Personalizing Gameful Elements in Social Exergames - An Exploratory Study.

In this research, using storyboard implementation, we investigate the relationship between social game elements and the Hexad user type model for motivating exercise and play. The goal is to see if and how different gamer types are associated with interest in social features and if they can be used as the basis for player compatibility matching (similar or complementary). Participants (N = 60) rated the level of perceived persuasiveness, enjoyment, social engagement, and intention for future play on 8 social elements for step-based asynchronous exergames. Preliminary results show a significant positive relationship between social game elements and player types. Correlational analyses demonstrated that the gamification elements “Sharing Knowledge”, “Supportive Updates”, “Rotating Leadership” and “Leaderboard” were most strongly related to the “Philanthropist” player type. We conclude with recommendations for designing personalized multiplayer mobile exergames.