Designing social games for children and older adults: Two related case studies

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.

Research highlights
► We believe that to enhance social interaction between players, game rules must be designed to encourage maximum participation amongst not only opponents but also team members.
► We also realized how a single game can be accommodated for diverse user groups (elderly, children) by manipulating game elements, the game theme and slightly adapting game rules and at the same time maintaining the enjoyment factor.
► Our results can also be utilized for the design of intergenerational games as they provide knowledge to adapt games for both user groups and also to visualize the benefits of providing different game rules for different players based on the game type.
► We believe that since the elderly are much more adaptable than children, any intergenerational game should be designed keeping in mind the preferences of children.
► We have also illustrated that it is possible to enhance existing low-tech games by adding technology and at the same time keeping the game rules and game interaction simple.