Prompting Destiny: Negotiating Socialization and Growth in an LLM-Mediated Speculative Gameworld

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Authors: Mandi Yang, Zhiqi Gao, Yibo Meng, Dongyijie Primo Pan
Cited by: 0

Abstract

We present an LLM-mediated role-playing game that supports reflection on socialization, moral responsibility, and educational role positioning. Grounded in socialization theory, the game follows a four-season structure in which players guide a child prince through morally charged situations and compare the LLM-mediated NPC's differentiated responses across stages, helping them reason about how educational guidance shifts with socialization. To approximate real educational contexts and reduce score-chasing, the system hides real-time evaluative scores and provides delayed, end-of-stage growth feedback as reflective prompts. We conducted a user study (N=12) with gameplay logs and post-game interviews, analyzed via reflexive thematic analysis. Findings show how players negotiated responsibility and role positioning, and reveal an entry-load tension between open-ended expression and sustained engagement. We contribute design knowledge on translating sociological models of socialization into reflective AI-mediated game systems.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Educational Games and Gamification Artificial Intelligence in Games Digital Games and Media

Publication details

Journal / source
arXiv (Cornell University)
Publication date
5 February 2026
Document type
Preprint