Game design: Positive Impact of Game Design on Children

Ever wonder how often we correlate gaming with simply being a leisure activity?

Discounting the wide-scale industry that employs a large number of design professionals who spend years perfecting a game concept. In our digital-first era, game design is taking centre stage to empower and lead with purpose. Its scope extends beyond the media and entertainment sector, expanding to every corner of the business spectrum.

Think education, healthcare, IT, power, public sector etc. Each of them is empowering its users and employees with game design-powered training, information, and interactions. Game design is helping organizations expand their storytelling and brand identity narratives, making them more engaging and immersive.

The current wave of emerging technologies is pushing out our deep-rooted bias for the game design industry. Which potentially stems from decades of conditioning that it’s a children’s playtime activity. Missing the core of how game design can have a larger impact on society, our thinking, and behavioural patterns.

Today, thanks to emerging technologies, game design has become one of the most sought-after industries. Many game designers are working with organizations to develop interactive learning programmes for students, immersive tools for training purposes, and using gaming as a tool for the neurodivergent community. With the rise of AR/VR/XR, game design is no longer limited to player interactions. It’s about storytelling, learning & training, building awareness, fan engagement, and customer retention.
A key segment where game design is creating a positive impact is with young children. Many game concepts are being used to teach in schools, by therapists for children in therapy, and engaging students in extra-curricular activities. Educators, parents, and counsellors are taking the initiative to introduce young children to game play to enhance and build positive behaviour patterns in children.

What Does Game Design for Children Mean?

For the past decade, there has been a significant rise in game design for child development. Game design for children means developing children’s essential skills via interactive and immersive video game experiences tailored to their developmental needs. Designers pay close attention to children’s needs, interests, and abilities to help them focus on fun, learning, and positive engagement via the game. Key aspects that designers focus on:
a. Focusing on play and learning
b. Age-appropriate content – in terms of complexity, themes, and content.
c. Developmental goal – developing children’s cognitive, social, and emotional skills.
d. Designing for continued interaction, engagement and positive experiences.
e. Safety and well-being – for young players, ensuring games have age-appropriate content, language etc.
f. Skill Development – helping children develop valuable skills like creativity, problem-solving and even coding in these digital first times.

Here Are Some of the Positive Impacts of Game Design on Children:

Many digital video games today are interactive. Forming a base for learning in the education sector for children. They also help educators teach children a variety of skills. Here are some positive aspects of game design:

1. Builds and enhances children’s problem-solving / critical-thinking skills

Game concept design is a critical part of game development. Designers here spend time researching on their target audience, their likes, preferences, and behaviour patterns. Connecting them with the end goal of the game to develop a game concept.

For instance, a game like ‘Legends of Zelda’, offers children the opportunity to think creatively when obstacles show up. Each character in the game needs the users to search, navigate, plan, and try different ways to pass through the obstacle.

Another game, Bakugan: Defenders of the Core, involves mindful planning and problem-solving opportunities. Minecraft, a popular game, encourages users to use a modification option called modding to customize their character appearance. Offering children, the opportunity to self-express at new levels of the game.

2. Build an interactive way to learn about history and culture

Many games are designed around historical events, like Age of Empires, Mythology, and others. These games immerse children in geography, world history, various world cultures, and international context. Often, these games are tied to books, museum tours, and school learning experiences. It can help inspire learning about culture, history and geography amongst young children.

3. Builds confidence for children to make new friends

Video games have a strong potential to encourage children to make new friends. In our digital age, they have become a common interest for young children as a shared activity. Where children can create friend circles or game circles in local communities or online. Some expert researchers have published that this is a common trend with boys, especially as they enter their teenage years.

4. Builds leadership skills and motivation in children

Often, when humans play in groups, one person becomes the leader. This person can be the teacher who guides others on the gameplay. They motivate their team to go for the win while also handling group dynamics, using their persuasion power and mediation as necessary. The motivation can be to collect certain items, have the most won group titles, combine different elements, etc., to succeed.

5. Improves children’s memory

One key positive impact of gameplay is their power to improve memory cognition and functioning. This stays with children even after they no longer play games. Many studies show that video games help facilitate cognitive changes in the brain. This is especially helpful for children with learning disabilities. Adults who have had experience with such video games before adolescence perform better at memory-based tasks when compared to others who do not engage with video game experiences as children.

UNICEF X LEGO GROUP

Research published rather recently by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight- mentioned how video games have the potential to contribute to and support the well-being of children. When they are designed keeping the needs of the children in mind.

This research was part of an international collaboration, and the project was co-founded by UNICEF and the LEGO Group. Funded by LEGO foundation and produced as part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC). The organizations believed that the design and development of technology (digital) should support the well-being, growth, and rights of children.

Critical find of the study:

Digital games, when designed with purpose, allow children to explore, experience a sense of control, have freedom of choice, master skills, and feel a sense of achievement. They learn to regulate emotions, feel connected to others, manage their social interactions and connections, build on original ideas, ideate and executive creative concepts, and others. Showcasing how the game experience supports a child’s well-being and development.

The study established that:

Digital game organizations and game designers play a pivotal role in supporting the well-being of children through the games they produce. Showcasing how digital play has a positive impact on a child’s development in stimulating their interests, needs, and desires.

This study was published in partnership with University of Sheffield, New York University, City University New York, and Queensland University of Technology.

“For decades, people have often assumed that playing video games is somehow bad for children, undermining their well-being. But our new study paints a far more complex picture – one in which these games can actually contribute to children’s well-being and positively support them as they grow up,” said Bo Viktor Nylund, Director of UNICEF Innocenti.

On the UNICEF website, another interesting quote was from Anna Rafferty, Senior Vice President of Digital Consumer Engagement, the LEGO Group:

“This exciting research from UNICEF and leading academics shows that safe and inclusive digital play can have a profoundly positive impact on children’s lives. We’re proud to be partnering with like-minded organisations to understand how digital experiences can be designed in a way that puts children’s well-being first. These findings will empower responsible businesses to create a digital future where children are safe, nurtured, and equipped to thrive.”

From this recent example of a deep-rooted research project, we can learn how game designers play a critical role. Shaping children’s sense of creativity, autonomy and competence. For instance, for a child to feel a sense of autonomy, a game designer will need to put the child in control. Allowing and encouraging the child to make their own decision and strategy for gameplay.

Curious to find out what else game designers can do in this tech-savvy era? Find out more at Strate School of Design’s Game Design program.