Which Motives are Predictors for Long-term Use of Exergames?

Computer games, which combine exercise and playing games, are called exertion games or exergames (EG). Various studies have dealt with the role of EG with respect to improving physical activity. Others have suggested design guidelines and player types and several have investigated motivational aspects. Very little, however, is still known about the sustainability of motives-even though a long-term use of EG would be essential to achieve goals such as health benefits or prevention of overweight. To get a better understanding of this aspect, our paper outlines and discusses the main motives for playing EG and tries to relate them to long-term motivation. Data on long-term motivation has been collected in a retrospective analysis using an online questionnaire that has been returned by n=54 active or formerly active EG players. Motives for playing and stopping playing were queried. Motives investigated were fun, doing sports, health, losing weight, competition, and affiliation. Based on current literature discussion, these six motives were grouped into those presumed to provide long-term motivation and those which are commonly perceived to decrease it. The scoring on these different motives was then compared between two subject groups: The long-term motivated players, who have been playing for more than six months (and are still continuously doing it) and those who have stopped playing (not long-term motivated players). There were no significant differences between the two player groups with respect to the scorings of the analyzed motives. Concerning the impact of unfulfilled perceptions that make players quit playing EG results were significant. Players strongly motivated by the motives doing sports, health and losing weight indicated that they quitted playing EG due to the fact that their expectations concerning physical activity, having health benefits and weight loss were not fulfilled. This survey could not support the idea, that certain motives, generally associated with playing EG, are predictors for long-term use. This finding however might be due to the relatively small sample size as our data shows the tendency that motives fun and affiliation increase probability for long-term motivation, whereas motives such as doing sports, losing weight, health, and competition do not seem to be correlated with it. As an experimental approach to investigate long-term effects using standardized protocols would certainly contradict the nature of playing games, it seems necessary to follow-on with our method to collect additional data for more statistical power.