Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science

Game-Based Trust

The integration of location-based mobile gaming serves as a viable mechanism for cultivating interpersonal trust within real-world communities.

• Location-based mobile games can be intentionally designed to increase interpersonal trust by incorporating mechanics like emotional disclosure, face-to-face collaboration, and virtual expressions of goodwill.
• Empirical studies of the mobile game Kokochi demonstrate that shared rituals and physical interaction prompts effectively bridge digital engagement with tangible social outcomes.
• Participants engaging with social and emotional game mechanics show a statistically significant increase in interpersonal trust compared to control groups.