Gameplay, learning and emotions in the board game Violets: cinema & action in combating violence against women

Abstract

The board game Violets: cinema and action in combating violence against women was developed prioritising the liberating features of play to offer a setting for struggles to secure citizenship. The objective of the article was to examine the gameplay of Violets as regards players’ understanding of the rules and engagement, and the game’s mechanics and design; and to evaluate gameplay, emotions and learning comparatively as dimensions of play. This mixed method study proceeded in stages: a) perfecting gameplay: a workshop with 12 experts, usability tests with 33 participants and content analysis; and b) evaluating play: questionnaires for 78 participants and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test comparing groups of variables. Agreement among participants on aspects of gameplay was high. The group of gameplay variables returned values equal to those of the learning group; both differed significantly from the group for emotions felt while playing. In Violets, the interweave of gameplay with the formative, learning components set up a challenging, affective, symbolic field where players’ imagination, interaction, tension and interest were expressed during play.

Key words:
Strategies; Education; Violence against women