skip to main content
tutorial

You've (Not) Been Warned: Developer Best Practices for Content Warnings and Why Compassion Matters

Published: 18 March 2024 Publication History

Abstract

Content warnings are an essential accessibility feature in games with distressing and traumatic content. With mixed research findings and even more mixed public opinion, there are very few resources available to support developers who want to have content warnings in their games. The following article provides a brief historical overview and current research on the use of content warnings, case examples games that have successfully utilized content warnings, and best practice guidelines for content warning language and implementation.

References

[1]
American Psychiatric Association. 2022. Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders. In Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed., text rev.).
[2]
American Psychological Association. 2017. Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ethics/code
[3]
American Psychological Association. 2020. Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in adults. Retrieved January 8, 2023 from https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline
[4]
Benjamin W. Bellet, Payton J. Jones, and Richard J. McNally. 2018. Trigger warning: Empirical evidence ahead. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psych. 61, (2018), 134–141. DOI:
[5]
Benjamin W. Bellet, Payton J. Jones, Cynthia A. Meyersburg, Miranda M. Brenneman, Kaitlin E. Morehead, and Richard J. McNally. 2020. Trigger warnings and resilience in college students: A preregistered replication and extension. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 26, 4 (2020), 717–723. DOI:
[6]
Victoria Bridgland, Deanne M Green, Jacinta Oulton, and Melanie Takarangi. 2019. Expecting the worst: Investigating the effects of trigger warnings on reactions to ambiguously themed photos. J. Exper. Psychol. Appl. 25, 4 (2019), 602-617. DOI:
[7]
I. Bryce, N. Horwood, K. Cantrell, and J. Gildersleeve. 2022. Pulling the trigger: A systematic literature review of trigger warnings as a strategy for reducing traumatization in higher education. Trauma Violence Abuse 24, 4 (2023), 2882-2894. DOI:. Epub 2022 Aug 25. 36004809.
[8]
A. Carter. 2015. Teaching with trauma: Disability pedagogy, feminism, and the trigger warnings debate | disability studies quarterly. Disabil. Stud. Q. 35, 2 (2015).
[9]
Ashleigh Charles, Laurie Hare-Duke, Hannah Nudds, Donna Franklin, Joy Llewellyn-Beardsley, Stefan Rennick-Egglestone, Onni Gust, Fiona Ng, Elizabeth Evans, Emily Knox, Ellen Townsend, Caroline Yeo, and Mike Slade. 2022. Typology of content warnings and trigger warnings: Systematic review. PLoS One 17, 5 (2022), e0266722. DOI:
[10]
Charlotte Clark. 2019. Do content warnings spoil a book? Wonderfully Bookish. Retrieved from https://wonderfullybookish.co.uk/are-content-warnings-spoilers/
[11]
S. Colbert. 2017. Like trapdoors: A history of posttraumatic stress disorder and the trigger warning. In Trigger Warnings: History, Theory, Context, E. Knox (ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
[12]
J. Doll. 2014. Trigger warnings on classic literature are one small step from book banning. Retrieved January 5, 2023 from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/20/trigger-warnings-college-campus-books
[13]
Double Fine. 2021. Psychonauts 2. (Xbox One version/Video game.) Xbox Game Studios.
[14]
Brian Duignan. Trigger Warnings on Campus. Britannica. Retrieved January 5, 2023 from https://www.britannica.com/story/libertarianism
[15]
K. Dunlap. 2019. Beyond empathy 101: Digging deep into empathy, ethics, and design. Games for Change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywk3botU-iA
[16]
K. Dunlap. 2022. Creating an ethical code for designing psychological trauma games. Clash of Realities Conference. https://clashofrealities.com/2022/speaker/kelli-dunlap/
[17]
Sofia Fenner. 2017. Not so scary: Using and defusing content warnings in the classroom. J. Politic. Sci. Edu. 14, 1 (2017), 86–96. DOI:
[18]
Sam Dylan Finch. 2015. When you oppose trigger warnings, you're really saying these 8 things. Everyday Feminism. https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/opposing-trigger-warnings/
[19]
Finji. 2021. Chicory: A Colorful Tale. https://chicorygame.com/
[21]
Jessica Harms. 2018. Using content warnings in educational theatre. Educational Theatre Association. https://community.schooltheatre.org/blogs/jessica-harms/2018/04/08/using-content-warnings-in-educational-theatre
[23]
J. Herman. 2012. Trauma Therapy in Context: The Science and Craft of Evidence-Based Practice on JSTOR. American Psychological Association. Retrieved January 5, 2023 from https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1chs977?turn_away=true
[24]
P. Jones, B. W. Bellet, and R. J. McNally. 2020. Helping or harming? The effect of trigger warnings on individuals with trauma histories. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 8, 5 (2020), 905–917.
[25]
G. Lukianoff and J. Haidt. 2015. The Coddling of the American Mind. The Atlantic.
[26]
R. McNally. 2016. If you need a trigger warning, you need PTSD treatment. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/09/13/do-trigger-warnings-work/if-you-need-a-trigger-warning-you-need-ptsd-treatment
[27]
Merriam-Webster. Assent. Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online.
[28]
National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD Treatment Decision Aid. Retrieved from https://www.ptsd.va.gov/apps/decisionaid/
[29]
Ninja Theory. 2019. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. https://www.hellblade.com/
[30]
Northway Games. 2022. I Was a Teenage Exo-Colonist (Mac OS version/Video game). Finji.
[31]
Cherry Pickett. 2021. Spoiler: Content warnings aren't spoilers. Ficsation. Retrieved from https://www.cherrypickett.com/2021/05/11/spoiler-content-warnings-arent-spoilers/
[32]
M. Sanson, D. Strange, and M. Garry. 2019. Trigger warnings are trivially helpful at reducing negative affect, intrustive thoughts, and avoidance. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 7, 4 (2019), 778–793.
[33]
L. Spencer and T. Kulbaga. 2018. Trigger warnings as respect for student boundaries in univesrity classrooms. J. Curric. Pedag. 15, 3 (2018), 1-17. DOI:
[34]
H. Stallman, Diann Eley, and A. Hutchinson. 2017. Trigger warnings: Caring or coddling. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association 50, 2 (2017), 89-92. DOI:
[35]
J. Ver Steeg. 2019. Free speech and trigger warnings: News center. Retrieved January 5, 2023 from https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/free-speech-and-trigger-warnings-377272/
[36]
G. Strawson. 2015. Trigger warning: Is the fear of being offensive killing free speech? A Review. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/28/trigger-warning-is-fear-being-offesnive-killing-free-speech-mick-hume-review
[37]
H. Taylor. 2017. Accessibility on campus: Posttraumatic stress disorder, duty to accommodate, and trigger warnings. In Trigger Warnings: History, Theory, Context, E. Knox (ed.), Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
[38]
Office of the Provost University of Connecticut. Trigger and Content Warning Guidance. Retrieved from https://provost.uconn.edu/trigger-warning/
[39]
University of Michigan. An Introduction to Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings. 6. Retrieved from https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/an-introduction-to-content-warnings-and-trigger-warnings/
[40]
A. Vingiano. 2014. How the “triggerwarning” took over the internet. BuzzFeedNews.
[41]
M. Wendling. 2018. Alt-Right: From 4Chan to the White House. Pluto Press.
[42]
Mark Zimmerman, William Ellison, Diane Young, Iwona Chelminski, and Kristy Dalrymple. 2015. How many different ways do patients meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder? Compr. Psych. 56, (2015), 29–34. DOI:

