1. Highlighting 6D Playbook
Define the Problem
Due to the prevalent loneliness that the elderly experience, they are more vulnerable to falling for fake friend scams. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2021, social isolation affects around one in four older adults worldwide. However, this number is higher in Singapore. A social issue that plagues Singapore is how loneliness in old age increases the elderly’s vulnerability to victimization, particularly fake friend scams. This widespread feeling of isolation leaves seniors desperate for any means of social interaction, causing them to overlook suspicious signs their “friends” display. Once convinced they are speaking to someone familiar, the elderly tend to let their guard down and willingly oblige to their “friend’s” requests, thus falling for the fake friend scam.
The tendency for loneliness to manifest especially in seniors is based on two key reasons. Firstly, family members’ tendency to be overprotective of their elderly family members discourages the latter from seeking family members’ support for fear of being a burden. Secondly, with self-reliance heavily emphasized by society, the elderly are often reluctant to seek help from others for fear of being perceived as overly dependent.
Their chronic loneliness makes seniors easy and frequent targets for fake friend scams. Once they establish themselves as a friend, scammers capitalize on the elderly’s trust and exploit them. Thus, there is an urgent need to protect seniors from fake friend scams. We aim to do so by giving the elderly the confidence to combat scams themselves.
The first gap we identified in the ongoing fight against scams is the lack of statistical data on the effectiveness of previous anti-scam campaigns. Despite Singapore’s multiple anti-scam campaigns previously, there is a lack of publicly-released feedback on these campaigns, making it difficult to ascertain their effectiveness.
The second gap is the elderly’s lack of confidence in tackling scams themselves. According to the Infocomm Media Development Authority, a large portion of the elderly are willing to learn how to protect themselves from scams. This shows the elderly lack the confidence to combat scams on their own.
Determine Goals
Our main goal is to create a community, through an interactive game, for the elderly to learn about fake friend scams. The game achieves this by educating players on how to prevent, respond, and maintain safety against scams. It is intended to be played by the elderly, together with their family members, and after the game stabilizes for one year, we hope to reach 835 players each month. For promotional goals, we plan to work with various organizations such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community centers, and elderly centers to name a few.
Decide Target Behaviours and Emotions
Through our game, we hope to elicit positive emotions in players. Whether they enjoy spending quality time playing the game with their family members or simply find the game fun, we hope the game will bring joy to players. After completing our game, players should feel better supported, and utilize their newfound confidence to face scams in the future. As for family members, we hope to make them feel reassured that their elderly family members are protected against fake friend scams.
[Target emotions]
Elderly:
Happy and optimistic
– Opportunity to spend quality time with family when playing the game
– The ability to spot and not be a victim of scams makes the elderly feel happy and hopeful
Confident and empowered
– The ability to spot warning signs of scammers gives the elderly confidence to combat them
Connected and feel supported
– The provision of hotlines and communities at the end of the game gives the elderly a forum to seek help and not feel alone
Rewarded
– We plan to give organisations a free trial run of the game provided they give a small incentive to encourage the elderly to learn more about digital literacy and scams
– Examples of incentives include small hampers, free snacks at the event, $10 NTUC vouchers, and mini keychains/gifts with the theme of fighting scams
Family members who attend with the elderly:
Happy and fulfilled:
– Opportunity to spend quality time with elderly family members and learn how to combat scams from the game
Reassured:
– The game educates and gives the elderly the confidence to combat scams themselves, which in turn gives family members peace of mind that their elderly family members are protected from fake friend scams
[In-app behavior]
Increase accessibility to sources of help:
– The hotlines and communities provided at the end of the game make sources of help readily available to elderly players
Excitement:
– While the ultimate aim of the game is to give the elderly the confidence to combat scams, we also hope that playing the game will be fun and exciting
Interest to learn:
– We hope that the game will encourage the elderly to learn more about fake friend scams and scams in general
Eagerness to share experiences with others:
– Through the hotlines and communities provided at the end of the game, we hope that the elderly will feel encouraged to share their experiences with scams and playing the game with others.
– Open discussion about scams will allow the elderly to learn from each other’s experiences, and foster wholesome interactions
[Real-world behavior]
– Ability to confidently identify and tackle fake friend scams
– Ability to feel understood and supported by a safe community of people with shared experiences
Describe and Profile Players
The main character of our game is Robert, a 70-year-old Chinese man. He lives alone and has trouble reconnecting with his friends, causing him to feel lonely. However, using Facebook provides a brief reprieve to his bouts of loneliness. Robert’s demographics make him an easy and stereotypical target for fake friend scams, making him the perfect victim of our game.
Design Gamification Strategy
Our gamification strategy involves an immersive roleplaying experience that includes interactive challenges, rewards, and socialization. Players assume the role of a scammer and are tasked to carry out a successful fake friend scam. Players go through five topics, each representing different stages of a fake friend scam, where they must make the right decisions to achieve their goal. After completing the game, players are provided with helplines and community groups where they can seek assistance and support in the future.
Visual support is used in the game to enhance user experience. For example, conversations between the scammer and victim are depicted through screenshots of text messaging chats. This creates a realistic simulation of how scammers operate and will spark a thrill in players, thus increasing the user experience.
Diagnose and Analyse Content
A key strength of the game is the use of roleplaying and competitive elements to appeal to players. Additionally, the colorful visuals and realistic images make our game more relatable to players.
Despite our game’s strengths, we acknowledge that there are areas of improvement. Due to time constraints and our unfamiliarity with Gamelead, we had to compromise on certain aspects of the game and were unable to utilize the platform to its full potential.
2. Inspiration for this Project
Our game addresses the real-world challenge of the elderly falling prey to fake friend scams by tackling the gaps in current anti-scam efforts. Instead of simply warning people of scams, our game gives power back to the elderly by teaching them how to spot and deal with warning signs of fake friend scams.
Additionally, our game addresses the root cause of the issue – loneliness in old age. By providing various channels of support, our game builds social connections between the elderly and different communities, helping them to feel well-supported and less alone. Thus, the increased confidence that our game provides to the elderly in combating fake friend scams directly addresses this real-world challenge.
3. Our Learnings
A key learning point from this project is to think from the perspective of the target audience, which in this case is the elderly. Initially, we planned to target the family members of the elderly as we assumed seniors lacked the tech-savviness and interest required to play our game. In doing so, we failed to realize that this would simply perpetuate seniors’ over-reliance on others and rob them of a fear-free and autonomous life. By thinking from the perspective of the elderly, we realized building their confidence to tackle scams would be the most effective way to address the issue. Thus, a valuable lesson we learned is to put ourselves in the shoes of our target audience.
Credits: [AY2023/24] G3 Team 2 – Christopher Loo Wei Jung, Chua Ying Xi, Jill, Errikk Kian Nicdao Mantaring, Kylie Teong Li Ying, Nicholas Leonardo Boentoro, Ooi Wen Xian, Thay Rui Ying