Ludo King Experiments: Studying mask wearing intentions during COVID-19

The Ludo King experiment was part of a larger pan-India "Wear the mask" campaign driven by CSBC and BMGF to instil COVID appropriate behaviours in India during the 2020 pandemic. We used a gamified version of the popular Ludo King game app to improve mask wearing intentions in players.

Introduction

Mask wearing, maintaining social distancing and frequent handwashing (santising) had been identified as one of the most efficient ways to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. Some barriers to these life saving behaviours can be outside of one's control (lack of running water in the household). Our study leveraged an interactive game - Ludo King, and engaged people by simulating real-life decision-making. Through a randomized control trial (RCT), we studied whether the campaing digital ads (#PehnoSahi) would make people more likely to reprimand others for not wearing masks correctly. Additionally, in a second treatment arm, we wished to assess whether playing a gamified version of Ludo King - called a "mask mode", would increase intentions around wearing masks.

Key results

Compared to the control group, we found that people who were treated with a digital ad improved on intentions to follow COVID appropriate behaviours (CABs), while those who played the modified "mask mode" game showed an improve in the belief in the effectiveness of masks.

Description and methodology

Our control group played the usual Ludo King game. We compared them to two different treatment groups. The first group was shown 3 digital ads (#PehnoSahi) during the game. The ads depicted characters reprimanding those who were not wearing masks correctly. In our second treatment, we asked respondents to play a modified version of the Ludo King game. This "gamified" version would penalize players for not using a mask or not maintaining social distancing when they landed on a specific tile, while asked them to sanitize their virtual hands before playing every turn of the dice.

The study was run in a couple of universities, with students as our subject pool. Each respondent filled a baseline survey, post which they were randomized across the three groups. Post the interventions, an endline survey was conducted for all those who finished their games. Our final sample comprised of 305 students, split equally among the groups.

Results and highlights

Relative to the control group, our results show a statistically significant positive impact of watching the #PehnoSahi videos on intentions of the respondents. Participants reported higher intentions to wear masks properly, wash their hands and, importantly, reprimand others for not wearing masks. This highlights the effect infotainment videos can have on individual intentions.

Additionally, participants who played the "mask mode" game reported higher beliefs in the effectiveness of masks. This shows how gamification interventions can have a positive impact on individual beliefs and perceptions.

Discussion

Our experiment was conducted during the testing times of COVID-19. The objective of the study was to understand whether infotainment videos such as #PehnoSahi and gamified version of popular cultural games such as Ludo can have an impact on the intentions of people to follow COVID appropriate behaviours. Our results show that videos are an effective way of improving intentions for the better, while adding incentives or penalizing players as they play a virtual game can also change their beliefs in real life.

Research funders

The Ludo King experiment was run from a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), under their larger COVID-19 campaign across India during 2020-21.