# Walk in Their Shoes to Navigate Your Own Path: Learning About Procrastination Through A Serious Game

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.15770 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15770/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 27 Jan 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Telling Speculative Stories to Help Humans Imagine the Harms of Healthcare AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.14718/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Procrastination, the voluntary delay of tasks despite potential negative consequences, has prompted numerous time and task management interventions in the HCI community. While these interventions have shown promise in addressing specific behaviors, psychological theories suggest that learning about procrastination itself may help individuals develop their own coping strategies and build mental resilience. However, little research has explored how to support this learning process through HCI approaches. We present ProcrastiMate, a text adventure game where players learn about procrastination's causes and experiment with coping strategies by guiding in-game characters in managing relatable scenarios. Our field study with 27 participants revealed that ProcrastiMate facilitated learning and self-reflection while maintaining psychological distance, motivating players to integrate newly acquired knowledge in daily life. This paper contributes empirical insights on leveraging serious games to facilitate learning about procrastination and offers design implications for addressing psychological challenges through HCI approaches.