Towards videogame design guidelines to promote significant leisure activities in Mexican older adults

The purpose of this study is to formulate design guides to create digital games that promote significant leisure activities in older adults from Mexico. As a first step towards this goal, seven-hundred and ninety-four older adults up to 60 years old were evaluated. Participants in the study completed a female-male version of an inventory of leisure activities. In this study, "gardening" was the most preferred leisure activity for older women. Digital game design ideas indicate that it is necessary to create virtual settings where older women may perform gardening activities to learn and enjoy the life cycle of different plants and their handling. "Playing with children" is a moderated preferred leisure activity for older men, but suitable for virtual setting design. Here, digital games involving activities related to sports and physical-based activities with mental and geometric skills are suggested. These results support design ideas to develop virtual applications to promote significant leisure activities in older adults.

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