A Foundation for the Persuasive Gameplay Experience

Games are increasingly used for purposes that stretch beyond their primary strength as medium for entertainment. The interactive nature of games provide players with various opportunity to deal with complex (societal) issues on a more involved and personal level, far more than any other medium affords. As such it is not surprising to see that games offer a great platform for persuading players to adopt a particular perspective on events that occur in the real, physical, world. Games for persuasion, or games for attitude-change, have been a topic of discussion over the past decade. Concrete design strategies however, to analyze persuasive gameplay or guide the designer in embedding persuasive messages in gameplay, are scarce. As such, to advance the discipline we have set our focus on the development of strategies that aid the persuasive game design process. In this paper we describe the Attitudinal Gameplay Model as foundation for the Persuasive Gameplay Experience. The model serves as an overview of what game elements can be utilized for persuasion, how they are interrelated and what mental processes of the player are important to take into account.