Design of unwinnable persuasive game with level of difficulty structure

The effectiveness of unwinnable persuasive games to persuade players by utilizing game loss and the subsequent experience has not been established with empirical evidence. In addition, game loss can result in negative experiences which might hinder the persuasion process. Therefore, it is essential to validate its effectiveness and gain insight on how game loss can contribute to the persuasion process. To answer that, we decided to examine the role of frustration and playing duration in unwinnable persuasive games by employing value-added approach. With this approach, it is necessary to compare two or more similar games which differ only on the game properties whose effect is the focus of the research. Therefore, an existing game that can be manipulated easily will be advantageous in creating comparable experimental conditions. However, it might be difficult to find a game that meets all our requirements. Hence, we decided to develop our own game. This paper will elaborate on how we designed the game which enabled us to investigate the role of frustration and playing duration in unwinnable persuasive games. In addition, we explain how we created the level of difficulty structure to manipulate the independent variables to ensure that the produced games can be utilized to create comparable experimental conditions.