Exploring Common Game Elements in Serious Game Interventions for Health and Obesity Awareness in Children: A Systematic Review

Authors

  • Noor Izdhora Mohd Bazid School of Computing Sciences, College of Computing, Informatics and Mathematics Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Suzana Ahmad School of Computing Sciences, College of Computing, Informatics and Mathematics Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Norizan Mat Diah School of Computing Sciences, College of Computing, Informatics and Mathematics Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • Siti Sabariah Buhari Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v19i04.48005

Keywords:

Serious game, Game elements, Gamification, Obesity awareness, Health awareness, Children

Abstract


Obesity is a growing health challenge. Serious game interventions can increase awareness of health and obesity, especially among children, and the effectiveness of these interventions depends on specific game elements. This review aimed to identify the most common game elements in serious game interventions for raising awareness about obesity in children. We conducted a literature search in the ACM digital library, IEEE Xplore, and Scopus databases for serious games designed and developed for obesity or health awareness. The extracted game elements are based on a pyramid with three categories: components, mechanics, and dynamics, according to Werbach and Hunter (2012). Each dimension, or category, consisted of various game elements. 1349 articles were identified. We found 27 game elements distributed across the 17 selected studies. The most common game elements were ‘Points,’ ‘Quests,’ ‘Challenges,’ ‘Feedbacks,’ ‘Constraints,’ ‘Progression,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Win States,’ ‘Achievement,’ and ‘Rewards.’ Serious game interventions for health promotion in children include multiple game elements that are crucial in designing and developing a game. The inclusion of these game elements depends on the learning outcomes and the purpose of the game.

Cover iJET – Vol 19, No 04, 2024

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Published

2024-04-24

How to Cite

Mohd Bazid, N. I., Ahmad, S., Mat Diah, N., & Buhari, S. S. (2024). Exploring Common Game Elements in Serious Game Interventions for Health and Obesity Awareness in Children: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 19(04), pp. 17–32. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v19i04.48005

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 04 (2024)

Section

Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Noor Izdhora Mohd Bazid, Dr Suzana Ahmad, Dr Norizan Mat Diah, Dr Siti Sabariah Buhari

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