Children and Young People's Involvement in Designing Applied Games: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Game Design
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Informatics

Background:

• User involvement is critical for effective applied health games, especially for children and young people.
• Their unique needs and preferences necessitate tailored design approaches.
• Current knowledge on concrete methods and effective guidance for involving young users is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review methods used for involving children and young people in applied game design.
• To analyze the implementation and roles of young users in these processes.
• To identify factors influencing the success of their involvement.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across major databases (ACM, IEEE, Scopus, Web of Science).
• Screening and data extraction using State of the Art through Systematic Review software.
• Qualitative content analysis of extracted data using NVivo.

Main Results:

• 47 studies met eligibility criteria from 1085 records.
• Participatory design (43%) and co-design (37%) were the primary methods.
• Children and young people were true design partners in only 51% of studies.
• Key factors for successful involvement include comprehension, cohesion, confidence, accessibility, and time.

Conclusions:

• High-level design labels like co-design mask varied participation levels and implementations.
• The field needs clearer documentation of user involvement rationale.
• Future research should focus on concrete activities addressing common challenges in involving young users.