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Exploring the potential of using a text-based game to inform simulation models of risky migration decisions

Exploring the potential of using a text-based game to inform simulation models of risky migration decisions
Exploring the potential of using a text-based game to inform simulation models of risky migration decisions
Background: in this paper, we explore the potential of games to collect empirical data for informing agent-based simulation models of migration. To examine the usefulness of game-based approaches, we conducted a simple, yet carefully designed psychological experiment.

Methods: in a preregistered study, we used a novel, immersive experimental setting to investigate the risky migration decisions made by migrants and non-migrants. Participants (284 migrants and 284 non-migrants) played a choice-based interactive fiction game—a fully text-based game where players progress by selecting from a list of possible actions—that involved making three risky migration decisions. In one condition, participants were shown a non-linear progress bar and explicit acknowledgements of the choices they made to promote perceived agency: the feeling that one’s actions have a non-trivial impact on the game. In the other condition, the progress bar was linear, and the explicit acknowledgements were omitted.

Results: our experimental manipulation was successful; participants in the former condition self-reported higher perceived agency than participants in the latter condition, as did migrants compared to non-migrants. Nevertheless, condition and migrant status did not meaningfully affect the risky migration decisions participants made in the game.

Conclusion: these findings indicate that the results of generic studies on risky migration decisions conducted on non-migrants can potentially inform simulation models of migration. However, these findings were obtained from a single experiment, and thus warrant replication and further research before definitive conclusions can be drawn. Furthermore, a simple text-based game may be too superficial to allow deep insights into the idiosyncrasies of migration decision-making. This suggests a possible trade-off between clear interpretability of the results and the usefulness for informing simulation models of complex social processes, such as migration.
decision-making, migration, perceived agency, risk-taking, simulation models, text-based game
1046-8781
716-735
Modirrousta-Galian, Ariana
5b7bbe48-7221-47e6-bc12-7c8940eb3247
Prike, Toby
2bcfa243-b4ce-4ff2-9248-20e756bb2f33
Higham, Philip A.
4093b28f-7d58-4d18-89d4-021792e418e7
Hinsch, Martin
d855699b-2bc4-4693-8d3b-3433f546e82f
Nurse, Sarah
1dc41320-0dd0-4eed-99ea-7ca7dae9f734
Belabbas, Souhila
7e367938-63fd-4acd-93f9-14c1556b3bfe
Bijak, Jakub
e33bf9d3-fca6-405f-844c-4b2decf93c66
Modirrousta-Galian, Ariana
5b7bbe48-7221-47e6-bc12-7c8940eb3247
Prike, Toby
2bcfa243-b4ce-4ff2-9248-20e756bb2f33
Higham, Philip A.
4093b28f-7d58-4d18-89d4-021792e418e7
Hinsch, Martin
d855699b-2bc4-4693-8d3b-3433f546e82f
Nurse, Sarah
1dc41320-0dd0-4eed-99ea-7ca7dae9f734
Belabbas, Souhila
7e367938-63fd-4acd-93f9-14c1556b3bfe
Bijak, Jakub
e33bf9d3-fca6-405f-844c-4b2decf93c66

Modirrousta-Galian, Ariana, Prike, Toby, Higham, Philip A., Hinsch, Martin, Nurse, Sarah, Belabbas, Souhila and Bijak, Jakub (2024) Exploring the potential of using a text-based game to inform simulation models of risky migration decisions. Simulation and Gaming, 55 (4), 716-735. (doi:10.1177/10468781241242925).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: in this paper, we explore the potential of games to collect empirical data for informing agent-based simulation models of migration. To examine the usefulness of game-based approaches, we conducted a simple, yet carefully designed psychological experiment.

Methods: in a preregistered study, we used a novel, immersive experimental setting to investigate the risky migration decisions made by migrants and non-migrants. Participants (284 migrants and 284 non-migrants) played a choice-based interactive fiction game—a fully text-based game where players progress by selecting from a list of possible actions—that involved making three risky migration decisions. In one condition, participants were shown a non-linear progress bar and explicit acknowledgements of the choices they made to promote perceived agency: the feeling that one’s actions have a non-trivial impact on the game. In the other condition, the progress bar was linear, and the explicit acknowledgements were omitted.

Results: our experimental manipulation was successful; participants in the former condition self-reported higher perceived agency than participants in the latter condition, as did migrants compared to non-migrants. Nevertheless, condition and migrant status did not meaningfully affect the risky migration decisions participants made in the game.

Conclusion: these findings indicate that the results of generic studies on risky migration decisions conducted on non-migrants can potentially inform simulation models of migration. However, these findings were obtained from a single experiment, and thus warrant replication and further research before definitive conclusions can be drawn. Furthermore, a simple text-based game may be too superficial to allow deep insights into the idiosyncrasies of migration decision-making. This suggests a possible trade-off between clear interpretability of the results and the usefulness for informing simulation models of complex social processes, such as migration.

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Accepted/In Press date: 12 March 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 April 2024
Published date: August 2024
Related URLs:
Keywords: decision-making, migration, perceived agency, risk-taking, simulation models, text-based game

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 488088
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/488088
ISSN: 1046-8781
PURE UUID: 913d01f0-4729-49d6-8fce-5d89b457829a
ORCID for Ariana Modirrousta-Galian: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2925-2976
ORCID for Philip A. Higham: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6087-7224
ORCID for Jakub Bijak: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2563-5040

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Mar 2024 17:35
Last modified: 01 Aug 2024 02:03

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Contributors

Author: Ariana Modirrousta-Galian ORCID iD
Author: Toby Prike
Author: Martin Hinsch
Author: Sarah Nurse
Author: Souhila Belabbas
Author: Jakub Bijak ORCID iD

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