Through Troubled Waters: A Narrative Game for Anger Regulation

Emotion regulation, such as one’s ability to attenuate the negative impacts of anger, is an important skill that requires recognizing related emotions and knowing appropriate responses. This work presents Through Troubled Waters (TTW), a narrative-based video game that allows people to explore and experiment with different anger coping mechanisms in a playful environment. We describe how the design of the game aims to support players in recognizing, labeling, and responding to emotions related to anger. A pilot study with 18 participants was conducted to assess important game mechanics such as dialogue choices and the collection of ‘strategy cards’. Our findings show that participants were able to effectively communicate about the anger coping strategies that were presented in the game and potentially reflect on their own strategies. Additionally, more than half of the participants reported the desire to adjust their current anger coping styles. This suggests the potential use of TTW and this type of serious gaming as a supporting tool for emotional intelligence education and mental health interventions.