Playability and Player Experience in Digital Games for Elderly: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

A higher number of people increasingly uses digital games. This growing interest in games, with different objectives, justifies the investigation of some aspects and concepts involved, such as product quality (game), usability, playability, and user or player experience, topics investigated by the multidisciplinary area called Human–Computer Interaction (HCI). Although the majority of users of these games are children and young people, an increasing number of older adults join technology and use different types of digital games. Several studies establish the increase in learning, socialization and exercise promotion, and cognitive and psychomotor skills improvement, all within the context of active and healthy aging. The objective of this work is to carry out a systematic literature review investigating the player experience of the elderly in digital games. The work allowed answering five research questions that were formulated. The evolution and maturity level of the research area are studied together with the research methods used. The factors that motivate adults to play were also analyzed; what are the recommended technical characteristics for games and some tools and metrics with which games are evaluated for older adults? Research gaps were detected in the area; there are not many specific studies on playability and player experience applied to the older adult, nor are there proven tools and metrics to evaluate them. Particular techniques for assessing and designing games focused on older adults are lacking, and quantitative studies that better identify the factors that affect the playability and experience of older adults in digital games.

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

“…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.…”

“…The research literature has shown that playing digital games can contribute to improving older adults' well-being, but the research is still at an early stage (Rienzo & Cubillos, 2020). In addition, there is a clear knowledge gap where digital games that were designed pre-pandemic may not be suitable in meeting the special needs of older adults playing digital games due to the sheltering measures under the pandemic (e.g., digital games having only a singleplayer mode, digital games requiring other players to be physically together, digital games being difficult to understand without guidance and assistance given in person, etc.…”

A Survey of Citizen Science Gaming Experiences

“…CSGs fall within the subset of serious gaming -gaming for purposes beyond entertainment. Research has been increasingly interested in the playability and player experiences of these games (Rienzo and Cubillos 2020). Although player experience was previously considered as simply player satisfaction, the player experience of serious games has now been understood, generally, as a combination of many factors including immersion, challenge, and emotion, among others (d 'Ornellas et al 2015;Rienzo and Cubillos 2020;Wiemeyer et al 2016).…”

Qualitative Assessment of Effective Gamification Design Processes Using Motivators to Identify Game Mechanics

“…The link between user and player experience provides specific assessment tools in specific gaming environments, and there are several techniques that are recommended, particularly for games [ 41 ].…”