This paper describes the diversity of individual participation styles in multiplayer health games, based on an evaluation of a large-scale field trial of a pervasive technology-based health game for youth. Their findings highlight concerns and cares of youth participating in health games, and the impact of group-based competition on individual players. The research identified the five distinctive player types that emerged during interactions with this game: achievers, active buddies, social experience seekers, team players, and freeloaders. In addition to describing genres of players, they also present design suggestions for integrating group-based mechanisms effectively in health games for youth, among others.
Commentary
Games differ from utility software in some key characteristics: In games, the purpose is to have fun and enjoy playing the game. Learning to play the game, solving problems, or discovering new motivations is part of that experience. It is the prerogative of game designers to create the content and define goals that the players should strive to reach. Therefore, games have the potential to be intelligently adapted, as flexible media experiences, based on varying models and motivations of the players interacting with them. This adaptive approach to games has the potential to provide a powerfully individualized experience to game players, which, in turn, can achieved a targeted change in behaviour among users.
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