognize that even beneficial changes can encounter resistance; proactively plan for how all modifications may influence user behavior.
Interventions are rarely “one-size-fits-all.” Strategically target the audience most receptive to a particular approach and interweave multiple techniques into a cohesive strategy. Instead of trying to appease everyone, anticipate potential resistance from other groups and develop targeted mitigation strategies. This focused approach will yield better results overall.
Guidelines for creating resources that resonate
With a clearer understanding of your players, you can begin tailoring your approach to their unique characteristics. Your goal is to create resources that resonate with your target audience while considering potential impacts on the broader player community.
1. Design for your audience(s)
Here are a few key characteristics to consider for each identified player type:
- Player dynamics and motivations
- Age and developmental stage
- External influences
- Culture and background (e.g., communication styles, values, and perceptions of mental health).
- Learning preferences
2. Be authentic and relatable
- Frame content within the context of gaming experiences. Consider integrating elements that fit the game’s genre, theme, and playstyle.
- Aim for resources that match the tone and vibe of the player community. Avoid the trap of parroting problematic memes or other content that might be counter to what you are trying to promote.
- Humor can help make the content more engaging and relatable, but do so cautiously. It can be easy to accidentally talk down; ensure your content is respectful and translates well across cultures.
- Don’t force content. Pushing too hard can alienate players who might otherwise have been fine simply ignoring the material. Remember, the goal is to provide valuable resources, not to force participation or appease everyone.
3. Collaborate and get feedback
- Collaborate with mental health professionals to ensure accuracy and sensitivity and seek out the advice of games-friendly educators who specialize in the target age group.
- Engage players through focus groups, feedback sessions, or even community servers like Discord, to gather insights and ensure your resources resonate.
- Work with respected streamers who can help promote an authentic message and help add legitimacy to your work.
4. Enhance engagement
- Work with a visual designer to create compelling and age-appropriate resources with engaging formats, visually appealing design, and accessible language. Leverage your IP as a natural way to get players more excited as a result of the theming.
- Think about when and where players will access these resources and what their mindset might be. Will they be in a calm state, in the midst of a stressful situation, or on the heels of a frustrating loss?
- Think about accessibility and how you can help more players take advantage of this resource. For example, some players may appreciate a screen-reader version, or a color-blindness compatible version.
5. Build internal alignment
- Ensure your efforts resonate with your team to avoid undermining your initiatives. When your team is genuinely invested, their enthusiasm and belief will translate into more impact and higher player engagement.
- If your team struggles to get on board, consider factors like resonance with the game, company culture, as well as workload or competing priorities.
- When company goals don’t align with your initiatives, adapt your approach to increase your chances of success. Demonstrating value through smaller wins can build confidence and pave the way for broader adoption.
Ultimately, to create truly effective support resources, your efforts must stem from a genuine place of respect for your community and a deep understanding of their needs and challenges. Simply presenting a list of rules or adopting a tone-deaf approach will likely result in your message being dismissed or even perceived as offensive. Strive for authentic connection and understanding as much as possible.
Example: Teaching players resilience
As a brief example, if you observe that players are easily frustrated in your game, consider the underlying causes. You might discover a need for greater emotional resilience, for instance. To encourage this, you could look for a way to help players recognize the value of being resilient in game. With that in mind, consider developing a resource with the following goals:
- Highlight the benefits — Explain how staying calm under pressure can lead to improved performance and greater enjoyment in your game.
- Provide relatable examples — Showcase resilient behaviors in-game and highlight players who demonstrate these qualities (and their successes).
- Offer practical strategies — Share tips and techniques for building resilience, tailored to the specific challenges of your game.
- Leverage role models — If you have professional players or coaches, add legitimacy by showcasing their advice.
By framing resilience as a valuable skill that enhances the gaming experience, you can encourage players to embrace it, leading to a more positive and supportive community overall.
Prioritize making these resources easily accessible to all players, ideally integrating them into the game environment itself. Also consider localizing them for different regions, or if your budget is small, leveraging the community for translation assistance. Lastly, ensure players can discover these materials organically without feeling pressured to engage.
Player growth and accountability
Building a thriving gaming community is a complex challenge. It requires a nuanced understanding of player behavior, the impact of in-game environments, and the complex interplay between online and offline influences.
While game developers hold significant responsibility for shaping these digital spaces, players also share accountability for their actions and contributions. By providing educational resources and opportunities for personal growth, developers can empower players of all ages to cultivate prosocial behaviors and contribute to a healthier community. (This support can extend to parents and caregivers, especially when it comes to younger players.)
The guidelines in this article offer a framework for developing player-facing resources that promote well-being, healthy interactions, and a thriving community, while reduce the chance of pushback.
Resources
These guidelines were developed with support from Safe In Our World. For more resources, please see Safe In Our World’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Resources.
Now what?
If you would like to learn more about this topic, please consider the following articles:
A Developer’s Guide to Player Crisis Resources
A curated list of valuable resources and guidance on how to create effective support systems for your players and your team.
Guidelines and resources to help you and your team support players in crisis.
Prioritize emotional regulation by implementing design choices that minimize stress, empower player agency, and encourage healthy social interaction.
This guide provides essential guidance on how to support players in crisis with compassion and care, even if you’re not a trained crisis responder.
