Previously submitted to: JMIR Serious Games (no longer under consideration since Aug 30, 2022)
Date Submitted: Dec 20, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 20, 2021 - Feb 14, 2022
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Gaming and digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic
ABSTRACT
The online gaming industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, which has only been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertising by the private sector is common in online games, but games can also present a new avenue for innovative messaging by other actors. Online gaming can be a controversial topic, with debate surrounding the health effects of prolonged gaming. Though the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes instances of gaming disorder, some research suggests that online gaming is not inherently dangerous and can, in some situations, be beneficial to mental health. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has recently explored using gaming as an avenue for promoting public health messaging and has been involved in various projects that aimed to spread COVID mitigation guidelines through games. While the direct impact of in-game or advertising messaging on individuals’ behaviours is difficult to assess, the spread in popularity of these tactics and their estimated reach suggests a promising new approach for delivering public health information to certain groups. The goal of this paper is to objectively assess the potential of public health messaging through video games with a distinct focus on the impact of current initiatives being utilized to provide much-needed public health information on the COVID-19 pandemic, especially looking to initiatives in which WHO was involved or led. Whilst there is less literature and research in this field than other COVID-19 related topics, this paper has uncovered several meaningful insights and potential routes for future endeavors. To capture the sentiment of the academic community, an advanced Boolean search was conducted through Google Scholar. Google Scholar was used for this search as opposed to specific journals or databases given the cross-specialty nature of research on this topic (i.e., psychology to marketing). The search of ("gaming" OR "video games" OR "online games") AND ("covid-19" OR "coronavirus" OR "pandemic") AND ("public health messaging" OR "public health communication" OR "public health campaigns") was set over the time period 2019-2021.
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