“Once upon a Party”: Preventing Sexual and Dating Violence on College Campuses through Game-Based Learning

Background: Current sexual assault (SA) and dating violence (DV) prevention programs have not been effective in reducing SA and DV on college campuses. One potential reason for these stagnant rates is the lack of engaging programming. One solution is game-based learning, the utilization of games or game-like elements to teach skills or problem solving. Once Upon a Party,(OUAP) is an original interactive narrative game designed to prevent SA and DV on college campuses. At the start of OUAP, students are presented with the premise: the player is in their dorm and their friends are at a party, encountering different situations relevant to SA and DV frequently experienced by college students. The player begins to receive text messages from four friends navigating four different circumstances. After receiving a text, the player chooses between two response options. Their options then dictate how the story progresses, or a “choose your own adventure” path.

Methods: Undergraduate college students in the United States ages 18-25 were recruited via email to participate in a quantitative pilot intervention study to understand whether OUAP could reduce harmful beliefs that lead to SA and DV, educate students on how to empathetically and compassionately respond to a survivor, and improve decision-making around being an effective bystander. The current study seeks to understand if the game-based learning in OUAP can reduce harmful dating norms, rape myth acceptance, and gender norms; increase knowledge of consent; and improve bystander behavior and bystander readiness.

Results: A paired samples t-test was conducted to examine whether there were overall differences in dating norms (DN), rape myth acceptance (RMA), process consent (PC), hostile sexism (HS), benevolent sexism (BS), bystander behavior (BB) and bystander readiness (BR) from pretest to posttest after playing the game OUAP. There were significant differences in DN from pretest (M=1.99, SD=.34) and posttest (M=1.475, SD=.32); t(18)=4.295, p<.001, reducing adherence to harmful DN, with a medium effect size (Cohen’s d=.54). There were also significant differences in PC from pretest (M=1.45, SD=.36) to posttest (3.79, SD=.50); t(16)=-17.232, p<.001, improving knowledge and behaviors around consent, with a medium effect size, (Cohen’s d=.56). There were significant differences in pretest (M=2.46, SD=.50) to posttest (M=1.61, SD=.70) on the HS scale, reducing HS; t(21)=3.99, p<.001 with a large effect size (Cohen’s d= 1.01). There were also significant differences in pretest (M=4.02, SD=.43) to posttest (M=4.67, SD=.54) scores on the BR scale, improving BR; t(14)=-5.47, p<.001 with a medium effect size (Cohen’s d= .50). Although there were not significant differences from pretest to posttest in RMA (Cohen’s d=.75), BS (Cohen’s d=1.19), and BB (Cohen’s d=.67), all had medium to large effect sizes.

Conclusion: In OUAP the game content and mechanisms work together to tell relatable stories that are immersive and engaging. The purpose of the game is to change potentially harmful norms that increase the risk of SA and DV; and improve bystander behavioral intent. Overall, this study demonstrates OUAP reduces harmful norms, increases prosocial norms, and improves behavioral intent around bystander behaviors that affect the risk of SA and DV.