Nowadays, children are getting exposed to technology at earlier ages than ever before. Teens need help navigating online risks so they can learn from and overcome them. For any adult, concerns over their child’s online safety is paramount. The following thesis, by working at the intersection of interaction design and game designs, aims to build a serious game that can nurture dialogue between parents and preteens about online safety in social media. Following an iterative process which uses co-design workshops and a playcentric design approach, the designer explores how to enhance literacy and awareness of parents and children while encouraging active mediation and healthy practices. 

The process is framed in eight weeks following three different stages- inspiration, ideation and implementation. The result of the process is Navigating the Social Sea, a serious board game that has proven to be beneficial in increasing literacy about the topic as well as facilitating dialogue among parents and children. The results of the play testing highlight the need to further develop certain mechanics of the game which would also benefit from being playtested with a larger pool of players to help provide a broader range of scenarios affecting player dynamics and game experience. The replay value of the game also needs to be enhanced in subsequent iterations, with the inclusion of competitive elements, better relation between character trait cards and specific risks.