Research Grants Awarded: Prosocial Game Design

In October, 2025 PDN and Roblox co-hosted a convening that brought together researchers and practitioners to share insights and catalyze research toward Fostering Connection in Social Gaming. As a follow up to the event and to incentivize practice-informed research of design ideas that emerged in the convening, Roblox provided research funding and PDN conducted a grant award process that was open to convening participants.

PDN is delighted to announce the six research teams and projects that have been awarded grants. Each research project takes a different approach to building our knowledge of how to foster connection in social gaming. We are grateful to all researchers who submitted proposals and to our panel of judges who volunteered their time to review all these exciting projects: Nick Ballou, Benoit Bediou, Allison Briscoe Smith, Guo Freeman, Daniel Johnson, Folco Panizza and Talia Stroud.

Embedding Reminder of Norms into Games: Investigating Timing and Diegesis

Team: Julian Frommel & Regan Mandryk

Researchers will investigate the effectiveness of norm reminders in games, asking two main questions: 1) Do norm reminders in games affect behaviour and experience?; and 2) How do the timing and diegesis (i.e. presenting information in the game’s world, as experienced by the characters) of norm reminders affect players? In this study, the researchers will embed the reminder of norms into a multiplayer game, varying the timing and diegesis in a between-subjects design. The team expects the study to yield: 1) quantitative findings supporting the efficacy of the dynamic reminder of norms in games; 2) design recommendations for game developers on the timing and diegesis of norm reminders; and 3) novel insights into the use of a proactive prosocial intervention in the context of games for promoting positive play. 

Reshaping the Harm: Using Restorative Justice Principles to Prioritize Players’ Needs in Online Multiplayer Games

Team: Bria Massey & Kaycee F. Stiemke

This study investigates how restorative justice (RJ) principles can be embedded into pro-social game design to prioritize players who experienced gender or racialized harm and toxicity in online games. The study follows three phases: a large-scale foundational survey; a smaller simulation experiment; and a final hands-on co-design session with participants. The study contributes three advances: (1) empirical evidence on harmed players’ justice priorities; (2) a survivor-centered RJ design framework for gaming platforms; and (3) expanding HCI scholarship on prosocial game design by showing how restorative features can be embedded in game design and structure.

Prosocial Nudging in Online Chats: AI Suggestions to Reduce Harmful Language

Team: Zainab Agha, Madison Akles & Jessy Wang

Researchers will study a real-time AI-driven chat moderation tool that proactively supports users in maintaining respectful, prosocial communication in social gaming environments by introducing a “pause and suggest” intervention that detects potentially harmful, displays a gentle feedback message, and provides a friendlier, content-preserving re-write of the user's message. By testing this intervention in a simplified chat context—where participants respond to prompts as they would during multiplayer online gameplay—this project will generate initial evidence on whether real-time, AI-mediated language suggestions can reduce harmful communication, promote prosocial behavior, and strengthen interpersonal connection, offering insights directly relevant to the responsible design of gaming platforms.

Prosocial Connection and Belonging through Storytelling and Disclosure 

Team: Gowri S. Swamy, D. Alex Hughes, Coye Cheshire & Aaron Rodden

In this study, researchers consider how storytelling and sharing experiences may help create stronger, more cohesive online communities. To do so, they leverage an existing social gaming platform created by the research team, BrainType, to assess how the process of disclosure may lead to an environment of increased trust, solidarity, and sense of community. BrainType is a turn-based, asynchronous, multi-player gaming system which uses user-generated stories to create gaming challenges for other players. Through a lab-based experiment, the research team will assess how personal disclosure and storytelling can act as an exchange for enabling players to build moments of shared vulnerability, trust, and empathy.  

Creative Learning Through Community Sharing: Theme-of-the-Week Snapshots for Emerging Game Developers in Social Gaming Ecosystems

Team: Yaman Yu, Marlon Twyman, Yaxing Yao, Haojian Jin & Yang Wang

This study examines whether a lightweight reflection and recognition feature, implemented through a weekly generative AI supported “Theme-of-the-Week” Snapshot system, can deepen young developers’ understanding of prosocial design more effectively than a traditional read only learning approach. The Snapshot feature supports ongoing social learning and helps developers build games that foster meaningful player connection by creating an easy and celebratory ritual for sharing prosocial design insights. By comparing an active reflection and sharing pathway with a read only learning pathway in a four week study, researchers will investigate which approach better supports prosocial design literacy and future intentions to design for connection. 

Designing Micro-Interventions in Online Gaming to Support Compassion and Gratitude 

Team: Stephen Schueller & Katie Salen Tekinbaş

This project aims to understand how community leaders are supported and supportive of creating communities that promote wellbeing and connection in online gaming environments and to help develop short, in-the-moment activities deemed ‘micro-interventions’ either through gameplay or forum-based interactions to support compassion and gratitude. The research project consists of semi-structured interviews with Connected Camp Counselors, co-design sessions, and feedback sessions. The goals of these activities are (1) to explore motivations, practices, and exemplars of activities that support compassion and gratitude in online gaming spaces, (2) generate ideas for micro-interventions that can be deployed through gameplay or forum-based interactions to support compassion and gratitude. 

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About the Prosocial Design Network

The Prosocial Design Network researches and promotes prosocial design: evidence-based design practices that bring out the best in human nature online. Learn more at prosocialdesign.org.