Chair of the Communication Studies department, Dr. Yifeng Hu, has been working closely with Josh Fishburn, an assistant professor for interactive multimedia and several students from different disciplines on an interactive, narrative-based video game that aims to guide students through alcohol-related situations they may face throughout college. “Fresh Start” has been an on-going project since 2018, and has had 14 students participate in the development, research, and testing.
Dr. Hu stated “There is evidence showing that serious video games, guided by behavioral science and designed to entertain players as they educate, train, or change behavior, have resulted in improvements in health behaviors. Capitalizing on young people’s pre-existing attention and enjoyment of video games for education, especially health promotion, seemed to be a natural thing to do.”
Read more about the progress of the game and the team’s hopes for this project here.