Effects of Supportive Feedback Messages on Exergame Experiences

Abstract

Abstract. Since their inception, the popularity of exercise-based video games, or exergames, has continued to grow. Acknowledging the rapid growth of exergames, scholars have investigated exergame play experiences with a focus on the feedback a player receives about performance (e.g., progress bar, score) and how this information can influence game play experiences. To extend the existing exergame research, this study has two primary goals: (a) to test how the supportiveness of verbal feedback messages from an exergame can influence players’ exergame experiences and (b) to evaluate the way that a player’s sense of social presence may serve as a mechanism for understanding the link between feedback and experiences. An experiment (N = 47) was conducted using a between-subjects design. Two groups were compared: highly supportive versus lowly supportive feedback condition. The findings reveal that players who receive highly supportive feedback report greater exergame experience (e.g., enjoyment) than players who receive lowly supportive feedback. Further, social presence is a key variable that mediates the relationship between feedback and exergame experiences. Although the current research findings are important, they are limited to explaining short-term, immediate responses after exergame play among college students. The current research provides implications for research and practice. In particular, the study contributes to an extended understanding of feedback in exergame research and social presence research. At a practical level, the findings suggest that exergame designers should consider incorporating more supportive social feedback messages into a game.

The Social Effects of Exergames on Older Adults: Systematic Review and Metric Analysis

“…The social effects of exergames have drawn considerable attention from researchers [ 17 - 19 ]. Exergaming is a social experience which gives the players opportunities to interact with each other.…”

The Enhanced Interactive Physical and Cognitive Exercise System (iPACESTM v2.0): Pilot Clinical Trial of an In-Home iPad-Based Neuro-Exergame for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

“…Exergaming also had these positive effects when compared to neurologically disabled participants with no intervention [ 83 ]. Recent work has also demonstrated that supportive feedback during exergames make them more enjoyable to the user [ 85 ], which might increase compliance in these interventions. There is unfortunately a lack of research comparing simultaneous or interactive (exergaming) interventions to sequential interventions, but it is hypothesized that interactive interventions could be most potent due to potentially synergistic effects [ 22 , 75 , 84 ].…”

Using Serious Games for Antismoking Health Campaigns: Experimental Study

“…Serious games are computer or video games designed for the primary purpose of educating users beyond entertainment purposes (eg, educational games, exercise video games, language learning games) [19][20][21][22]. Studies have demonstrated that serious games are effective in sharing information as well as changing attitudes and behaviors in a variety of health domains, such as safe sex [23], healthy eating [24][25][26], cancer [27,28], smoking [29,30], exercise [31][32][33], asthma management [34,35], and over-the-counter medication [36].…”