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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #328375
Title: Assessing feedback in a mobile videogame

Author
item BRAND, LEAH - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BELTRAN, ALICIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item HUGHES, SHERYL - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item O'CONNOR, TERESIA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BARANOWSKI, JANICE - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item NICKLAS, THERESA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item CHEN, TZU - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item DADABHOY, HAFZA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item DIEP, CASSANDRA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BUDAY, RICHARD - Archimage, Inc
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: The Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/10/2016
Publication Date: 4/8/2016
Citation: Brand, L., Beltran, A., Hughes, S., O'Connor, T., Baranowski, J., Nicklas, T., Chen, T.A., Dadabhoy, H.R., Diep, C.S., Buday, R., Baranowski, T. 2016. Assessing feedback in a mobile videogame. The Games for Health Journal: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications. doi:10.1089/g4h.2015.0056.

Interpretive Summary: While providing feedback to players about their better, and not so good, choices in games for health is vital to learning from game play, little is known about how best to provide or package that feedback. This study tested messages to players about choices they made in a game that targets mothers to select practices that are likely to be more effective at encouraging their child to eat vegetables. Synthesis of the comments about the feedback statements revealed that the mothers wanted clearly delineated, likely to be effective alternatives to any ineffective selections they made; clear straightforward statements; succinct and correct grammar (no idioms or colloquialisms); avoiding inducing guilt; and a clear statement of why their parenting choice was likely to be effective or not. Guidelines based on these comments should assist game developers in their design of feedback statements for future games for health.

Technical Abstract: Player feedback is an important part of serious games, although there is no consensus regarding its delivery or optimal content. "Mommio" is a serious game designed to help mothers motivate their preschoolers to eat vegetables. The purpose of this study was to assess optimal format and content of player feedback for use in "Mommio." The current study posed 36 potential "Mommio" gameplay feedback statements to 20 mothers using a Web survey and interview. Mothers were asked about the meaning and helpfulness of each feedback statement. Several themes emerged upon thematic analysis, including identifying an effective alternative in the case of corrective feedback, avoiding vague wording, using succinct and correct grammar, avoiding provocation of guilt, and clearly identifying why players' game choice was correct or incorrect. Guidelines are proposed for future feedback statements.