Video Games to promote Social Connection and wellbeing

Commercial video games reach billions of players, yet most wellbeing-focused “serious games” remain small in scale and limited in impact. This project asks a bold question: what if wellbeing could be embedded directly into the blockbuster games people already play?

To explore this, the project brought together game developers, public-health experts and mission-driven organisations to examine how wellbeing experiences could be woven into large-scale commercial titles. Analysis mapped across the game-development cycle revealed four baseline conditions that help balance creative integrity, commercial priorities and wellbeing goals. From this work emerged the concept of playable wellbeing: short, intentional, interactive experiences woven into commercial games that support specific wellbeing outcomes without disrupting player engagement or artistic vision.

The project also produced a practical roadmap for partnerships, design approaches and evaluation strategies that could make wellbeing features viable at scale. By bridging wellbeing science with the global games industry, this research highlights a new frontier for digital wellbeing, where meaningful wellbeing experiences can sit naturally within the everyday play of millions.

Support

• University of Melbourne Seed Grant ($20,000).

Team

• Dan Loton
• Nikki Rickard
• Matt Harrison
• Jess Rowlings
• Tom Byers

Contact: Dr Dan Loton: <d.loton@unimelb.edu.au >

Outputs

• Loton, D., Byers, T., Harrison, M., Rowlings, J., & Rickard, N. S. Mapping the Road toward Positive Micro-Lessons and Messaging in AAA Video Games: A Delphi Study on Enablers, Barriers, Constraints and Potentials, in preparation.