Smile catcher: Can game design lead to positive social interactions?

Abstract

Our hectic and increasingly digital lives can have a negative effect on our health and well-being. Some authors have argued that we socialize less frequently with other people in person and that people feel increasingly lonely[1]. Loneliness has been shown to significantly affect health and wellbeing in a negative way. To combat this, we designed a game, Smile Catcher, which encourages players to engage in in-person, social interactions and get others to smile. Participants wear a device that takes regular pictures of what is in front of them and the system analyzes the pictures captured to detect the number of smiles. The game was evaluated with a two-week study that sought to determine if game design can increase positive social interactions and thereby people’s well-being. Our results show that users increased their frequency of positive interactions as a result of playing our game. Contribution Statement: This paper describes a unique game that improves well-being by encouraging positive social interactions.