Social and Cognitive Affordances of Two Depression-Themed Games

Video games can have a variety of intended and unintended effects on players, making the impacts of games and the role that individual design elements play in causing those impacts a valuable area of research. This study explored the social and cognitive effects on players of two "art games" (Depression Quest and Actual Sunlight) by analyzing player-generated discussion board posts, focusing on (1) what real-life social and cognitive effects the games had on players and (2) what elements of the games made the players consider them "good" or "bad" games. Players reported or demonstrated that the games led to understanding and empathy, self-evaluation, lessons learned, clinical discussion of depression, encouragement to others, a sense of community, and opening dialogue with friends and family. Discussions of game quality centered on realism, game endings and message, and player agency.