COLLECTIVE AESTHETICS THROUGH I-POSITION AND SELF-ENGAGEMENT

ADVANCING USABILITY FOR INCLUSIVE SOLO BOARD GAMES

DOI: https://doi.org/10.60543/ijgsi.v4.n1.02
Keywords: Collective aesthetics, Dialogical Self Theory (DST), Emotional Intelligence (EI), Inclusive, I-position, Self-engagement, Usability, User Experience (UE)

Abstract

The social impact of board game usability is historically explored in group and multiplayer contexts, ranging from pedagogical spaces of collaborative student learning to team and businesses development. Alongside educational usability, aesthetic features of board games are long established in children and adults therapy for enhancing symbolic and emotional expression with interpersonal motivation in a safe space. Given consistent emphasis on multiplayer board games and group impact, this paper addresses an overlooked area concerning human interaction with oneself rather than with others, achieved through artistic features in solo board games. We, therefore, employ psychological and aesthetic frameworks to discuss the significance of I-position designs for identity multiplicity, demonstrating the need for solo game designs to improve inclusion specifically for neurodivergent and disabled individuals as well as introverts who may prefer solo board games.

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Author Biographies

Maryam Farahani, Dept of Psychology, University of Liverpool.

Maryam Farahani, PhD, MA, MAEd, MSc, BA is an interdisciplinary research associate at the University of Liverpool with 20 years of operational, teaching, and research experience in humanities, education, and sciences. She has expertise in psychology of difference, identity and conflict, classical narratology, psycho-linguistics, aesthetic performance, nonlinear reflexivity, East-West philosophies, workplace psychology, and education leadership and management (inc. SEND methodologies). She has published on identity, emotions, health narratives, sports, arts, literature, leadership, psychology of pain and medical histories. She has forthcoming research output on intersections of psychology, narratology, and education. 

Ian Schermbrucker , Dept of Psychology, University of Liverpool.

Ian Schermbrucker, PhD, MSc is a social psychologist, lecturer at the University of Liverpool. Over the past two decades, he has contributed to the psychology of human behaviour, identity formation and social dynamics, group dynamics, conflict, and the influence of overlapping social identities on prejudice and out-group derogation. His expertise spans the psychology of leadership, multidisciplinary focus on conflict resolution, and the arts, sports, inclusivity, and identity. His research lies in the same area with focused past publications on conflict and forthcoming co-edited volumes on leadership, otherness, and primary care management.

Published
2026-05-01
Issue
Vol. 4 No. 1 (2026): Inquiring the Intersection of Game and Play through Contemporary Artistic Practices
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2026 Maryam Farahani, Ian Schermbrucker

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The rights of each article are attributed to their author(s).