Intentionally Designing a Game to Help Alleviate Symptoms of Depression : A Formal and Textual Analysis of Mental Health Representation and Game Design Iteratio

Sammanfattning: Depression is a common mental health issue in today’s society, unfortunately, mental healthcare is not easily accessible to a large number of people worldwide. Therefore, a lot of researchers have attempted to study the effectiveness of commercial video games in alleviating symptoms of depression as supplementary tools to mental healthcare, not as replacements. Even though some data suggests that there might be an effect, the games used in it are not designed to achieve such a goal, therefore their positive effect is mostly accidental.  This paper argues that in order for a game to help alleviate symptoms of depression, first, it must do a better representation of it. Therefore, it initially analyzes two games that arguably do a better representation of mental health: Celeste(2018) and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Then based on the results and lessons extracted from the analysis, it presents one iteration of a design process of “Break It”, a game currently in development, intended to help those who suffer from depression. It presents the first steps toward a research through design project with the main aim to create a gaming experience that helps those who suffer from depression heal. Another potential benefit of such an experience would be the reduction of social stigma towards depression among players who do not suffer it themselves.