Designing an Online Escape Game for Older Adults: The Implications of Playability Testing Sessions with a Variety of Dutch Players

Abstract

This study evaluated the playability of an online escape game designed using a User-Centred Design (UCD) process for older adult players aged 65 and older. The participants were 30 Dutch older adults who played the game in pairs on tablets over 15 game sessions. The data were collected through surveys, interviews, and observation field notes. The results indicated that, overall, the players enjoyed the game. They enjoyed the collaborative nature of the game and the game challenges the most. They also thought that the game story is engaging. However, the evaluation revealed that the game controller was a source of frustration and that the goals of several of the game tasks were not clear for the players. Moreover, it seems that the game needs to be customizable so that each pair of players could determine the pace and difficulty level of the game.

Designing Digital Games with & for Home-dwelling Older Adults' Social Interaction under Sheltering Measures

“…We adopt a user-centered design approach (Karat, 1996), which emphasizes involving potential users throughout an iterative system design and development process. Several studies have shown great success by using a user-centered design approach in designing digital games for older adults and delivering outcomes that fulfilled their expectations and needs (Doppler et al, 2018;Doroudian et al, 2020;Sauvé & Kaufman, 2019). By involving older adults throughout the whole process, we intended to gather the user requirements of older adults in playing digital games and design digital games that suit their preferences and needs, with a focus on enhancing their social interaction in a distance setting.…”

“…7. Offering customizable fonts or icons can provide a more satisfying player experience for older adults, according to previous studies (Al Mahmud et al, 2012;Doroudian et al, 2020;Mubin et al, 2008) and a review by Rienzo and Cubillos (2020) in playability and player experience in digital games for older adults. Building on this finding, we started the first iteration with a prototype that incorporated a customization feature.…”

“…These functionalities can be embedded into the gaming technologies, both in the game itself and outside of the game interface, to foster more social interaction between older players. Doroudian et al (2020) reported that the participants had a good time chatting with each other during and after the game sessions. While designing a multiplayer online escape game for older adults, Zhang et al (2017) observed that the communications among players were not well organized and, therefore, recommended providing a chat and/or video function.…”

“…Several studies have proposed factors in keeping older players motivated, which include all the abovementioned design guidelines. In addition, participants in Doroudian et al (2020)'s study expressed that they would play the game again if they encountered new things every time they played. A review by Cota and Ishitani (2015) pointed out other factors such as familiarity and ease of learning for the games.…”

“…Before the pandemic, research activities using usercentered design could be conducted face-to-face (Al Mahmud et al, 2012;Doppler et al, 2018;Doroudian et al, 2020;Sauvé & Kaufman, 2019). In this study, all interviews and evaluations had to be conducted via phone calls or online meeting platforms such as Skype, Zoom and Google Meet.…”