  Games research and industry have developed a solid understanding of how to
design engaging, playful experiences that draws players in for hours and causes
them to lose their sense of time. While these designs can provide enjoyable
experiences, many individuals -- especially children -- may find it challenging
to regulate their playing time, and often they struggle to turn off the game.
In turn, this affords external regulation of children's playing behavior by
limiting playing time or encouraging alternative activities, which frequently
leads to conflicts between parents and the children. Here, we see an
opportunity for game design to address player disengagement through design,
facilitating a timely and autonomous exit from play. Hence, while most research
and practitioners design for maximizing player engagement, we argue for a
perspective shift towards disengagement as a design tool that allows for
unobtrusive and smooth exits from the game. We advocate that interweaving
disengagement into the game design could reduce friction within families,
allowing children to finish game sessions more easily, facilitate a sense of
autonomy, and support an overall healthier relationship with games. In this
position paper, we outline a research agenda that examines how game design can
address player disengagement, what challenges exist in the specific context of
games for children, and how such approaches can be reconciled with the
experiential, artistic, and commercial goals of games.
