Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools
Recent studies have shown that children are not adequately physically active and there is a need to increase children’s physical activity. This study describes new opportunities and solutions for using existing games and gamification to increase physical activity among children in Sweden. We adopted...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/2/100 |
| _version_ | 1797480990756569088 |
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| author | Solomon Sunday Oyelere Simon Malmström Berghem Robert Brännström Stina Rutberg Teemu H. Laine Anna-Karin Lindqvist |
| author_facet | Solomon Sunday Oyelere Simon Malmström Berghem Robert Brännström Stina Rutberg Teemu H. Laine Anna-Karin Lindqvist |
| author_sort | Solomon Sunday Oyelere |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent studies have shown that children are not adequately physically active and there is a need to increase children’s physical activity. This study describes new opportunities and solutions for using existing games and gamification to increase physical activity among children in Sweden. We adopted the principles of Tic-Tac-Training to redesign, build, and test a classical multiplayer cooperative game, Battleship, to create a PA game that children experience as fun and engaging. The low fidelity prototype of the game was developed using an iterative game development life cycle and tested with 13 young male children aged 8–11 in a real-world informal setting. A mixed-method research approach was used to understand the users’ experiences and the impact of the Battleship-PA game on behavior change regarding physical activity. Research data were collected through audio recordings of interactions, direct observation, and a user experience questionnaire. The results of this study indicate both positive and negative feedback that can be used to improve the game and user experiences. The results from the unfiltered recordings revealed that both teams were competitive, cooperated within their team, and became excited whenever they destroyed opponent’s ships or were close to winning. However, the children felt bored and exhausted when many gamification tasks were repeated several times in a game session. Direct observation indicated that the children enjoyed the physical activities resulting from playing the game. However, participants who had not previously played the classical version of Battleship were confused about the objectives and concept of the game. The analysis of the user experience questionnaire indicated that most children found the game easy to play, motivating, engaging, interactive, fun, cooperative, competitive, and visually appealing. Furthermore, most children agreed that the game helped them to be physically active and strongly agreed that they enjoyed performing the physical activities in the game. Future work is needed to improve the game user interface, gamification elements, and prepare additional physical activity tasks for a rewarding experience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:08:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-063f4668800a449199ccde48c983b9f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:08:04Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-063f4668800a449199ccde48c983b9f82023-11-23T19:37:19ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022022-01-0112210010.3390/educsci12020100Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in SchoolsSolomon Sunday Oyelere0Simon Malmström Berghem1Robert Brännström2Stina Rutberg3Teemu H. Laine4Anna-Karin Lindqvist5Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 931 87 Luleå, SwedenDepartment of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 931 87 Luleå, SwedenDepartment of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 931 87 Luleå, SwedenDepartment of Health, Education and Technology, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, SwedenDepartment of Digital Media, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, KoreaDepartment of Health, Education and Technology, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, SwedenRecent studies have shown that children are not adequately physically active and there is a need to increase children’s physical activity. This study describes new opportunities and solutions for using existing games and gamification to increase physical activity among children in Sweden. We adopted the principles of Tic-Tac-Training to redesign, build, and test a classical multiplayer cooperative game, Battleship, to create a PA game that children experience as fun and engaging. The low fidelity prototype of the game was developed using an iterative game development life cycle and tested with 13 young male children aged 8–11 in a real-world informal setting. A mixed-method research approach was used to understand the users’ experiences and the impact of the Battleship-PA game on behavior change regarding physical activity. Research data were collected through audio recordings of interactions, direct observation, and a user experience questionnaire. The results of this study indicate both positive and negative feedback that can be used to improve the game and user experiences. The results from the unfiltered recordings revealed that both teams were competitive, cooperated within their team, and became excited whenever they destroyed opponent’s ships or were close to winning. However, the children felt bored and exhausted when many gamification tasks were repeated several times in a game session. Direct observation indicated that the children enjoyed the physical activities resulting from playing the game. However, participants who had not previously played the classical version of Battleship were confused about the objectives and concept of the game. The analysis of the user experience questionnaire indicated that most children found the game easy to play, motivating, engaging, interactive, fun, cooperative, competitive, and visually appealing. Furthermore, most children agreed that the game helped them to be physically active and strongly agreed that they enjoyed performing the physical activities in the game. Future work is needed to improve the game user interface, gamification elements, and prepare additional physical activity tasks for a rewarding experience.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/2/100gamificationmultiplayer cooperative gamephysical activityactive school transportformative evaluationgame architecture |
| spellingShingle | Solomon Sunday Oyelere Simon Malmström Berghem Robert Brännström Stina Rutberg Teemu H. Laine Anna-Karin Lindqvist Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools Education Sciences gamification multiplayer cooperative game physical activity active school transport formative evaluation game architecture |
| title | Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools |
| title_full | Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools |
| title_fullStr | Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools |
| title_short | Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools |
| title_sort | initial design and testing of multiplayer cooperative game to support physical activity in schools |
| topic | gamification multiplayer cooperative game physical activity active school transport formative evaluation game architecture |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/2/100 |
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