Interactive board game by using daily activity data of users as game mechanics

Abstract

Many young adults suffered from both physical and mental health issues throughout the pandemic. In order to motivate people to adopt healthier daily life habits in terms of physical activity, sleep patterns and social interaction, I designed a hybrid board game by using game mechanics as the facilitator. I designed artifacts through several iterations which included different levels of user tests and processes such as paper mockup, AR prototype, 2D UI design and website development. By using these design materials, I generated learning experience from a series of activities, such as conducting a preliminary user study, user interviews, pilot test and final user test. Based on the final user test results, I got findings that hybrid board games can create a positive game environment to improve social connections first and then motivate players to adopt a healthier lifestyle by sharing health data and being open to discuss health issues with others. However, there are still many improvements such as trying AR devices as a digital part and using board game packets as non-digital part of hybrid board games to bring better game experience. Moreover, it is necessary to discover other proper physical activities' health data and game mechanics for game design.