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Background: Exergames have attracted the interest of academics, practitioners, and designers, in domains as diverse as health, human-computer interaction, psychology, and information technology. This is primarily because exergames can make the exercise experience more enjoyable and entertaining, and in turn, can increase exercise levels. Despite the many benefits of exergames, they suffer from retention problems. Thus, the objective of this article was to review theories and game elements that have been empirically examined or employed in an attempt to make exergames more motivating so people engage in sustained physical activity (duration of physical activity) in a repeating pattern over time (frequency of physical activity). Methodology: A literature search and narrative review were conducted. Results: Five major theories and elements were prevalent in the exergaming literature: (1) self-determination theory, (2) gamification, (3) competition and cooperation, (4) situational interest, and (5) social interaction. These theories and elements are important for encouraging long-term play and show promise for designing exergames to promote sustained engagement and motivate physical activity. We discuss their strengths and weaknesses throughout the paper. Conclusions: The long-term effectiveness of exergame interventions is unclear mainly because of the limited amount of long-term studies. Better metrics are also needed to evaluate this effectiveness. We also identified particular attention to social factors and group dynamics, such as multi-player exergames and more effective player matchmaking strategies for increasing social connectedness, as a key area of future research.

The Talking Book is an audio technology for sharing knowledge about health and agriculture among oral people in rural settings. As a technology, without a display or mouse; navigation is through audio instructions and buttons labelled with icons. This paper presents the iterative Participatory Design (PD) approach employed in redesigning the iconography of the User Interface (UI). We found that the PD process created a feeling among users of ownership and acceptance of the technology as their own creation. For users, the most suitable icons are not those that denote any function, but those that are simply recognizable, which led to replacing international icons such as arrows, with icons representing local objects such as bowls, trees, and hands. An extensive evaluation showed that the new UI was more user-friendly and better liked. This work contributes a novel interface and highlights the value and the challenges of including users who are less familiar with technology in design.

MindMax is a mobile wellbeing application produced by the Australian Football League Players’ Association (AFL Players), with the aim of improving the wellbeing of young Australians. The project engages a strategy of wellbeing science delivered via mobile technology while harnessing the popularity and appeal of both sports and videogames. Though the app itself provides traditional casual gameplay, the integration of the game with other elements of the app also drives engagement with the wellbeing content as well as interactions with other users. This paper reports upon the design of the application and project, as well as providing an initial evaluation of the impact of its use of games and gamification.

PPT 2016: Personalization in Persuasive Technology (Salzburg, Austria, April 5th, 2016), Contains fulltext : 161893.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), Persuasive technologies are used to persuade people to maintain a healthier lifestyle, purchase certain items, keep a sustainable environment, and more. However, persuasive interventions are generally delivered in a non-personalized, one-size-fits-all manner, which may limit their effectiveness. We argue that the application of personalization in persuasive technologies has the potential to substantially boost their impact. To this end, this paper defines a range of dimensions that need to be considered by designers of persuasive systems and analyzes three works that exploit personalization for persuasion purposes.

PPT 2016: Personalization in Persuasive Technology (Salzburg, Austria, April 5th, 2016), Contains fulltext : 161893.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access), Persuasive technologies are used to persuade people to maintain a healthier lifestyle, purchase certain items, keep a sustainable environment, and more. However, persuasive interventions are generally delivered in a non-personalized, one-size-fits-all manner, which may limit their effectiveness. We argue that the application of personalization in persuasive technologies has the potential to substantially boost their impact. To this end, this paper defines a range of dimensions that need to be considered by designers of persuasive systems and analyzes three works that exploit personalization for persuasion purposes.