Be a buddy not a bully - Two educational games to help prevent bullying in Schools

Abstract

Bullying can have various negative short and long-term consequences for adolescents. With online technology expanding the occasions for bullying, developing solutions to prevent bullying and cyberbullying has become even more pressing. We have developed two prototypes of educational games to raise awareness of the consequences of bullying among adolescents by putting them into the role of a bystander. The two games differed in the form of gameplay: one allowed for explorative play while the other used a linear narrative. We report on first results obtained by evaluating both games in classrooms and reflect on how integrating such games into a classroom context can be beneficial.