Dataset of 160 students (100 Israelis and 60 Palestinians) of whom 100 played the PeaceMaker game in Jan2025

The study followed a pre-test post-test control group experimental design. The experimental group consisted of 100 participants, while the control group consisted of 60 participants. All students completed a pre-test on January 23rd, 2025. Experimental group students played the PeaceMaker game for 30 minutes while control group students did not. All students completed a post-test a week later, on January 30th, 2025. The data collection was conducted during a crucial time of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically a week of Israeli hostage-Palestinian prisoners releases, approximately 15 months after the ongoing Israel-Hamas war of Oct. 7th, 2023. A total of 160 students (100 Israelis and 60 Palestinians) participated in the study. A cohort of Israeli participants (n=61) and a cohort of Palestinian participants (n=39) who registered for two different classes at two different universities in Israel were assigned in the experimental condition and played the PeaceMaker game during a single meeting of these classes, on January 23rd 2025, after completing a pre-test. Another cohort of Israeli participants (n=39) and another cohort of Palestinian participants (n=21) who registered for the same two classes at the same two universities in Israel were assigned to the control group condition and completed a pre-test on January 23rd, 2025. All students completed a post-test a week later, on January 30th, 2025. Participants’ hope for peace was measured before and after the game, by capturing three interdependent but discrete components of hope: wish for peace, expectations that peace will materialize, and affective hopefulness (based on Leshem, 2017)