Prosocial Play: Building Healthier Virtual Worlds

Prosocial behaviours benefit others, such as helping, sharing, cooperating, or showing empathy. When integrated into games, these behaviours can build more inclusive, respectful, and emotionally intelligent player communities.

It’s not about turning every game into a feel-good simulator. It’s about embedding design choices that make positive interactions rewarding, intuitive, and natural.

In a virtual world, players can express themselves freely, but this freedom can lead to both the best and worst of human behaviour. The anonymity of avatars, the intensity of competition, and the lack of real-world consequences can fuel conflict.

But games can also do the opposite. With thoughtful design, we can:

• Encourage cooperation and collaboration.
• Reward kindness and support.
• Guide players through emotional regulation.
• Celebrate different ways of contributing and connecting.

Here are twelve proven design strategies PRELOADED uses to foster prosocial behaviour in the virtual worlds we build:

Ensure the initial experience is as smooth, supportive, and welcoming as possible for new players. This establishes a positive tone for their future interactions within the game.

🛠 Tip: Implement comprehensive tutorials that encourage interaction with other players, demonstrating prosocial value.

Make collaboration a core mechanic. Whether it involves solving puzzles or surviving in co-op modes, shared goals foster empathy, communication, and collective achievement. In Minecraft, players can join forces to build intricate structures or endure perilous environments.

🛠 Tip: Design mechanics like resource-sharing or healing tools that encourage players to help one another.

Provide players with the tools to acknowledge and celebrate helpful, supportive, and pro-social behaviours in their peers. Enabling direct appreciation fosters a stronger sense of community and encourages positive norms.

🛠 Tip: Implement systems like commendations, thank-you notes, or even simple in-game emotes that players can easily use to express gratitude and acknowledge positive contributions. Consider public spaces where player-generated acknowledgements can be visible within the community.

Praise players not only for kills or wins, but also for leadership, patience, and generosity. Recognition drives repetition. In Roblox: Adopt Me!, players can earn badges for assisting new players or for collaboratively caring for their virtual pets.

🛠 Tip: Incorporate systems such as commendations, thank-you notes, or community awards to recognise supportive behaviours.

Design experiences that foster empathy. Allow players to walk in someone else’s shoes – whether by switching roles or viewing a story from a different perspective. In Among Us, players alternate between crewmates and imposters, cultivating empathy for various roles and objectives.

🛠 Tip: Rotate roles (like Among Us) or use narrative to challenge assumptions and biases.

Frame competitive play to encourage camaraderie and good sportsmanship, not just winning. One person’s success should not be another person’s failure.

🛠 Tip: Reward positive interactions during competition and design post-game spaces for friendly engagement.

All communities experience friction, but games can assist players in navigating it more effectively. Provide them with tools for de-escalation, rather than just retaliation. 

Sea of Thieves allows players to vote to imprison disruptive teammates in the brig, humourously de-escalating potential conflict. In Valorant, players can vote to forgive an AFK (away from keyboard) player instead of punishing them, promoting understanding and flexibility when accidents occur.

🛠 Tip: Include vote-to-forgive systems, cooldown periods, or in-game mediators to reduce toxic escalations.

Toxicity often arises from miscommunication. Structured communication diminishes this risk. Rocket League employs a quick chat system featuring positive and neutral phrases like “Nice shot!” and “Great pass!” that fosters teamwork without inviting toxic exchanges.

🛠 Tip: Use pre-set emotes or quick-chat systems to keep messages clear, fast, and respectful..

Gaming can be intense. Help players to decompress and respond with grace, not rage. In Fortnite, players can take breaks between matches, enjoying light-hearted dances and emotes that assist in relieving the intensity of battle.

🛠 Tip: Use built-in cooldown moments, ambient music, or gentle reminders to take a breath after conflict or competition.

Prosocial play thrives by valuing diverse contributions beyond top scores (e.g. defending, healing, exploring, creating). Equitable, accessible rewards for all roles prevent players from competing against each other, fostering a genuinely collaborative environment. In Overwatch, players are rewarded not only for eliminations but also for healing, shielding, or providing utility, ensuring that non-combat roles are recognised and celebrated.

🛠 Tip: Create missions that require diverse skills and fairly reward all contributions to empower every player.

The magic of games often resides in the company we keep. Encouraging players to form lasting social bonds enhances the experience. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, players can visit one another’s islands, exchange gifts, and cultivate a sense of belonging, thereby fostering enduring friendships.

🛠 Tip: Consider incorporating features such as buddy quests, guilds, and memory systems to celebrate shared milestones and enhance feelings of belonging.

Facilitate opportunities for experienced players to guide and support newer ones. This can build a more welcoming and inclusive community while fostering leadership and patience.

🛠 Tip: Implement mentor programs/player facilitation, with specific rewards for helping new players, create in-game channels or forums specifically for asking for and offering help, or design cooperative challenges that benefit from experienced players guiding newcomers.

Prosocial design isn’t a trend; it’s a responsibility. As digital spaces become more central to how we learn, play, and relate, the values we incorporate into those spaces matter deeply. 

Imagine a world where:

• Players log off feeling better than when they logged on.
• Strangers become teammates, and teammates become friends.
• Empathy, resilience, and collaboration are gameplay norms, not exceptions.

We have the tools. We have the data. Now it’s up to us to design for good – because virtual worlds don’t just reflect human behaviour. They shape it.