Young people spend a large part of their day sedentary, both at school and at home. The aim of the PlayFit project is to persuade teenagers to lead a more active lifestyle by using digital as well as non-digital games and play. In this position paper, we describe in detail the three key principles of our vision concerning the design of game-based interventions for stimulating physical activity: playful persuasion, ambient action and play profiles. In our vision teenagers take part in playful activities and games throughout the day. In these activities, casual action is inherent to the fun experience, thus reducing teenagers' sedentary behavior. Relevant information about their activities and preferences is stored in a personal play profile, which affects the games they play and through which they can communicate to their peers. We illustrate this vision by means of several innovative game concepts.
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Designing Playful Math: How to design autonomy-supportive math games. DiGRA 2011. Presented at the Think Design Play, Hilversum: DiGRA.
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In this chapter, the authors elaborate on serious games and playful interactionsin modern scientific practices, and on the way they can engendermutual scientific growth. They use a research-through-design approach, inwhich three possible scenarios and prototypes are studied to envisage thenew role of the public library in practicing science in a changing society.Their conclusion is that the public library of the future should employcitizen science projects that are fun, accessible, malleable, and participatory,so that its new role can focus on offering meaningful informationat the right time in the right place, contextualizing information usingplayful solutions, bringing together communities to share information,and enabling new scientific practices in unexplored fields.
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Physical Education (PE) is beneficial for students’ mental and physical health, however, teenagers are increasingly becoming less motivated to actively participate in the current form of PE. Motivational studies show that collective physical activity augmented by playful interactions could encourage more participation and social engagement in physical activities (PA). In this paper, we present a within-subject field study with 20 teenagers formed into five groups sized equally. The study is conducted using Shuttlezap, a prototype that provides realtime playful audio augmentation to the process of the activity. Results show that the teenagers enjoyed playful audio augmentation and were socially engaged with an enhancement of their perception of competence. By further comparing the conditions between with and without the audio augmentation, we found that the playful audio augmentation positively contributed to the playfulness in terms of perceived relaxation and expression. We conclude with design implications for social play in the context of PE for teenagers.
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Design In our modern world, we are constantly confronted by challenges of a societal, ecological, organisational, strategic or cultural nature. These so-called wicked problems are difficult to define and even harder to solve, often requiring feats of collaboration. Design, Play, Change is a Design Thinking book and game created for managers, entrepreneurs, trainers, coaches, educators and students who want to develop innovative ideas for future change within and between their teams or organisations. In short, this book is the active agent that can be used to theorise, restructure and overcome challenges we face on a daily basis. Play Crafted both for experts in Design Thinking and for those just getting started, Design, Play, Change will explain the theory behind designing as well as demonstrate how to think, act, create and feel like a designer. With 40 method cards, spanning across different critical roles like the Creator, Emphatiser, Thinker and Maker, the book presents an extremely accessible and fun way of examining complex contemporary challenges with a light-hearted outlook. Regardless of what challenge needs to be overcome, this collaborative game creates a shared vision of the challenge at hand while also generating inspiring insights, fresh ideas and productive activities. Above all, Design, Play, Change is inspirational, energising and fun for you and the whole team playing along with you. At it’s core, Design, Play, Change teaches readers and players a practical way of reframing, envisioning and evaluating their challenges and ideas, addressing them like a designer would in a collaborative game format. Design, Play, Change is a game and a book and is avaliable here: https://www.bispublishers.com/design-play-change.html
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Numerous organizations have embarked on playful endeavors such as serious gaming (playing games with a learning/training purpose) and 'gamification' (applying game technology and principles to make existing practices more game-like). One could consequently theorize about the dawn of playful organizations, i.e. a type of organization that is culturally and structurally playful. This article offers a first step towards a playful organization theory. It specifically offers a conceptual framework of a playful organizational culture. Following a review of play theory as well as organization and management theory that was inspired by play, the author describes a playful organizational culture as encompassing contingency, opportunism, equivalence, instructiveness, meritocracy and conviviality as values. The framework offers leaders, managers and game/play designers opportunities to further develop playful endeavors for organizations. It also offers social scientists opportunities to further research the emergence and issues of playful organizations.
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Numerous organizations have embarked on playful endeavors such as serious gaming (playing games with a learning/training purpose) and 'gamification' (applying game technology and principles to make existing practices more game-like). One could consequently theorize about the dawn of playful organizations, i.e. a type of organization that is culturally and structurally playful. This article offers a first step towards a playful organization theory. It specifically offers a conceptual framework of a playful organizational culture. Following a review of play theory as well as organization and management theory that was inspired by play, the author describes a playful organizational culture as encompassing contingency, opportunism, equivalence, instructiveness, meritocracy and conviviality as values. The framework offers leaders, managers and game/play designers opportunities to further develop playful endeavors for organizations. It also offers social scientists opportunities to further research the emergence and issues of playful organizations.
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Gamers are, like Yamauchi, described as nonconformist, creative, and self-confident persons, who seem unafraid to make mistakes (Beck and Wade 2004). Is it true that games present us with an opportunity to develop a particular identity, or are specific people attracted to games that create these opportunities? In the last decade, research has been conducted into the (playful) organizational style of gamers, and into the leadership qualities that may be developed in a game (DeMarco, Lesser, and O’Driscoll 2007; Reeves and Malone 2007). The search for an answer to the above question is the aim of this chapter. To be more specific, we would like to better understand identity construction and representation. For this reason we would like to further elaborate on the notion of playful identity as discussed in the introductory chapter of this volume. In contrast to other identity constructs, a playful identity characterizes someone’s ludic activities without immediately discussing the valuing and moralizing practices arising from these activities
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As smart solutions for healthcare (eHealth) are becoming increasingly widespread, apps and other digital devices may effectively complement various forms of psychotherapy. We point at children and adolescents in psychological therapy as a yet-underserved public for similar solutions. Moreover, a shared design sensibility between interaction designers, game designers, and therapists is still lacking. The Games 4 Therapy initiative was launched to address this problem space through practical design explorations. We illustrate its design research agenda, we call for more attention to children and adolescents as important recipients of digitally-mediated psychological therapies, and we offer actionable concepts and game design tactics for interaction designers and psychotherapists. Finally, we discuss our findings by "thinking through" a selection of conceptual design explorations, pointing at the characteristics and tactics we identified in our sketches.
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Interactive design is an emerging trend in dementia care environments. This article describes a research project aiming at the design and development of novel spatial objects with narrative attributes that incorporate embedded technology and textiles to support the wellbeing of people living with dementia. In collaboration with people with dementia, this interdisciplinary research project focuses on the question of how innovative spatial objects can be incorporated into dementia long-term care settings, transforming the space into a comforting and playful narrative environment that can enhance self-esteem while also facilitating communication between people living with dementia, family, and staff members. The research methodologies applied are qualitative, including Action Research. Participatory design methods with the experts by experience—the people with dementia—and health professionals have been used to inform the study. Early findings from this research are presented as design solutions comprising a series of spatial object prototypes with embedded technology and textiles. The prototypes were evaluated primarily by researchers, health professionals, academics, and design practitioners in terms of functionality, aesthetics, and their potential to stimulate engagement. The research is ongoing, and the aim is to evaluate the prototypes by using ethnographic and sensory ethnography methods and, consequently, further develop them through co-design workshops with people living with dementia.
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