“But do they like it?” Participant satisfaction and gameplay experience of a public health videogame intervention in adolescents

Participant satisfaction and experience can impact the effectiveness of a given intervention. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore adolescents' satisfaction and gameplay experience with a videogame intervention aimed at reducing HIV-related risk. Satisfaction and gameplay experience data were collected from adolescents who played the PlayForward: Elm City Stories videogame as part of a randomized controlled trial. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using in-person interviews following six weeks of gameplay. Gender differences were evaluated. Three hundred and thirty-three participants were enrolled in the study and six-week data were available for 267 participants, of whom 133 (50%) played PlayForward (50% girls; 11–14 years; mean age 12.9). They generally reported high levels of satisfaction with their gameplay experience. Exploratory analysis of gender differences revealed girls were more likely to report that they would play the game again or would tell their friends to play the game, while boys felt more connected to their characters in the game. A videogame intervention that is both effective and well liked is essential to best affect health outcomes.