Keywords

1 Introduction

Biological and psychosocial changes are natural in the aging process and can affect different aspects in the elderly lives and even limit the realization of certain activities [1]. Recent research indicates that digital games are able to bring benefits to the elderly. These range from relaxation [2, 3], which provide cognitive stimulation to prevent some types of diseases related to old age [3, 4], to physiotherapy and rehabilitation benefits by using games to perform exercises [5]. However, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), especially games, are still little used by the elderly. Selwyn and co-authors [6], for example, claim that many of them do not use the computer games because they do not identify the need to use this feature.

To helping older people to overcome their limitations through digital games is, therefore, necessary to overcome a motivational barrier [7]. According to Elliot [8] motivation may be defined as the energization (i.e., instigation) and direction of behavior. Approach and avoidance motivation differ as a function of valence: in approach motivation, behavior is instigated or directed by a positive/desirable event or possibility; in avoidance motivation, behavior is instigated or directed by a negative/undesirable event or possibility. However, motivation does not depend on individual factors only, it is also linked to social and cultural factors that can facilitate or hinder people’s behavior. The way people act is also delimited by their cultural practices [9, 10]. Studies conducted in the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal, for instance, have identified some necessary features in digital games to attract the elderly as well as some emotional aspects existing in this relationship [1, 2, 11, 12]. However, these studies were conducted in countries with different social and cultural context of Brazilian reality.

According to the World Health OrganizationFootnote 1, the elderly population in developing countries consists of individuals aged from 60 years. In this segment of the population are included people with different socio-economic, demographic and epidemiological characteristics. In order to find out the motivations of Brazilians elderly related to digital games, we conducted a qualitative study that investigated the preferences, motivations and opinions of older people, mainly guided by the following research question: What are the reasons for the older people to play (or not) digital games?

The paper is structured in four sections. After the introduction, we present the study methodology. Next, our findings from the study and triangulation. Finally, our conclusion and possibilities for future work.

2 Methodology

2.1 Half-Day Workshop

We conducted a qualitative study to investigate the preferences, motivations and opinions of older people, mainly guided by the question: What are the reasons for the older people to play (or not) digital games?

In order to answer our research question, we used a non predictive paradigm with interpretative and qualitative methods [15]. We performed a half-day workshop with 5 (five) elderly participants, divided into 4 steps: pre-session (S1), game session (S2), focus group (S3), participatory design (S4).

Participants’ Profile. We recruited five women aged between 60 and 77 years. They have family income ranging from one to twelve times the basic salary in Brazil, three of them have the equivalent to a high school education and two of them have a graduation degree. Most participants have vision, some motor and memory limitation as well as hearing problems. All participants have a computer (desktop) at home and some basic experience with this device. The participant with the highest family income have also a tablet device. Despite their computer experience, participants affirmed to have a reasonable difficulty with digital technologies, in general. Finally, all participants play digital games (e.g. patience, crossword puzzles and minefield).

Pilot Study. To ensure that the workshop would be feasible and would allow the collection of the desired data, we conducted a previous pilot study with an elderly participant of 81 years old. The pilot study allowed us to identify the needs for improvement in devices, data collection and the needs for adjustments in the questionnaires questions to estimate their previous knowledge about games. During the pilot, we also learn that it was necessary to help them while develop ideas for creating new games.

Workshop Steps. The workshop was held in a half day, divided into four stages: pre-session (S1), game session (S2), focus group (S3), participatory design (S4). In the first stage of the workshop (pre-session) the participants filled the agreement term and a questionnaire with questions about socioeconomic data, leisure activities and level of experience with digital games. Instigated by the questionnaire questions participants commented freely about digital games, so we also could collect data from the participants’ speech. In the second workshop stage (game session) we aim at observing the participants at interaction time with digital games. They were invited to interact with three different devices: notebook, tablet and smartphone. Because the number of devices were smaller than the number of participants, we asked them to form two pairs and one participant played alone (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Participants interacting with different devices in the gaming session stage

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At this stage the participants were presented to six casual games, the device that they would play each game and its features. We choose the games based in the following criteria: be casual; with various interaction styles; have two games for each interactive device. All participants played six games alternating the devices between them. Participants received no prior instruction of how to play, so we can see how the elderly get to explore a new game and so identify potential interaction problems caused by the lack of prior experience with the game. The observers (researchers) were available to answer questions if a participant ask for help to avoid bothering them. The empirical data collected at this stage are from audio and video records while participants interacted with the games.

