The Impact of Social Game Gameplay Design on Players’ Emotional Connection: A Case Study of “Sky: Children of the Light”

Abstract

With the rapid development of technology, the world is becoming increasingly digital. As new social media asks players to interact to do the quests, social games offer people more possibilities to have an emotional connection with other players in the virtual world. “Sky: Children of the Light” is a popular social game growing up during the pandemic era, with the core of “love and giving”, it provides players positive emotional lead in the game world and encourages players to spread hope and love to other people. The article focuses on the gameplay design of “Sky: Children of the Light”, the study of the impact of gameplay design on players ‘emotional connection by using the way of participatory observation and in-depth interviews, to provide some practical reference for healthy social game gameplay designing. The study found that by designing the interaction method and adding emotional purpose to the story narrative, the players’ satisfaction and empathy about the world will increase, and care more about the environment and people around them.