“Can you send me a photo?” – A Game-Based Approach for Increasing Young Children’s Risk Awareness to Prevent Online Sexual Grooming

---

Susi Tarja Torstensson Niklas Wilhelmsson Ulf
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

This paper presents a game-based approach for raising young children's online risk awareness, to decrease the risk of becoming the subject of sexual grooming. Hidden in the Park is an adventure game, including a classic game board and a tablet with Augmented Reality-technology. The game mechanics are based on data from true grooming processes. The game's target group is children aged 8-10 years. This paper describes the game development, from a prototype to an approved release version that will be released as a non-profit product during 2019. We describe the creation of the game mechanics, the iterative development process, and game evaluation. 25 pupils in the target group participated, but the ages 7-12 (n=70) were included to evaluate whether the game would suit the intended target group. Results show that the game is fun and engaging but that it also raise questions concerning online activities.

 

A Literary Excursion Into the Hidden (Fan) Fictional Worlds of Tetris, Starcraft, and Dreamfall

---

Rambusch Jana Susi Tarja Ekman Stefan Wilhelmsson Ulf
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

In this paper, we discuss a part of participatory culture that so far has not received much attention in the academic world; it is the writing and reading of game fan fiction. The focus in this paper is on fan fiction, based on three different games that represent three different game genres: Tetris, StarCraft and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. The aim is to advance our understanding of how players experience and understand the game environment, and promote further research interest in fan fiction based on computer games. We do this by discussing narrative elements in the above mentioned computer games, and the fan fiction that is based on them.

 

Situated Play – Just a Temporary Blip?

---

Susi Tarja Rambusch Jana
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

In this paper we discuss how cognitive science may contribute to understanding the concepts of situatedness and situated play. While situatedness has become something of a catch-all term, it actually has several different meanings, ranging from “higher” social-cultural forms to “lower” sensori-motoric activities. We also discuss an often overlooked, but crucial aspect of situatedness, which is the use of external resources such as tools and their use. As will become apparent, a more thorough understanding of situatedness and tool use are key to understanding computer games and people’s everyday playing activities.