In the third stage (focus group) we collected participants’ perceptions in the previous gaming session experience. Empirical data were collected from the audio records of participants’ speeches in response to questions raised by observers about the games and devices used before.

In the last stage we conducted a participatory design session. The purpose of this step was to determine what characteristics are necessary and important when designing a new game for this public. To keep the focus on the elderly users we a personna based on the results of previous studies [13], see Fig. 2. Then we invited participants to think about a game to be played by the personna. We, then, asked them questions about the game’s features. When needed we presented some examples to clarify possibilities and ideas mentioned for them. After defining the features, we designed the game with the participants’ help and the aid of colorful markers and a whiteboard shared by everyone.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Personna used to guide the participatory design session

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The participants identified themselves with the personna and felt free to express their needs, opinion related to the game. The use of personna was a good tool for researchers to talk about the focus, game preferences and game appeal with the participants.

2.2 Data Analysis

The empirical data from the participants’ speeches produced in each workshop step was analyzed, separately, using the discourse analysis technique [14]. We carried out a systematic exploration of discourse material to find out meaning. First, we applied an intra-participant analysis to identify meaning of categories from each participant. Afterwards we applied inter-participant analysis to identify the meaning categories recurring across multiple participants’ discourse. Finally, we drew up our conclusions (positive and negative motivations issues) based on the set of categorized meanings that help us to answer our research question.

To validate the results obtained through the discourse analysis and confirm which motivations diverge or converge with those involving elderly people of other nationalities, we performed an exogenous triangulation [15, 16]. For that, we considered the related literature involving elderly and games [1, 2, 11, 12, 17–19]. Those studies were conducted in developed countries, which have a different socioeconomic and cultural reality of the developing countries reality such as Brazil. The main findings are shortly described in the next section. Due the lack of space, they are followed by our findings in triangulation phase.

3 Findings

With the application of discourse analysis technique, we identified two meaning categories, which emerged from the participants discourse in the workshop. The reasons for seniors do not play digital games were grouped in the category named as negative motivations. Based on the evidences we arrived at two sub-categories of meanings that synthesize these reasons: (i) believe that he/she will not be able to play successfully; and (ii) to have difficulties related to accessibility and usability problems. In the category of positive motivations, participants evidences that lead older people to take an interest in digital games were identified and synthesized into six subcategories of meanings: (i) be encouraged by others to play; (ii) it is possible, but not obliged, to interact with others; (iii) obtain benefits with the game; (iv) play autonomously; (v) have a nice experience with the game; (vi) create the game itself.

3.1 Negative Motivations

Believe that He/She Will Not Be Able to Play Successfully.

Sometimes elderly people do not experience a new game because they believe that they do not have the capabilities to play. Several factors lead them to have this belief, but the main reasons are: their physical impairments or limitations related to their age; some bad previous experience; the fact that digital games are not of/for their generation.

The reasons identified in our workshop that converged with related works are: believe they do not have enough skills to play; memory problems; and lack of experience with digital devices. The fear that the elderly have in doubt about their capacity to play is not only related to digital games. In the study reported by Vasconcelos et al. [1], several participants indicated that they could not solve the game in a book without help because they do not have enough skills to perform those activities. The authors argued that engage in gaming experience, it is sometimes a challenge for the elderly and for this reason the game should be easy enough to allow a wide range of users. According to Smeddinck et al. [18] during recruiting participants for the study, some seniors mentioned reserves in order to play digital games based on motion. Thus, the elderly have shown to be afraid of using an unknown device whose interaction happens through movements, as well as participants of our workshop expressed concern in interacting with a device to which they were unaccustomed. In the study performed by Gerling et al. [17], the authors reported that most seniors who participated in the study were not able to recall the movements necessary to interact with the game and needed help to perform the correct movements. This difficulty meets the concern pointed by our workshop participants that reported to believe that they could not play due a memory problem.

