Fear of failure (original) (raw)

Older Adults “Jump” into coDesiging a Digital Game: A Field Study

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

The aim of this paper is to contribute to establishing practices to involve adults aged 50 and over in the design of digital games within the paradigm of active ageing. This paper focuses on a component of a larger project entitled SERIOUS-GIGGLE integrated in the SEDUCE 2.0 research that enabled to develop the digital game JUMP that goes beyond illness recovery or skill maintenance, addressing active ageing. Using a Participatory Action Qualitative Research that deployed 64-session group discussions and participant observation of 33 learners at a Portuguese University of the Third Age, the necessary course of actions to involve the end-users in game design were identified. Results suggest four phases: 1. Validate the content and the materials that will be used during coDesign with experts in the area, using the Delphi method; 2. Carry out the activities in the end-user's places; 3. Design the game tool based on the end-users' context and the content validated by the experts during the previous phases; and 4. Validate the game-based product with the end-users. Literature is still scarce in giving standards for designing digital games for active ageing and most of the solutions on the market tend to focus on health and rehabilitation rather than on other dimensions, such as security and social participation.

Benefits and Barriers of Older Adults’ Digital Gameplay

Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, 2014

Gerontology researchers have demonstrated that cognitive and social factors are keys that may sometimes outweigh physical conditions in determining life satisfaction. Social interaction and cognitive challenge are consistently identified as key elements to enhance older adults' quality of life. Digital games can offer many potential benefits to older adults in a motivating and playful way, such as increased social interaction and maintenance of cognitive functioning. This paper describes some key results regarding socio-emotional and cognitive benefits as well as barriers reported from an early survey of 463 Canadian older adults who play digital games. The results demonstrate that a diverse group of older adults are actively playing digital games on a regular basis and that players report numerous socio-emotional and cognitive benefits and few difficulties. These results are promising and will be followed up with a variety of experimental studies.

For Whom the Games Toll: A Qualitative and Intergenerational Evaluation of What is Serious in Games for Older Adults

The Computer Games Journal

The aim of this study was to engage older adults in discussions about digital serious games. Using a qualitative exploratory approach, we report observations from more than 100 h of conversations with individuals in the age range 65-90, in a study entitled "Finding better games for older adults" (June 2017-December 2019). Phase 1 (19 older participants, 3 young research students) involved conversations around a quantitative study of cognitive benefits of digital playing (minimum 6 h/person). Phases 2 and 3 involved a focus group in the form of a community class (10 weeks, 2 h per meeting), involving introduction to digital game genres, playing, and discussing motivations and obstacles for current and future play. Cognitive stimulation, emotional distraction and physical therapy were initially stated as the motives for game play. However, with growing familiarity and voluntary exchanges of personal stories between older and younger participants, the cultural significance of the medium of game (especially with story-telling and VR technology) became more important to older adults. More than mechanical inaccessibility, lack of access to the cultural discourse about games presents barriers for older adults. To create a safe, comfortable and accessible space for intergenerational learning and play is of primary importance both for users and designers, should serious games be considered for the future of digital care.

The Effect of Age, Gender, and Previous Gaming Experience on Game Play Performance

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2010

Understanding players and their game playing behavior is a growing area of research that is currently being explored by many game companies, including Electronic Arts, Hobbo Entertainment, and XEODesign. In this paper, we report on a study we conducted to understand the influence of age, gender, and previous gaming experience on customization activities of game players in the younger age group within games. We note that player behavior in such scenarios can be used to improve game design and maybe lead to new player models. The results show significant differences between genders within our sample and the type of activities and items used within character and level customizations. We also found some correlations between previous gaming experience and strategies users take to customize their levels, as well as the type of customization activities they engage in. These results will be discussed in this paper as they contribute several design lessons for designs of games or virtual worlds that involve customizations.

Challenging Students' perspectives with Game Design for Older Adults

2021

Older adults are a group that is often overlooked by the game industry, even though they make up a reasonable portion of gamers. It is important for game designers to be able to consider different users and the needs involved. In this study, game design students were challenged with the task of making a video game for older adults that had some level of learning and social interaction. A total of sixty students, 13 older adults, an instructor, and the researchers were involved in the study. Seven games were created over two semesters. Older adults participated in the design by providing feedback. The students initially were disappointed with this assignment and resistant to the task, but as the project continued, they were able to embrace the challenge and see the benefits of designing for older adults. It challenged them to think from a different perspective and consider game design that is accessible to a wider audience. What they thought was intuitive (e.g. easy for the player to...

Digital game design for elderly users

Proceedings of the 2007 …, 2007

The current paper reviews and discusses digital game design for elderly users. The aim of the paper is to look beyond the traditional perspective of usability requirements imposed by age-related functional limitations, towards the design opportunities that exist to create digital games that will offer engaging content combined with an interface that seniors can easily and pleasurably use.

Games for Elderly: The Design Issues

2015

Elder Games provides an environment for coming together, leisure, work out and refreshing the lives of the elderly population. Designing and developing precise computer games applications for elderly population could assist them to get happiness and at the same time to be engaged in training or exercising, without getting bothered or bored. However, the development of Games for Elderly requires the implementation of a thoughtful design approach to make games useful for Elderly. Therefore, the significant issues related to design and development of Games for Elderly are studied and presented in this paper.

Did they really like the game?-challenges in evaluating exergames with older adults

Exergames offer exciting perspectives not only for recreational, but also for therapeutic use. Increasing numbers of older adults in many industrialized countries raise the need for affordable and reliable solutions to help people to stay healthy and fit at advanced ages. While games user research is vital to increasing the quality of game designs and improving game design processes, many research tools are difficult to use with senior gamers, and the target group is especially vulnerable to mistakes both in game design and games user research. We report and classify some of these challenges along with possible approaches, aiming to fuel intensified exchange about methodological experiences among researchers in the field.