The impact of educational live action role-playing games on social–emotional competence: a mixed-method study with Chinese college students

The results demonstrated that, compared with the control group, the experimental group exhibited a significant increase in social-emotional competence. In the dimensions of Engaging with others, Collaboration, and Open-mindedness, the improvements were remarkable. Further in-depth analysis indicated significant progress in specific sub-dimensions within each competency. In Engaging with others, Assertiveness and Sociability were enhanced; in Collaboration, Empathy and Co-operation were improved; and in Open-mindedness, Tolerance and Curiosity showed growth. Both the qualitative and quantitative data consistently suggest that educational live action role-playing games can arouse the interest of a wide range of students and effectively enhance their social-emotional competence. Drawing from the results, this research offered pedagogical and analytical insights to enhance the integration of educational live action role-playing games into co-curricular programs at the higher education context: providing high-quality scenario scripts with pedagogical significance, creating immersive contextually authentic environments, and implementing professional development programs for facilitators. This research also provided a new perspective on integrating game-centered elements and cooperative mechanisms into official curricula.