Boosting Personal Workouts with Customized Elements that Trigger Various Emotions in a Game Context
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A groundbreaking study has presented a new approach to exergaming, focusing on multi-emotion provoking elements, adaptive gameplay, and thorough user evaluation to boost player engagement and well-being. This innovative method, designed to elicit a rich spectrum of emotions such as awe, elevation, and nostalgia, aims to create meaningful, eudaimonic experiences that deepen player connection and motivation.
The study, conducted with 25 participants, utilises the physical cycling exergaming system. It extends a previously designed single emotion game scene approach by incorporating multiple emotional components, including appreciation, sense of meaning, emotional challenge, self-reflection, and social bonding. These elements have been systematically defined and coded for assessment during play, enabling designers to understand their impact on the overall gaming experience.
Key features of this method include a gameplay adaptation mechanism that adjusts the game’s difficulty and stimuli based on the player's ongoing emotional and physiological feedback. This personalised approach aims to maintain optimal challenge and engagement, enhancing user engagement and the efficacy of exercise.
User evaluations involve both quantitative coding schemes, such as eudaimonic experience codes with reliability scores, and qualitative assessments to gauge the nuanced emotional and motivational effects of the exergame on players. This comprehensive evaluation framework ensures that the adaptive elements successfully provoke the intended affective states and support sustained use and enjoyment.
Through this adaptive, emotion-focused approach, the exergame not only promotes physical activity but also supports psychological well-being by creating meaningful, motivational experiences tailored to individual users. Although the study did not provide direct information on the quantitative impact outcomes or specific user satisfaction metrics, the qualitative framework and coding approach offer a novel, robust method for affective game design in exergaming contexts.
In summary, the key findings and features of this new method include:
- A multi-dimensional emotional design aimed at provoking a rich array of meaningful emotional responses.
- Adaptive gameplay tailoring difficulty and stimuli to player emotions and performance, optimising engagement.
- Rigorous user evaluation using validated emotional coding frameworks to inform design refinement.
- Demonstrated potential to enhance both motivational and physical benefits through this personalised, affective gaming experience.
The new method has been showcased in the presented work, introducing exciting, mentally and physically challenging content designed to provoke both physical and mental stress, as well as emotions with a controlled intensity. The study aimed to evaluate the enhancing exercise experience by individual multi-emotion provoking game elements, and the analysis method for facial expressions and physiological data allows for near real-time emotion evaluation. This enhanced analysis method allows the system to adapt the gameplay dynamically, offering a more immersive and engaging gaming experience for users.
Science and health-and-wellness are closely intertwined in the presented study, as it explores the mental and physical benefits of exergaming, particularly focusing on promoting psychological well-being and enhancing exercise efficacy through an adaptive, emotion-focused approach. Fitness-and-exercise are directly addressed through the utilization of a physical cycling exergaming system, with the innovative method aiming to maintain optimal physical challenge and engagement, thereby fostering user engagement and overall health improvement.
