From Solo to Social: Exploring the Dynamics of Player Cooperation in a Co-located Cooperative Exergame

Fuente: arXiv

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Wang, Derrick M., Cmentowski, Sebastian, Mogavi, Reza Hadi, Nathan, Kaushall Senthil, Kukshinov, Eugene, Tu, Joseph, Nacke, Lennart E.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2025
Subjects:	Human-Computer Interaction
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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_version_	1866917972785758208
author	Wang, Derrick M. Cmentowski, Sebastian Mogavi, Reza Hadi Nathan, Kaushall Senthil Kukshinov, Eugene Tu, Joseph Nacke, Lennart E.
author_facet	Wang, Derrick M. Cmentowski, Sebastian Mogavi, Reza Hadi Nathan, Kaushall Senthil Kukshinov, Eugene Tu, Joseph Nacke, Lennart E.
contents	Digital games offer rich social experiences and promote valuable skills, but they fall short in addressing physical inactivity. Exergames, which combine exercise with gameplay, have the potential to tackle this issue. However, current exergames are primarily single-player or competitive. To explore the social benefits of cooperative exergaming, we designed a custom co-located cooperative exergame that features three distinct forms of cooperation: Free (baseline), Coupled, and Concurrent. We conducted a within-participants, mixed-methods study (N = 24) to evaluate these designs and their impact on players' enjoyment, motivation, and performance. Our findings reveal that cooperative play improves social experiences. It drives increased team identification and relatedness. Furthermore, our qualitative findings support cooperative exergame play. This has design implications for creating exergames that effectively address players' exercise and social needs. Our research contributes guidance for developers and researchers who want to create more socially enriching exergame experiences.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_00160
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2025
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	From Solo to Social: Exploring the Dynamics of Player Cooperation in a Co-located Cooperative Exergame Wang, Derrick M. Cmentowski, Sebastian Mogavi, Reza Hadi Nathan, Kaushall Senthil Kukshinov, Eugene Tu, Joseph Nacke, Lennart E. Human-Computer Interaction Digital games offer rich social experiences and promote valuable skills, but they fall short in addressing physical inactivity. Exergames, which combine exercise with gameplay, have the potential to tackle this issue. However, current exergames are primarily single-player or competitive. To explore the social benefits of cooperative exergaming, we designed a custom co-located cooperative exergame that features three distinct forms of cooperation: Free (baseline), Coupled, and Concurrent. We conducted a within-participants, mixed-methods study (N = 24) to evaluate these designs and their impact on players' enjoyment, motivation, and performance. Our findings reveal that cooperative play improves social experiences. It drives increased team identification and relatedness. Furthermore, our qualitative findings support cooperative exergame play. This has design implications for creating exergames that effectively address players' exercise and social needs. Our research contributes guidance for developers and researchers who want to create more socially enriching exergame experiences.
title	From Solo to Social: Exploring the Dynamics of Player Cooperation in a Co-located Cooperative Exergame
topic	Human-Computer Interaction
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.00160