Diverse Perspectives: An Inclusive Serious Game for (International) Students

Abstract

Universities have increasingly diverse student populations. While a greater variety of students' backgrounds, skills and abilities exist, this does not necessarily mean they have more inclusive interactions. A lack of inclusive interactions can cause negative biases against people who are different from oneself. One strategy to mitigate bias is exposure to situations where students encounter social dilemmas with others and are stimulated to reflect on their interactions. These experiences could be simulated within a serious game as a safe learning environment. Moreover, serious games allow the player to broaden their mental perspective by showing the world through the eyes of others. This paper presents the design and evaluation of the serious game called Diverse Perspectives. This visual novel with multiple endings captures social dilemmas and allows the player to view them from a different angle through perspective switches. We evaluate Diverse Perspectives with quantitative (N = 32) and qualitative measures on attitude towards diversity and gaming experience measured with the Shortened Version of the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale and the Game Experience Questionnaire. Participants indicate they find the perspective switch helpful as it creates an understanding of the other person's view.