Design Parameters in Multimodal Games for Rehabilitation

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Therapy
• Game Design
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Conventional rehabilitation therapy can be repetitive and demotivating.
• Interactive therapeutic games offer potential for increased patient engagement and motivation.
• Specific game design parameters can enhance user participation and enjoyment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate specific game design parameters for therapeutic games.
• To assess the impact of "operant conditioning" and "scoring" on player motivation and engagement.
• To inform the development of more effective therapeutic gaming interventions.

Main Methods:

• A remake of the "Marble Maze" game was developed incorporating "operant conditioning" and "scoring" parameters.
• Thirty-seven healthy participants played the game under control and experimental conditions.
• Measures included game duration, number of fails, and player perceptions of intrinsic motivation via surveys.

Main Results:

• Introduction of "operant conditioning" and "scoring" parameters led to longer playtimes.
• Participants reported higher levels of interest and enjoyment with the enhanced game parameters.
• Increased effort to play the game was observed when using the design parameters.

Conclusions:

• Game design parameters like "operant conditioning" and "scoring" can effectively motivate players to engage longer with therapeutic games.
• These findings support the potential of utilizing game design to improve therapeutic adherence.
• Future research will focus on testing these parameters with stroke patients to validate their efficacy in clinical rehabilitation settings.