1. Highlighting 6D Playbook
Define the Problem
Youths, aged 18 to 30, recovering from drug addiction may face significant physiological and psychological challenges hindering them from overcoming their cravings for drugs and integrating back into society, increasing the risk of relapse. While various structured rehabilitation programmes exist, many fail to incentivise youths to stay committed to them and are not well integrated into their daily lives, leading to difficulty in developing healthy habits that are essential for long-term sobriety. Furthermore, many current programmes only target the psychological challenges faced, but not the physiological challenges that make recovery difficult. How might we incentivise the adoption of healthy habits to help youths overcome their drug addiction?
Determine Goals
SMART GOALS
- [S] Facilitate the integration of gamified recovery tasks into daily routines for youths recovering from drug addiction, promoting consistent engagement with healthy behaviours and enhancing motivation through rewards and in-game support.
- [M] Conduct pre- and post-game surveys to assess psychological and physical well-being, track user participation and challenge completion rates, evaluate reward redemption effectiveness and measure engagement with rehabilitation support services through in-game resources.
- [A] Develop and implement engaging, user-friendly elements that encourage youths in recovery to participate in healthy activities, fostering a sense of accomplishment and support throughout their recovery journey.
- [R] Gamified Recovery Programme – ‘Dope or Nope’ aims to partner with local rehabilitation centres like Drug Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) at the Singapore Prison Service’s (SPS) Institution to distribute the programme to youths recovering from drug addiction, facilitating access to gamified support for healthy habit formation.
- [T] Support 50 individuals in recovery within the first 6 months.
Design Gamification Strategy
DOPE OR NOPE:
Embark on a transformative journey of recovery with “Dope or Nope”, an engaging gamified platform designed to empower youths recovering from drug addiction. Through interactive challenges, you will navigate the complexities of your recovery, cultivating healthier habits and enhancing your overall well-being. By setting personal goals, tracking your progress, and celebrating your achievements, you will boost your self-awareness and emotional resilience, effectively combating feelings of isolation and loneliness.
As you engage in daily mindfulness exercises, fitness challenges, and creative self-care activities, not only will you learn valuable coping strategies, you will also develop a toolkit for managing triggers and stressors. With a focus on positive reinforcement, ‘Dope or Nope’ transforms recovery tasks into rewarding experiences, where every small victory is celebrated. Join us in fostering hope, connection, and positive change on this essential drug recovery journey, and discover the strength within yourself to rise above challenges and thrive in your new life. Together, let’s build a brighter, healthier future where recovery is not just a goal but a fulfilling lifestyle.
GAME OBJECTIVE:
In “Dope or Nope”, players immerse themselves and navigate their unique paths to recovery from addiction and mental health challenges. The game unfolds across four stages – Ignite, Elevate, Thrive and Ascend, reflecting key phases of personal growth, connection, and self-discovery. Through interactive challenges and engaging rewards, players will tackle themes such as goal-setting, and fostering self-compassion. As they journey through the highs and lows of recovery, players will have opportunities to explore their emotions, document experiences, and uncover practical coping strategies.
Supported by the Gametize community, Dope or Nope offers a transformative gaming experience that empowers individuals to find strength, cultivate healthy habits and navigate the challenges of addiction recovery and personal growth.
GAME CONTENTS:
Stage 1: Ignite Healthy Habits
In this initial stage, you’ll have a challenge on goal-setting to identify your readiness for recovery and discover your personal goals and motivation. You will then dive into a series of enriching activities such as nature walks, guided meditations and gratitude journaling which are designed to kickstart your recovery journey. These reflective exercises like setting personal goals would help empower you to track your progress and celebrate your achievements along the way!
Stage 2: Elevate Your Support Network
Prepare for an exciting lineup of activities! Look forward to energising fitness classes, unleashing your culinary skills with meal prep challenges, and crafting the perfect sleep schedule. Plus, enjoy thrilling adventures like outdoor challenges and mindfulness activities that make recovery not just rewarding, but fun!
Stage 3: Thrive Through Skill Development
At this point, you’ll focus on personal growth through skill-building challenges. Learn new hobbies, volunteer in your community, and document your experiences along the way. Share photos to celebrate your achievements and reinforce your sense of purpose and self-discovery. Engage in creative projects, tackle exciting challenges that push your limits, and embrace each moment of your journey as a step toward a brighter future!
Stage 4: Ascend to New Heights
In the final stage, you’ll dive deep into your recovery journey through personal journaling, where you can express your struggles and outline your future aspirations. This empowering phase encourages you to envision a fulfilling life beyond recovery while reinforcing your commitment to self-growth. Celebrate your significant milestones and embrace the transformative experiences that have shaped your journey. This is your time to reflect, plan for the future, and fully appreciate how far you’ve come!
Weekly and Monthly challenges
There will be weekly challenges crafted to add a sprinkle of excitement to your recovery journey!
Picture this: dedicating 30 minutes to pampering yourself with a soothing bath or diving into a mindful eating challenge where you savour each bite like it’s a gourmet meal. Weekly challenges are all about consistent personal growth and self-reflection, making each week feel like a mini-adventure.
Then there are the optional monthly challenges, which are themed to keep things fresh and engaging! Kick off the year with gratitude journaling in January, where you can jot down the little things that make you smile, or volunteer in September and spread some joy in your community. Each activity is a chance to earn extra points while connecting with others, all while keeping the vibe light and enjoyable. With no pressure to participate, you can explore these activities at your own pace, turning your recovery journey into an exciting quest for personal growth and new experiences!
