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Video game or exercise? College students' perceptions and adherence to exergames
Youjeong Kim1, Hyang-Sook Kim2
1School of Communication and Information, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
|May 13, 2026
Summary
College students’ perceptions of exergames influence continued play. Viewing exergames as exercise tools, rather than just video games, more strongly predicts sustained engagement and utility-related gratification.
Area of Science:
- Health Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Game Studies
Background:
- Exergames blend physical activity with video gaming, offering potential for health promotion.
- Understanding user motivations is crucial for designing effective exergames.
- The Uses and Gratifications (U&G) framework provides a lens to examine media use motivations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how college students' perceptions of exergames (as video games vs. exercise tools) relate to their gratifications and intention to continue playing.
- To explore the mediating roles of hedonic and utilitarian gratifications in these relationships.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional survey was administered to 154 college students.
- Data were analyzed using multiple regression and mediation analyses.
Main Results:
- Both perceptions of exergames as video games and exercise tools were significantly associated with intention to continue playing.
- Perceiving exergames as exercise tools showed a stronger association with continued play than perceiving them as video games.
- Utilitarian gratification fully mediated the link between exercise-tool perceptions and continued play, while hedonic gratification partially mediated the video-game perception link.
Conclusions:
- Continued engagement with exergames is driven by both enjoyment (hedonic) and functional utility (utilitarian) gratifications.
- Designing exergames as both entertaining and functional tools is important for promoting physical activity in young adults.
- Findings highlight the differential impact of perception on user engagement with exergames.
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01:26Exercise Stress Test
Introduction
Exercise stress testing, commonly known as a treadmill test, is a noninvasive procedure used to evaluate cardiovascular function and diagnose heart conditions.
Definition
An exercise stress test measures the heart's response to exertion using a treadmill or stationary bicycle. Chest electrodes record the heart's electrical activity through an ECG, and blood pressure is monitored regularly.
Purposes
Exercise stress testing, commonly known as a treadmill test, is a noninvasive procedure used to evaluate cardiovascular function and diagnose heart conditions.
Definition
An exercise stress test measures the heart's response to exertion using a treadmill or stationary bicycle. Chest electrodes record the heart's electrical activity through an ECG, and blood pressure is monitored regularly.
Purposes