Modelling familiarity : towards age-friendly exergame design

• Main Author: Zhang, Hao
• Other Authors: Chng Eng Siong
• Format: Thesis-Doctor of Philosophy
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Engineering::Computer science and engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/144182
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Older adults are suggested to take regular exercises to prevent themselves from serious health problems and complications. Although the benefits of taking physical exercises has been highly publicized, the majority of older adults do not achieve the minimum physical activity level. For alternative methods to deliver physical activities for older adults, literature has shown that exergames, with entertaining game graphics and tasks, can make the exercise more efficient and effective. However, due to the perceived complexity and difficulty of new technologies, referred to as the digital divide, it is sometimes difficult for older adults to voluntarily take up exergames or be engaged in exergame playing. Therefore, bridging such a digital divide is necessary for improving older adults' game experience and encouraging them to take regular exercise. In this thesis, I propose to bridge this divide by infusing familiarity design into exergames. Familiarity characterizes the relationship between a person and something that the person has had considerable experience with. It plays an important role in reducing the perceived difficulty and complexity in handling the environment, and in creating a feeling of harmony and comfort. Thus, familiarity can influence older adults' functional capability and motivation and improve the person-environment fit between older adults and exergames. To better understand familiarity, I identify five sub-constructs of familiarity, namely prior experience, positive emotion, occurrence frequency, level of processing, and retention rate, to shed light on multiple dimensions of familiarity. Two salient stimuli, namely Interface and Task, are identified to influence the overall familiarity levels of the exergames. Based on this familiarity model, I propose a set of familiarity design guidelines to help game designers incorporate familiarity into the exergame design for older adults. Lastly, an applicable familiarity instrument is proposed to easily evaluate the familiarity levels of exergames to each individual. Older adults and their family members can apply this instrument in selecting and playing exergames that are familiar to them. Meanwhile, game designers can use this instrument to assess whether their designed exergames are familiar to their target users. Four studies were conducted in this thesis. Study I aims to evaluate the effectiveness of familiarity on improving older adults' ability and motivation to exergames. 44 Singaporean older adults were involved in this study to play Ping Pong exergame, which is infused with table tennis activities. The results show that the participants who are more familiar with table tennis exhibit higher motivation and ability in playing Ping Pong exergame, which indicates that familiarity can improve person-environment fit between older adults and exergames. Following the proposed familiarity design guidelines, we designed the Escape Room exergame. The objective of Study II is to qualitatively evaluate the familiarity design of Escape Room exergame. The interview results show that Escape Room exergame is highly familiar to the participants and all the five sub-constructs were involved in the exergame design. Study III was conducted to evaluate the proposed familiarity model. Four exergames designed with different interfaces and tasks were sequentially played by 59 participants in this study. Questionnaire and interview data about the participants' assessment of the five sub-constructs and the overall familiarity on different exergames were collected. The analysis results show a good fit of the proposed familiarity model and significant correlations between the five sub-constructs and familiarity. Moreover, there is a high positive correlation between the participants' perceived familiarity with the exergame and their satisfaction with the exergame. Study IV aims to evaluate the validity and reliability of the proposed familiarity instrument. 20 participants joined this study to play three exergames. The objective electroencephalographic data were collected in this study to evaluate the criterion-related validity of the instrument. The study results indicate satisfactory validity and reliability of the familiarity instrument. Based on all the research findings, familiarity can contribute to age-friendly exergame design and older adults' game experience can be enhanced with the help of this research.