ACHIEVEMENTS/REWARDS:
As you navigate your recovery journey, you’ll earn exciting rewards that motivate and inspire you to embrace a healthier lifestyle. Enjoy ClassPass credits or gym memberships to explore various fitness classes, keeping your body active and engaged. Treat yourself to complimentary tickets to Singapore attractions, where you get to soak in the beauty of Singapore’s skylines and architecture. Get access to streaming service subscriptions like Spotify, Netflix, or Disney+, ensuring an ample of entertainment options at your fingertips.
Your journey is also about self-care and growth. Dive into a selection of self-care items—from skincare products to insightful books—that nurture your mental and physical well-being. Expand your horizons with personal development courses to learn new skills and enhance your employability, all while earning discounts or gift cards for fitness gear that encourages an active lifestyle. You can also benefit from free premium subscriptions to mindfulness apps like Calm and outdoor adventure experiences such as kayaking and bungee jumping. Let rewards fuel your journey towards a fulfilling life!
Additionally, you will unlock badges for completing challenges, maintaining streaks, and achieving personal milestones, reinforcing your sense of accomplishment and motivation throughout your recovery journey. Eager to dive in and snag incredible rewards? Let the adventure begin!
MARKETING COLLATERAL:
2. REFLECTION:
Our Journey
When we first embarked on this project, we encountered several challenges. In particular, the lack of understanding about the struggles faced by drug abusers. Drug addiction is not a subject that is likely to be discussed in our daily lives and for many of us, we are not aware of any individuals battling addiction. This thus created a gap in our knowledge, making it difficult to identify the problems that truly needed solving. To bridge this knowledge gap, we began by delving into available reports and expert perspectives on drug abuse and rehabilitation.
We explored relapse rates, challenges related to mental health, and the social obstacles that recovering individuals face. This research phase was crucial in shaping our understanding of the multifaceted nature of addiction and recovery, allowing us to identify areas where our solution could make a meaningful impact.
Once we understood the core issues, we sought to create a solution that would not only educate but also engage and support individuals through their recovery journey. Through this project, we gained a deeper appreciation for the complexities of drug addiction and the need for innovative approaches to tackle it. While our initial lack of knowledge posed a challenge, it also motivated us to learn and create a solution grounded in empathy and evidence-based practices. Ultimately, this journey has shown us the power of using gamification to transform serious challenges into manageable and engaging experiences, offering hope to youths seeking a path toward lasting recovery.
Navigating Mentorship and Diverse Perspectives
From the beginning, we understood that our own experiences in drug addiction and recovery were limited, and that overcoming this knowledge gap would require reaching out for guidance and considering various viewpoints. Given the complexity of addiction and recovery, we sought help from the mentors. Arjay and Guan played a crucial role by helping us identify core areas where our understanding was lacking, based on their expertise in fields such as psychology and rehabilitation.
Arjay highlighted that community building on Gametize is filled with challenges, often feeling almost impossible due to the diversity of experiences among individuals affected by addiction, trust issues stemming from past betrayals, stigma, and resource limitations.
Furthermore, the dangerous possibility of drug selling and related activities in communities on platforms like Gametize might pose moderation challenges, as Guan noted. Anonymity allows individuals to engage in illicit behaviours without fear of identification, while the lack of immediate oversight can let harmful activities persist longer than desired.
We recognised that our backgrounds did not provide direct exposure to the lived experiences of drug addiction. Therefore, we turned to social media to find out about ex-drug offenders like local content creator SimonBoy who was sharing his stories on his social media page. The input from our mentors did not just guide our initial design; it continued to shape the project through iterative feedback loops. This ongoing dialogue allowed us to make meaningful adjustments that will better our target audience.
Understanding Project Limitations
Perhaps the most crucial realisation was acknowledging the limits of our gamified drug rehabilitation solution in addressing the full spectrum of addiction recovery. Addiction is deeply rooted in complex, individual experiences, and no single intervention can fully address the layers of trauma, behavioural patterns, and physiological dependencies involved. Our role was not to create a cure-all solution but to offer a tool that could provide supplemental support alongside professional treatment, therapy, and community-based programmes.
We understood that drug rehabilitation is a lifelong journey, requiring a holistic approach that involves medical interventions, psychological counselling, social reintegration, and personal commitment. Our gamified solution is just one piece of that puzzle, offering motivation, engagement, and structure, but it cannot replace the clinical expertise or deep emotional healing that many individuals need. Recognising this limitation helped us refine our objectives, ensuring that we were clear on the purpose and scope of what we could realistically achieve.
Another important insight we gained was the diversity of experiences among individuals in recovery. Each person’s journey is unique—some may respond well to gamified challenges and rewards, while others may need more intensive, personalised support. This understanding prompted us to design a flexible system, allowing for customisation and adaptability, so that users could tailor their experiences based on their specific needs and preferences. We also accepted that not all users would engage with or benefit from the system, but for those who did, we hoped to offer a positive step in their recovery process.
Additionally, the societal stigma surrounding drug addiction emerged as a challenge that we could not fully address within the scope of our project. While our solution aims to provide a supportive and non-judgmental environment, overcoming deeply entrenched biases and misunderstandings about addiction would require larger systemic changes. Nevertheless, by fostering a sense of community and belonging, we aim to create a space where individuals in recovery feel valued and supported, even if the broader societal issues persist.
Ultimately, our focus shifted from trying to “solve” drug addiction to contributing meaningfully to the recovery process. We aim to alleviate specific challenges, such as lack of motivation, isolation, and the overwhelming nature of recovery, while recognising that true and lasting recovery extends far beyond the capabilities of a gamified solution alone.
1. Play the game first.
2. Use the Template game for your own initiatives.
Credits: Shanice Tham Jie Ying (Leader), Camille Yeo Suan Hui, Tan Jia Xin Denise, Dessy, Ko Yang Jin (Jordan), Liaw Jia Jia, Maalav Shah