How (not) to increase older adults' tendency to anthropomorphise in serious games
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How (not) to increase older adults' tendency to anthropomorphise in serious games. / Müller, Barbara C N; Chen, Shengnan; Nijssen, Sari R R; Kühn, Simone.
In: PLOS ONE, Vol. 13, No. 7, 2018, p. e0199948.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - How (not) to increase older adults' tendency to anthropomorphise in serious games
AU - Müller, Barbara C N
AU - Chen, Shengnan
AU - Nijssen, Sari R R
AU - Kühn, Simone
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Among elderly, the use of serious games steadily increases. Research shows that anthropomorphising digital agents (i.e., ascribing human characteristics to them) has positive short-term consequences on interactions with digital agents. However, whether these effects can also be observed over a long-term period and in a real-life setting is unknown. In two studies, we investigated the important long-term consequences of anthropomorphism among older adults (age > 50) to increase involvement in serious games. Participants read either a story that highly anthropomorphized the digital agent of a training game, or a low anthropomorphism story about that agent. To investigate long-term effect, they played the training game for three weeks, and gaming data was assessed (number of games played, time of playing, points gained). While on the short-term, the anthropomorphic story increased the humanness of the agent (Study 1), no long-term effects where found (Study 2). Furthermore, an anthropomorphic story had no influence on the gaming outcome. Our results inform app developers about which techniques are useful to humanise digital agents.
AB - Among elderly, the use of serious games steadily increases. Research shows that anthropomorphising digital agents (i.e., ascribing human characteristics to them) has positive short-term consequences on interactions with digital agents. However, whether these effects can also be observed over a long-term period and in a real-life setting is unknown. In two studies, we investigated the important long-term consequences of anthropomorphism among older adults (age > 50) to increase involvement in serious games. Participants read either a story that highly anthropomorphized the digital agent of a training game, or a low anthropomorphism story about that agent. To investigate long-term effect, they played the training game for three weeks, and gaming data was assessed (number of games played, time of playing, points gained). While on the short-term, the anthropomorphic story increased the humanness of the agent (Study 1), no long-term effects where found (Study 2). Furthermore, an anthropomorphic story had no influence on the gaming outcome. Our results inform app developers about which techniques are useful to humanise digital agents.
KW - Journal Article
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0199948
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0199948
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 29990338
VL - 13
SP - e0199948
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 7
ER -
