Social Exergames in Health and Wellness: A Systematic Review of Trends, Effectiveness, Challenges, and Directions for Future Research

Abstract

Exergames are becoming increasingly popular and have shown potential for motivating physical activity. Past research suggests that social (multiplayer) exergames offer players an engaging experience and good aerobic exercises. Our systematic review summarizes existing work and identifies gaps, trends, and patterns on social exergame research in the domain of health and wellness. A search was conducted in the ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed. After screening 2272 records, we identified 73 studies from 2013 to 2023 that meet the inclusion criteria. Our results reveal that step tracking is the most commonly implemented measure of physical activity in social exergames, and that competition, rewards, and cooperation are the most common features used for designing the games. Our results also show that the effectiveness of social exergames is intricately linked to a combination of factors, including group size, player matching, and game features. The main contribution of this paper is (1) an analysis of features and group dynamics employed for designing social exergames, and (2) how game features affect the games’ outcome (both positive and negative) uncovering challenges and opportunities to advance future research in this area. Our findings in the current review provides insights for the design and implementation of social exergaming helping users to experience more socially satisfying game experiences thereby increasing the motivation for exercise, as well as gaining social benefits.

Keywords:

• Active video games
• exergames
• exertion games
• social interactions
• health and wellness

Acknowledgements

This research was undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs Program. We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Discovery Grant. The research is conducted as part of the Dalhousie University Persuasive Computing Lab.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.rayyan.ai/.

2 https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/microsoft-365/excel

3 Note: The origins of the Gaming Experience Questionnaire is highly contested in the community, lacking a formally peer reviewed and validated foundation. The instrument has been criticized over the years and has been shown to be unreliable (Law et al., 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gerry Chan

Gerry Chan is a postdoctoral researcher in the Persuasive Computing Lab at Dalhousie University, Canada. Gerry received his PhD in 2022 in Information Technology from Carleton University. His research interests are in the social and motivational aspects of games with a focus on player matching mechanisms and collaborative play.

Bilikis Banire

Bilikis Banire earned her PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa, University, Doha, Qatar, in 2021. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Computer Science and the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. She specializes in HCI, Machine Learning, Autism and Mental Health.

Sussan Anukem

Sussan Anukem is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Computer Science at Dalhousie University, Canada. She is an active member of the Persuasive Computing Lab, where she conducts research under the supervision of Professor Rita Orji. Sussan specializes in Persuasive Games for Health and Wellness, Machine Learning, and Human-Computer Interaction.

Masud Imran

Masud Imran is a software developer with a Bachelor of Computer Science from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Specializing in AI, IoT, and mobile application development, his expertise extends to implementing HCI principles in health apps, e-learning platforms, and facial recognition systems. He actively contributes to research in HCI and persuasive computing.

Suraj Meena

Suraj Meena recently completed his Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. His research interests lie in leveraging games to enhance social interactions and improve individuals’ social lives.

Chukwuemeka Nwagu

Chukwuemeka Nwagu is a Master’s student at the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, and a research assistant at the Persuasive Computing Lab.

Oladapo Oyebode

Oladapo Oyebode is a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University. His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Persuasive Technology, Adaptive Systems, Affective Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Health, and Health Informatics. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed research articles. He is currently designing and developing technologies to tackle health-related (including mental health) issues.

Alaa Alslaity

Alaa Alslaity is an assistant professor at Trent University and an adjunct professor at Dalhousie University, Canada. He has a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. His thesis was nominated for the Best Thesis Award, and he received two Best Paper Awards. His research interests include persuasive technology, personalization, and HCI.

Ali Arya

Ali Arya is an Associate Professor at the School of Information Technology, Carleton University. His research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Educational Technologies, and Computer Games. Ali is a senior member of IEEE, a member of ACM, and collaborates with various journals and conferences in the areas related to his research.

Rita Orji

Rita Orji is a Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology and a Computer Science Professor at Dalhousie University. She directs the Persuasive Computing Lab. Her research at the intersection of technology and human behavior focuses on user-centered approaches to designing technologies to improve lives and support people to achieve various self-improvement goals.