Through a Gender Lens: A Serious Game for Young Children to Enhance Bullying Awareness and Encourage the Adoption of the Defender Role

Bullying is a global issue that threatens the safety and wellbeing of children worldwide. While bullying is observed amongst children of all ages, the behavior peaks at ages 11–14 years. One intervention method is through the use of games. 23 mixed-gender children aged 7–11 years participated in this study, which examines the impact of Cairdeas Quest, a fantasy serious game, on increasing bullying awareness and how to respond in different bullying situations. Through an analysis of gameplay metrics, the results show that Cairdeas Quest positively impacted the identification of bullying/cyberbullying and the selection of appropriate responses in various bullying situations. All participants correctly selected the defender role in response to bullying and indirect cyberbullying in the hallway and bedroom scenes. However, the main issue concerned how to respond to verbal bullying in a classroom. In general, female players were more empathic than their male peers in different bullying/cyberbullying situations and were more likely to adopt the defender role. Meanwhile, a greater level of improvement was evidenced in the male players after playing Cairdeas Quest. This is a positive outcome as boys are more likely to adopt the bully perpetrator and bystander roles.