Have Difficulties Related to Accessibility and Usability Problems.

The main difficulties encountered by participants in our workshop were generated by accessibility and usability problems and such difficulties have leaded them to a poor user experience. We found the following recurrences by triangulating these results with related literature about accessibility problems: reduced size of the interface elements; lack of local language support; and quick responses required from players. Usability problems that were also observed in other studies were: ineffectiveness or absence of instructions and input data not intuitive. For example, in the work of Vasconcelos et al. [1], the authors cited a problem of usability involving non-intuitive data input mappings. The authors reported that seniors who participated in the study had to enter information via a virtual keyboard on the tablet, but they invariably ended up down the keyboard for longer than necessary, so that the letters were switched automatically to other symbols.

Another problem of usability is discussed by Nap et al. [2], in which one of the study participants said could not understand the rules of a specific game, demonstrating that the instructions of this game were not efficient. We also found in this study the recurrence of all accessibility issues that arose during our workshop. The main observed and recurrent problems were: difficulties with the high interaction speed required by some games or the speed of the game in the final levels; problems with the size of some elements of the game interface; and most participants had difficulty in understanding the content of the games that is presented in English. Finally, the games interfaces should incorporate usability and accessibility guidelines for the elderly public overcomes the barriers they face.

3.2 Positive Motivations

Be Encouraged by Others to Play. Receive an indication of a game or be taught to play, can be an incentive for seniors to play. The importance of being encouraged by others is also reported by De Schutter and Vanden Abeele [11], which mentioned the fact that one of the participants of their study begun to play encouraged by his son.

It Could be Possible, But Not Obliged, to Interact with Others. The ability to interact with others is a good thing for the elderly, since the player can also play alone. Through the workshop results, we found out that one of the envisioned reasons for this is that not everyone have someone available to play with. We also find evidence of this in the study of Nap et al. [2], where one of the participants said to be not practical to play with other people, because his grandchildren live in another country. In addition, the authors report that although most of the old players have rejected the idea of ​​playing games with other people, some of the old players like the idea of ​​playing digital games with family or friends in the same room. On the other hand, De Schutter [12] claims that social interaction was the least popular motivation among the reasons cited by the old players, but the social interaction was shown to be the most important feature for players to invest more time in games. Given this contrast posted by the De Schutter [12], perhaps the seniors players are just looking for older playing partners. In contrast to that, the results of our workshop explain that older people can enjoy playing with people from any age. This result can be a specific characteristic from the Brazilian public that deserves to be deeply investigated in future works.

Obtain Benefits Through the Game. One of the factors that make sense for the elderly playing digital games is the possibility of obtaining benefits through the game. Thus, the elderly need to identify benefits a priori that they will get if playing digital games. Exercise their memories and learning about something through the digital game were the benefits identified in our workshop, which have also appeared in previous works. For instance, De Schutter [12] argues in his work that AVGUG instrument (Video Analysis Game Uses and Gratuities) [20] seems to lack of motivations that are targeted specifically for the elderly public, such as memory or skill training, keeping up to date and learning about technology. In the work of Abeele [19], most of games suggested by the elderly in brainstorming sessions offer the possibility of enriching the user’s knowledge. Some examples of that are cultural or touristic quizzes.

Play Autonomously. To be able to interact with a digital game without help was extremely rewarding for the participants who managed this. But for the elderly feel able to play autonomously they need a game that is easy to understand, offer an efficient interaction with them and have efficient instructions. Playing a game that is familiar for them in the physical environment is one of the alternatives that the elderly found to play digital games more autonomously once they are aware about the game rules. These findings are converging with the results pointed by Vasconcelos et al. [1], De Schutter [12], Nap et al. [2] and De Schutter and Vanden Abeele [11]. De Schutter and Vanden Abeele, for instance, reported that some participants said that digital games have given to them a sense of freedom contributing to a sense of autonomy. In the list of guidelines suggested by Gerling et al. [17] for full body interaction they argued that the menus, startup and shutdown routines of the game should be sufficiently easy for the elderly users encouraging them to play independently.

