Empowering Through Play: Leveraging Gamification for Discussing Sensitive Topics

In today’s digital age, promoting youth’s digital well-being is essential, especially when addressing sensitive issues like online grooming, cyberbullying, and gender-based violence. This paper introduces two gamified platforms: (i) StandByMe, focused on addressing gender-based violence among adolescents, and (ii) Cesagram, designed to combat online grooming and child sexual abuse in younger children. In developing the platforms, we prioritized digital well-being throughout the design process to provide a safe and supportive learning environment. This paper explores how gamification strategies were integrated to boost user engagement while safeguarding their well-being. We outline the challenges faced during the design of these platforms and explain how we addressed them by drawing on existing literature and engaging in dialogue with subject matter experts. Additionally, we identify novel aspects of gamifying educational content that emerged due to the sensitive nature of these topics.