Cards and Roles: Co-designing Privacy Serious Games with an Online Role-Playing Boardgame

This study evaluates the effectiveness of an online role-playing boardgame as a co-design tool for developing Serious Games (SGs) focused on privacy awareness. The primary objective is to determine whether role-playing, supported by structured design cards and a digital playboard, helps diverse stakeholders—specifically students and educators—collaboratively ideate and balance complex game concepts. The research addresses the challenge of creating SGs that maintain engaging gameplay while effectively teaching users to make more reflective privacy decisions.

The methodology employed a between-subjects trial involving 32 computer science students and 26 educators/researchers from Norway, Austria, and Ireland. Participants engaged in two-hour remote sessions via video conferencing, where they assumed specific roles—player, teacher, researcher, or designer—to co-create game concepts using a digital toolset. Data collection included in-game satisfaction ratings and post-game questionnaires assessing perceived support for ideation, balancing, and overall applicability.

Key findings indicate that the role-playing boardgame successfully supports the co-design process. Both groups reported high levels of satisfaction with their final game concepts, with median ratings of 80% or higher across all roles. While both groups benefited from the activity, educators reported significantly higher levels of support for ideation and structuring game concepts compared to students. The study concludes that the boardgame is a highly applicable tool for remote collaboration, enabling non-experts to engage effectively in expert-level design tasks. The results suggest that integrating educators into student-led design sessions could further enhance the balance and pedagogical efficacy of privacy-focused Serious Games.