Title
Designing social games for children and older adults: Two related case studies
Abstract
Augmented games, aim at promoting social interaction between participating players, as this is considered a major characteristic of any good multi-player game. In this paper, we discuss two related case studies where we investigated various options for enhancing the gaming experience through augmented tabletop games for children and older adults. Later on we also executed an intergenerational case study to inform intergenerational game design where children and elderly played together. Our findings indicate that the use of tangible play in combination with a guessing element in a tabletop game does indeed facilitate social interaction and adds to the aspect of fun. Our results also indicate that senior citizens found the electronic tabletop version of the game to be more immersive and absorbing, as compared to a static paper version. Analyzing the non-verbal behavior of both older adults and children, it was concluded that players were socially more engaged with their opponents than with their team members. This effect was more pronounced in the case of children. We also discuss some implications for social game design that can be deduced from the qualitative feedback provided by our participants.
Year
DOI
Venue
2010
10.1016/j.entcom.2010.09.001
Entertainment Computing
Keywords
Field
DocType
Social game,Tangible play,Children,Older adults,Tabletop system,Intergenerational game design
Social relation,Simulation,Computer science,Game design,Social games,Multimedia
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
1
3
1875-9521
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
19
1.08
17
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Abdullah Al Mahmud125336.92
Omar Mubin228043.89
Suleman Shahid3777.37
Jean-Bernard Martens4944141.57