Have a Nice Experience with the Game. Relaxation, distraction, fun, and feel challenged were the experiences provided by games, which participants of our workshop demonstrated to appreciate. In the study by De Schutter [12], be challenged received the highest score among the reasons provided by AVGUG instrument (challenge, social interaction, distraction, fantasy and excitement). In addition to this, distraction and excitement were among the top three reasons that lead the participants to play digital games. Distraction, fun and excitement were aspects also reported by study participants of Smeddinck et al. [18]. The fun also appears as a positive factor in the elderly experience in De Schutter and Vanden Abeele [11], Nap et al. [2] and Gerling et al. [17] studies. In the work of Nap et al. [2], in addition to the fun, the authors found out that the elderly also judge relaxation as one of the main motivations for playing digital games. For participants of the De Schutter and Vanden Abeele study [11], besides fun and challenge, digital games were also used to fill the time. At this point, it is relevant to note that spending time was not a valid experience or motivation observed in our study. On the other hand be challenged was a recurrent motivation because it is related to the fact the game should meet a specific goal bringing a benefit to the player, usually by learning something new.

Create Their Own Game. To participate in the creation process of a game can motivate seniors to play this game. Among the studies addressed only the work of Abeele et al. [19] investigated the possibility of including older people in the game development process and they also noted a good motivation of seniors participants in creating their own game. However, it is not clear in that work whether seniors who participated in the study had suggested game design features. Apparently, the participation of the elderly was limited to the conceptual step what can result in a game with limited attractive design features for older players.

In the participatory design phase of our workshop was possible to observe a set of design characteristics focused on elderly players. The following characteristics are also present in the literature: to have support to the player language, to have good artistic quality; to be configurable, to have missions, to be able to play for a short period of time, to have mobility, to allow collaboration, to have a wide variety of games, to provide help on context of use. Additional design characteristics were pointed in our workshop. They are: to have possibility to play in full screen, to have good soundtrack, to have characters with good empathy with the player, to provide game with third-person perspective, to have an exploratory environment, and at last, to have a good storytelling.

However, because participatory design was not the main focus of this study and thus we are not able to affirm if these design features are specific to the elderly Brazilian public or not. In this direction, a more detailed survey of the existing literature may point to new directions in the possibility of inclusion of elderlies in the game development process and clarifying such cultural aspects.

4 Final Considerations and Future Directions

This work aimed at investigating what motivates (or not) elderly people to play digital games. A half-day workshop (with 5 female participants) was organized as a means to collect data about their experience while interacting with this kind of applications. The four steps of the workshop gave us the opportunity to capture different and complementary visions about some motivational aspects of Brazilian elderly to interact with digital games.

We highlight three contributions that, in our view, can be of interest and value for other researchers and practitioners involved in HCI, game design and design for elderly. One is that our findings suggest that the creation of games in participatory design activities with elderlies is a very promising approach. It was surprising the engagement of the participants to create a new game. They became excited and motivated about the task and to find a good story to involve the persona in the game. So, the workshop procedures (questionnaire, game session, participatory design) showed itself as a good environment to investigate specific issues to elderlies.

The second contribution we would like to highlight come from our findings related to negative motivational aspects. The ease of use is the most crucial quality factor to elderly people. The absence of this factor determines the general attractiveness of a game or device. In our study, all the participants elect as the worst game, the one which they have more difficulties to interact.

Finally, the positive motivational aspects pointed that the elderly have interest in new and different games. The participants showed a high level of interest for games that they never have played before. We suspect that digital versions of already known games are just a start point to attract them. However, as time goes, they need to be motivated by innovations or challenges, although the results of our study show they are afraid of making mistakes.

In conclusion to this paper, we underline that our contributions open avenues for future work. Besides the new features to design, unlike research in other countries, our findings also showed that Brazilian older people can enjoy playing with people from any age. The study of motivational aspects of elderly to interact with digital games followed by the creation of a game in a collaborative way are just the first steps to the development of attractive games and maybe be viewed as an attempt to propose a list of “do’s and don’ts”. Future work could create, implement and evaluate the game (proposed by elderlies) to advance the scientific knowledge about this theme and also validate the design characteristics pointed in the design participative session. We also plan to organize others empirical studies to investigate the interaction of elderly people without experience with digital games.