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Background Maintaining social relationships is a basic human need and particularly essential in old age, including when living in a retirement home. Multiplayer video games can promote positive social interactions among players from different generations while playing. Yet, such facilitation of positive social interactions depends on specific game design. To systematically investigate the effects of game design on social interaction between seniors and their coplayers, the game Myosotis FoodPlanet was developed in this study, and the impacts of 3 different game modes on social interaction were compared in a controlled field trial. Objective This study aims to compare the effects of 3 different game modes (competitive, cooperative, and creative) on social interactions (verbal and nonverbal communication) between seniors and their younger coplayers. Methods This study was conducted in a Swiss retirement home as a controlled field trial. Participants were residents of the retirement home (N=10; mean age 84.8 years, SD 5.9 years) and played in pairs with their caregivers. Each pair played 3 game modes in random order. This resulted in 30 game sequences of 20 minutes each. A within-subject design was applied with game mode as the within-factor and social interaction as the outcome variable. To assess the quality of social interaction, 30 video-recorded game sequences were analyzed based on an event sampling method. Results Analysis of variance for repeated measurements revealed significant effects: there was significantly more verbal communication in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.04) with a strong effect size (Cohen f=0.611). An examination of verbal communication revealed more game-related communication in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.01) and the competitive mode (P=.09) with marginally significant effects and strong effect sizes (Cohen f=0.841). In addition, significantly more biography-related communication occurred in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.03), with a strong effect size (r=0.707). Regarding nonverbal communication (eg, laughing together), analysis of variance for repeated measurements showed significant differences among the game modes (P=.02) with a strong effect size (Cohen f=0.758). Results showed that there was significantly more laughing together in the competitive mode (competitive>cooperative>creative). Conclusions The results show that game mode can be an important factor for shaping the social interactions of players playing together. Compared with other modes, creative game modes can increase verbal communication. In contrast, competitive modes may stimulate more laughing together. This has important implications for game design and the use of computer games to promote social interaction between seniors and their coplayers in practice.

BACKGROUND Maintaining social relationships is a basic human need and especially essential in old age, for instance, when seniors live in retirement homes. Multiplayer video games can promote the maintenance of social relationships., because they can facilitate positive social interactions between players (also of different generations). However, specific situations require targeted integration of specific game elements and characteristics (e.g., score systems). In order to systematically investigate possible effects of game characteristics on intergenerational social interactions, the game Myosotis FoodPlanet has been developed. In the present study, the impact of three different game modes on intergenerational social interaction were tested in a controlled field trial. OBJECTIVE The study aims at comparing the impacts of three different game modes (competitive, cooperative and creative) on social interactions (verbal and nonverbal communication) of players from different generations during game play. METHODS The study was conducted in a Swiss retirement home in a controlled field trial. Participants were residents from the retirement home (N=10; mean age = 84.8, SD = 5.85). Each pair played the three game modes in randomized order resulting in N=30 twenty-minute game sequences. A within-subject design was applied with Game Mode as within-factor (competitive, cooperative, creative mode) - and Social Interaction as the outcome variable. To assess the quality of social interaction the 30 video-recorded game sequences were analyzed with regard to verbal and nonverbal communication sequences based on an event sampling method. RESULTS ANOVA for repeated measurements revealed significant effects: The total duration of verbal communication was significantly higher in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.04) with strong effect size (f=0.611). A deeper examination of verbal communication showed that more game-related communication took place in the creative mode than in the cooperative mode (P=.01) and competitive mode (P=.09) with marginally significant effects and strong effect sizes (f=0.841). Moreover, Friedman test showed that in the creative mode significantly more biography-related communication occurred compared to the cooperative mode (P=.03) with strong effect size (r=0.707). Regarding durations of nonverbal communication (e.g., body contact and laughing together), descriptive data show that this was lowest in the creative mode. However, the results did not yield significance. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, results show that game mode can be an important factor shaping social interactions of players while playing together. Creative game modes can increase verbal communication – stimulating both game-related and biography-related talk stronger than other modes. This has important implications on game design and the use of computer games for promoting intergenerational social interaction in practice. CLINICALTRIAL The study is not liable to registration according to Swiss Federal Human Research Act (HRA) or WHO International Standards (it is not a clinical trial) & in accordance with the principles of WMA Declaration of Helsinki.