KNOW YOUR ROLE/ROLL
Digital campaign about gambling in video games
Role Independent Project
Duration Sep 2022 - Nov 2022
Tools Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe XD
Know your role/roll is a digital campaign that aims to educate parents on the influences video games have on youth gambling. The campaign consists of social media posts and an interactive website as educational tools for parents.
INTRODUCTION
Fig 1. A person playing on their phone
Video gaming is one of the fastest-growing industries globally with 2.69 billion video game players worldwide in 2020, a number projected to reach 3.07 billion by 2023. With a market size of $220.79 billion in 2022, the industry has become a vessel of profit for various firms. Part of this monetary gain is through the constant push for in-game transactions in the form of in-game items, social casinos and loot boxes, forms of simulated gambling that have had implications on youth gambling.
"Around 40% of young people play video games
that have gambling components."
2020 NSW Youth Gambling Study
Fig 2. Loot boxes in Overwatch (Baldwin, 2018)
The prevalence of gambling ads in media and simulated gambling in video games has normalised gambling, an activity that has been attributed to multiple harmful social implications including bankruptcy, crime, domestic abuse, and even suicide. For traditional gambling, there is strict legislation regulating the industry however, there is little regulation for gambling in digital spaces despite it sharing similar characteristics. Short-termism ideals have created a digital environment of monetary systems that prioritise short-term financial gain over societal well-being. This has led to youth gambling implications that affect longer-term social outlooks.
DESIGN PROCESS
Sourcing Research
To develop my design insights, I had to ensure my claims and assumptions were supported by valid and reliable studies. The following were the main studies that I referred to for my insights.
NSW Youth Gambling Study
Hing N, Russell A, King D, Rockloff M, Browne M, Greer N, Newall P, Sproston K, Chen L and Coughlin S (2020) NSW Youth Gambling Study 2020. Sydney: NSW Responsible Gambling Fund.
The NSW Youth Gambling Study was a 2020 study commissioned by The NSW Office of Responsible Gambling to study gambling and simulated gambling amongst young people aged 12-17 in NSW. This study was divided into two sections, one that studied 16 focus groups with 104 participants held in eight diverse locations and a survey that received a total of 551 respondents. The results were then weighted for age, gender and location based on ABS population projections for 2020 to improve its representativeness.
The University of York Study
University of York (2020). Links between video games and gambling run deeper than previously thought, study reveals. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200714101236.htm
The study quota-sampled 1100 participants to represent the UK population in terms of age, gender and ethnicity. The study looked at a range of video game practices and their links to problem gambling.
Online Large-scale Survey
Zendle D, Cairns P (2018) Video game loot boxes are linked to problem gambling: Results of a large-scale survey. PLoS ONE 13(11): e0206767. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0206767
A study that looked at the results of an online survey of 7422 participants aged 18 and over which collected demographic details and quantified data relating to problem gambling, loot box spending and other forms of microtransaction spending. The research was ethically approved by the Cross-School Research Ethics Committee for the Schools of Art, Design & Computer Science of York St. John University.
Design Insights
Based on my secondary research, I extrapolated three main design insights that would drive the project's direction.
There is a link between individuals who engage in simulated gambling and problem gambling
A significant portion of youth play video games with gambling components.
The views parents hold regarding gambling and their frequency of engagement in gambling are the most influential factors on youth gambling behaviour
Design Objectives
From the design insights and graphics and interaction design as my disciplines, I formed two objectives for my project.
1. Create a digital campaign that educates parents of youth on the gamblification of video games.
2. Create an interactive app/website that mimics the different screens and visuals simulated gambling systems use to psychologically influence users to spend money on video games. Will be a digital educational tool used as part of the proposed campaign.
Precedents
Know Your Odds
Fig 3. Screenshot of 'Know Your Odds' campaign website. Taken 2022
Know Your Odds is a gambling campaign in Tasmania. Its website is a platform for gambling information and support resources. It also hosts various interactive tools to help educate individuals on the intentionally skewed odds of traditional gambling and how they influence losses.
Check-in with the Checkmates
Fig 4&5. Screenshots of NSW's 'Check in with the Checkmates' campaign. Taken 2022
'Check-in with the Checkmates' is a gambling campaign for Victoria's annual Responsible Gambling Awareness Week that was designed by Circul8. The campaign used a creative strategy to provide viewers with resources to spot the signs of problem gambling. One of the resources was an online game that puts the player in the mind of a gambler to show how easy it can be for gambling to get out of hand.
Graphic Style
Using the slogans of other campaigns as references, I created a list of possible campaign names. Having the name as a call to action was a trend I noticed among all the campaign precedents that I looked at, so I experiment with names that started with verbs. From the list, I picked 'Know your roll' and 'Know your role' as I thought it was a clever play on words with the campaign's goal of educating parents. From there, I thought I could leverage the two sides and have 'Know your roll' more as education for parents on what gambling in video games is like and 'Know your role' as education for parents to recognise signs and act accordingly on their child's behalf.
Fig 6. Initial logo sketches
Fig 7. Digitised logos from initial sketches.
Fig 8. Experimentation with graphic styles.
Fig 9. Refined version of campaign name + glitchy graphic style.
From the different iterations of the campaign's graphics, I thought the 'glitching' effect was the most successful. This sentiment was reiterated in the feedback from my peers and I found the glitching effect an appropriate reflection of the digital sphere the campaign falls under.
CONCLUSION
Before this project, the concept of interdisciplinary design wasn't too unfamiliar as my disciplines of graphics and interaction design often crossed paths and applied themselves simultaneously. By proposing a campaign, it offered a unique opportunity to apply some of the knowledge built up from my media degree however since it was a design project, the campaign's creative strategy was not as well developed as I would have liked. This project was a nice culmination of what I had learnt throughout the year and I have been able to embrace my style of design.
IMAGES
Fig 2. Baldwin J. (2018) Loot boxes are an unfortunate side-effect of modern gaming practices. The Appalachian [Digital image] Retrieved June 20, 2022 from <https://theappalachianonline.com/loot-boxes-unfortunate-side-effect-modern-gaming-practices/>
Fig 3. Tasmanian Government. (n.d.) Know your Odds. [Screenshot from website] Retrieved June 20, 2022 from <https://knowyourodds.net.au/about-us/>
Fig 4. Circul8. (2019). Check in with the Checkmates. [Screenshot from website] Retrieved June 20, 2022 from <https://www.circul8.com.au/our-work/responsible-gambling/>