Older adults as 21st century game designers

This study aimed to explore what type of game genres older adults would want to play, given the opportunity. A series of creative workshops were devised, and the focal point was to facilitate the creation of individual game concepts relating to participants’ hobbies, interests or dreams, and categorising them into a classification system. A series of presentations were given, followed by worksheets, to facilitate completion of the concept in a step-by-step approach. A survey was administered to 24 participants between the ages of 50 and 70+ years. Quantitative results showed the older adults in this study preferred or would consider playing games in the adventure, strategy, puzzle and sport genres. Qualitative results identified game concepts, categorised into current genre classification. Some designs were not easily placed, thus leading to the notion that combining respondent hobbies, interest and dreams with game designs may lead to new types of game(s) for an ageing population.

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