Fact Finders: A History Game to Support Young Children’s Understanding of Multiple Perspectives in War Conflicts
Journal
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Editor(s)
DOI
10.1155/ijcg/1274205
Abstract
Games for social impact have the potential to influence children’s attitudes on sensitive topics, such as intractable intergroup conflicts. Changing the hostile perspectives of young people in such conflicts is critical to transforming the conflict. Only a few digital games for social impact that target young children exist, and those had mixed but overall positive results. The Fact Finders game empowers school children to engage with ongoing conflicts (Cyprus war in 1974). To examine its impact on student perceptions of conflicts, researcher-facilitated interventions involved 144 Greek-Cypriot students (11–12 years old) in playing the game. The main data source was a questionnaire on how participants perceived intractable conflicts, administered before and after students played the game. The game positively and significantly affected students’ understanding of the credibility of historical sources (t<inf>143</inf> = −2.42, p = 0.017) and children’s perceptions of multiple perspectives in conflicts (t<inf>146</inf> = −2.03, p = 0.044). The game did not significantly change children’s perceptions of how history is “constructed” or their views on whether the conflict can be overcome, allowing the two communities to live harmoniously together in the future. The study demonstrated the value of prosocial games in supporting young children’s understanding of historical source credibility and multiple perspectives. At the same time, it highlighted the unsolved challenge of how to influence children affected by a war conflict toward a peaceful solution to the conflict. Design guidelines and instructional implications are provided for prosocial games that support multiperspectivity.