Combating Drug Abuse - The Preventive Pulse – An Interactive Walk-Through Gameplay
1. Highlighting 6D Playbook
Defining the Problem
At-risk youths do not fully consider the consequences of drug abuse, driven primarily by their own curiosity and ineffective communication of the consequences in existing preventive measures. Despite efforts by the government and relevant organisations, at-risk youths still feel the temptation of trying out drugs and underestimate the severity of the consequences.
Determining Goals
The game aims to deter at-risk youths from trying drugs by focusing on both immediate education and long-term prevention. On immediate education, the initiative will raise awareness about the harsh realities of drug abuse, helping youths understand the severe consequences, such as health issues, broken relationships, and legal repercussions. Through interactive activities, the game also seeks to satiate the curiosity that often leads at-risk youth to experiment with drugs. By the end of the game, participants will feel empowered with the knowledge and perspective to make better choices, effectively lowering the likelihood of drug experimentation in the long run.
Deciding Target Behaviours and Emotions
- Participants are more aware of the consequences of consuming drugs.
- Participants feel compelled to stay away from drugs.
- Participants resist and eliminate the temptation to try out drugs due to curiosity and peer influence.
- Participants can identify vulnerable situations and know how to get out of them.
- Participants are more aware of the hotlines and help they can receive around them should they feel troubled.
- Participants have fun and are engaged by our game.
Describing & Profiling Players
The game solution targets at-risk youths aged 13 to 16, who are still attending secondary school and face unique challenges in their personal lives. These players are typically avid gamers who find solace in social circles outside of their homes, where they feel neglected due to parental conflicts and academic pressures. This emotional neglect leaves them vulnerable to risky behaviours. Leveraging their passion for gaming, the game aims to engage these youths by addressing their deeper emotional needs, providing them with a supportive and educational outlet that fosters connection and understanding.
Designing Gamification Strategy
We have researched similar activities and campaigns previously done by CNB and various organisations. These are the 2 activities we found:
1.CNB High Campaign
Similar to our game, this campaign launched in 2020 aimed to raise awareness about the dangers of drug abuse among youths. This short interactive film allows viewers to choose the protagonist’s actions, and explore various outcomes and scenes of drug usage. Such scenes include the visualisation of being high and the after-effects of consuming drugs. Through this medium, it allows users to feel the weight and consequences of their actions.
2. Limitless SAFEHOUSE
This is a discussion forum on Discord made exclusively for youths aged 13 to 25. It provides them with an inclusive, non-judgemental online community for youths to connect and seek mental health support at their own pace. They had a game simulation of a day in the life of a person recovering from depression and one from the viewpoint of a friend.
Diagnosing and Analysing the Content
We chose an interactive decision-making format for the game to help users understand the impact of their actions while keeping them engaged throughout the game. By creating a storyline that resonates with the target audience, the game aims to evoke emotions, such as curiosity and regret, in the players. The relatable scenarios in the game not only entertain but also serve as an educational tool, highlighting the real-life consequences of drug use.
2. Addressing A Real-World Challenge
The issue we are addressing through our game is the curiosity that at-risk youths face to try out drugs.
In Singapore, the mean age of drug consumption users has been decreasing. The number of youths arrested who were below 20 formed the bulk of drug abusers who were arrested. According to the IMH 2022 Health and Lifestyle survey, the most common reason cited for substance abuse was due to curiosity of drug consumption (Institute of Mental Health, 2022). Due to this, this led to an increase of 15% of new drug abusers, from 802 in 2022 to 952 in 2023 (Central Narcotics Bureau, 2023).
Our game seeks to expose at-risk youths to realistic scenarios involving peer pressure, the allure of drugs and even components of an unhealthy family dynamic, and tap into the natural curiosity of the youths, Our game will enable players to explore the scenarios in a safe environment, and illustrate the immediate and long-term consequences of drug usage through branching narratives. This will help youths to understand the gravity of the choices that they make and satisfy their curiosity, while simultaneously educating them on the dangers of drug abuse.
3. Learning and Reflection
The biggest challenge we had to overcome was to think of feasible solutions for our topic since we had not experienced similar circumstances. Additionally, we were confronted with the lack of primary research we could refer to to identify and narrow our scope for prevention strategies.
Thus, doing the 6Ds to plan our solution allowed for greater clarity and refinement for our research and solution proposed, as we took a stepwise process to better educate ourselves on substance abuse in Singapore, and understand how to better aid troubled individuals to prevent them from consuming drugs. Through the leadership contents taught in class, we delegated tasks for greater completion efficiency, negating the challenge of our conflicting schedules.
Upon implementing and designing our solution on Gametize, we faced limited functions the platform offered which did not align with our original vision for the game.
Our initial idea was to include scenarios that change based on the player’s choices that they made, however, branching was not yet available on the platform. To adjust, we refined our game to have a linear storyline instead of branching out to different scenario outcomes, while retaining interactive and engaging options in-game.
In conclusion, the skills and theories we learned from LTB enabled us to work better together as a diverse team, and solve conflicts amicably.
4. Teaser
1. Play the game first.
2. Use the Template game for your own initiatives.
Credits: Angelita Kng Meyling, Ho Kai Xing Cassandra, Janelle Ng Jia Min, Ong Jing Xian, Ong Xiu Hui, Rachel Sim Jin Wen, Sim Rui Qi, Trina Poh Jing Hui