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Designing meaningful play within the psycho-social context of older adults

Published: 15 September 2010 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we report on a qualitative study, investigating the meaning of digital games in the lives of older adults. Using a combination of semi-structured interviews and observations (n=35) we research the meaning of digital games from a lifespan perspective, and explore the specific role of playing digital games in a social setting. We conclude that the meaning of these games is derived from the extent to which games are perceived to 1) foster connectedness, 2) cultivate oneself and others, and 3) contribute to society. Finally, we use these findings to formulate design guidelines to facilitate digital gaming experiences that are meaningful with regards to the psychosocial context of this specific demographic.

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    Fun and Games '10: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Fun and Games
    September 2010
    170 pages
    ISBN:9781605589077
    DOI:10.1145/1823818
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 15 September 2010

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    Author Tags

    1. elderly
    2. game design
    3. meaningful play
    4. older adults
    5. seniors

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    Fun and Games '10
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    Fun and Games '10: Fun and Games 2010
    September 15 - 17, 2010
    Leuven, Belgium

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    • (2024)Play for EveryoneTransforming School Systems Through Assessment, Technology, and Non-Traditional Learning Methods10.4018/979-8-3693-8130-4.ch010(223-244)Online publication date: 16-Aug-2024
    • (2024)The Jade Gateway to Exergaming: How Socio-Cultural Factors Shape Exergaming Among East Asian Older AdultsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36771068:CHI PLAY(1-34)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
    • (2024)Longitudinal Evaluation of Casual Puzzle Tablet Games by Older AdultsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661528(2073-2087)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
    • (2024)Promoting Family Play through Asymmetric Game DesignProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373928:CSCW1(1-24)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
    • (2024)Meaningful learning: motivations of older adults in serious gamesUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-023-00987-y23:4(1689-1704)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2024
    • (2024)A Case of Designing a Game to Support Older Adults in a Community Setting: Implications for Supporting Active TogethernessHuman Aspects of IT for the Aged Population10.1007/978-3-031-61546-7_13(193-212)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2024
    • (2024)Sociality of Digital GamesEncyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games10.1007/978-3-031-23161-2_195(1697-1700)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2024
    • (2023)A Digital Gaming Intervention to Strengthen the Social Networks of Older Dutch Adults: Mixed Methods Process Evaluation of a Digitally Conducted Randomized Controlled TrialJMIR Formative Research10.2196/451737(e45173)Online publication date: 20-Oct-2023
    • (2023)Exploring the Lived Experience of Behavior Change Technologies: Towards an Existential Model of Behavior Change for HCIACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/360349730:6(1-50)Online publication date: 25-Sep-2023
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