A State-of-the-Art Systematic Content Analysis of Games for Health

Abstract

As the field of games for health continues to gain momentum, it is crucial to document the field's scale of growth, identify design patterns, and to address potential design issues for future health game development. Few studies have explored the attributes and usability features of games for health as a whole over time. We offer the first comprehensive systematic content analysis of digital games for health by examining 1743 health games released between 1983 and 2016 in 23 countries extracted from nine international English health game databases and directories. The majority of these games were developed in the United States (67.18%) and France (18.59%). The most popular platforms included web browsers (72.38%) and Windows (14.41%). Approximately four out of five (79.12%) of the games were available at no cost. We coded 1553 accessible games for an in-depth analysis and further assessed 1303 for usability. Popular health topics represented included: cognitive training (37.41%), indirect health education (13.33%), and medical care provision (9.98%). Most games (75.66%) could be completed within 60 minutes. The main game usability problems identified included a lack of customization, nonskippable contents, and a lack of feedback and instruction to the players. While most of the usability problems have improved as did the software and hardware technology, the players' ability to skip nonplayable contents has become slightly more restricted overtime. Comparison with game efficacy publications suggested that a further understanding of the scope for games for health is needed on a global level.

Collecting family planning intentions and providing reproductive health information using a tablet-based video game in India

“…The last decade has seen a significant increase in the use of digital games and game-like interventions to educate players and motivate behavior change 9 10 . The use of games is particularly apt when seeking to reach young people given that play is still regularly a part of their lives.…”

Digitale Gesundheitsangebote für Kinder

“…B. Google Play Store, Apple iTunes, Amazon) variiert und auch unterschiedlich kategorisiert ist [10]. Betrachtet man die in den Stores verfügbaren Gesundheits-Apps, unterscheiden sich diese sehr deutlich hinsichtlich ihrer Zielsetzung und Zielgruppe, ihrer Funktionen und ihrer Gestaltung, ihres Grades an Gamification [11,13,24] sowie hinsichtlich ihrer Qualität [2,23].…”

Grenzen von „Serious Games for Health“

“…Da für die Entwicklung der Spiele in den meisten Fällen kein großes Budget zur Verfügung steht, können die meisten "Serious Games" in Punkten wie Grafik, Gameplay und technischer Umsetzung kaum mit bekannten Unterhaltungstiteln mithalten. Diese Limitationen werden auch einer umfassenden Inhaltsanalyse [25]…”

“…Dies spiegelt sich u. a. in der großen Zahl der Spiele, die für den Gesundheitsbereich produziert werden. So wurden laut Lu und Kharrazi bis 2016 insgesamt 1743 "Health Games" in 23 Ländern entwickelt [25]. Entsprechend groß ist auch das Interesse an diesem Thema in der Wissenschaft (für einen Überblick siehe [12]).…”