Jang, H. J., & Noh, G. Y. (2017). The effects of identification with a game character in a smoking simulation game on perceived health risk and smoking attitude. Advanced Science Letters, 23(3), 1673-1676.

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to test the effects of identification with a game character that was either a real character based on the game user or an animated character in a smoking simulation game. We also tested differences in user experience based on the level of identification by using a play test experimental treatment approach. Specifically, we compared and analyzed perceived susceptibility, perceived risk, arousal, fear, and smoking attitude according to the level of identification with a game character. The experiment was conducted with 100 male smokers by presenting a smoking simulation game, “Smoking Sims.” The results showed that perceived susceptibility, perceived risk, arousal, fear, and smoking attitude were higher when a real character based on the game user was used as opposed to an animated character.