Designing Applied Games with and for Young People: Factors for Co-design

Applied games, designed for purposes beyond entertainment such as health and education, have emerged as a promising medium to respond to the increasing mental health challenges of children and young people (CYP), be it to raise awareness, provide support, or deliver interventions. However, designing effective applied games requires balancing the entertainment aspect with the applied context, e.g. mental health. Many view participation from end users in the design process as essential to achieve this balance. Despite growing interest in co-designing applied games with young people, there remains limited guidance on effectively involving them in ethical, meaningful, and productive ways.

This thesis investigates the methodological challenges, opportunities, and factors influencing the successful participation of CYP in applied game co-design. Through a systematic literature review, I found a highly fragmented field of practices with little consensus on conducting co-design with young people. In response to those findings, interviews with practitioners of co-design focus on the importance of participant engagement but struggle to describe the methods to evaluate or observe engagement. Finally, a series of iterative workshops provides empirical insights into factors impacting CYP participation, including engagement dynamics, interaction preferences, and facilitation techniques.

Taken together, the findings challenge the prevailing assumption that deeper participation always leads to better outcomes. Instead, the findings of this thesis suggest that young people can be more comfortable in shallower roles with less decision-making and more task-based activities. This thesis suggests that involving children and young people in short sprints and utilising familiar activities and technology may be more feasible and effective in producing applied games. Furthermore, the thesis identified barriers to participation, including behavioural dynamics, accessibility of design concepts, and shifting preferences towards interaction influenced by digital technologies. The thesis contributes towards understanding “successful" participation, offering practical recommendations for researchers and designers while questioning pre-existing narratives on engaging young people in the co-design of games.