Chat with Louis
Concept Overview
A digital game that aims to improve public awareness of suicide prevention. Through the simulation of online chatting with a virtual character, the audience learn how to use the QPR approach to prevent suicide.
Need Statement
More deaths occur by suicide in the US each year than by homicide or automobile accidents. In 2017, over 47,000 Americans took their own lives (NCHS), Suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 in the U.S. It may happen among our friends or family.
However, many people do not know how to prevent suicide. People have some misunderstandings about suicide. For example, mentioning “suicide” in a conversation does not increase the probability of suicide as many people think. In addition, about 90% of people in a suicidal crisis will give some kind of warning to those around them, but most of us overlook those indications.
Concept Description
The narrative in this game develops based on the QPR approach, which is a simple but effective way to prevent suicide.
(Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-recovery-coach/201802/how-using-qpr-can-prevent-suicides)
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In a simple online texting interface to chat with a virtual character Louis.
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The goal is finding Louis’s attempt to suicide by choosing correct answers from multiple options, and you should stop that happens!
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The first-time player will not be given any clue about the goal, so they may easily go to the bad end (the NPC suicide, the goal fails). That is the time when the game will provide explanations of the goal and introduce the QPR approach. Then the player can start the second time and can choose to see a single explanation for each question.
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The game’s homepage provides a quick entry to call the suicide prevention agency.
Target Audience
Any person should know how to prevent suicide.
Learning Goals
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Learning about what is QPR approach and how to use it.
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Improving knowledge about suicide and suicide prevention.
Learning Theory
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Learner control
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Situated learning
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Narrative theory
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Feedback principle
Demo
Coming soon...
Design Process
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Reference: search for resources to learn about the current situation of suicide and the methods of suicide prevention.
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Develop a narrative based on the QPR approach to suicide prevention. Deciding to simulate a scenario of mobile text, which is easy to understand and manipulate by most people.
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Writing script. Be careful to make every option and the development of the story have a rationale in QPR. Also, make sure the way of expression is natural in daily conversation.
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Producing demo.
Potential Improvement
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Providing more characters and background stories to cover different suicide motivations.
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The simulation of online chatting is interesting but also limits the presentation of other scenarios. It is better to create a face-to-face scenario by adding illustrations of places, characters, maps and providing more options of actions.
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Suicide prevention is a serious topic, the word expression in the game should be confirmed by conducting more research and working with professionals.