Index Terms

  1. You've (Not) Been Warned: Developer Best Practices for Content Warnings and Why Compassion Matters

    Recommendations

    Comments

    Information & Contributors

    Information

    Published In

    cover image Games: Research and Practice
    Games: Research and Practice  Volume 2, Issue 1
    March 2024
    45 pages
    EISSN:2832-5516
    DOI:10.1145/3613517
    Issue’s Table of Contents

    Publisher

    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 18 March 2024
    Online AM: 11 January 2024
    Accepted: 19 December 2023
    Revised: 27 November 2023
    Received: 20 January 2023
    Published in GAMES Volume 2, Issue 1

    Permissions

    Request permissions for this article.

    Check for updates

    Author Tags

    1. Ethics
    2. psychological safety
    3. content warnings
    4. best practices

    Qualifiers

    • Tutorial

    Contributors

    Other Metrics

    Bibliometrics & Citations

    Bibliometrics

    Article Metrics

    • 0
      Total Citations
    • 232
      Total Downloads
    • Downloads (Last 12 months)196
    • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)8
    Reflects downloads up to 16 Feb 2025

    Other Metrics

    Citations

    View Options

    Login options

    Full Access

    View options

    PDF

    View or Download as a PDF file.

    PDF

    eReader

    View online with eReader.

    eReader

    Full Text

    View this article in Full Text.

    Full Text

    Figures

    Tables

    Media

    Share

    Share

    Share this Publication link

    Share on social media