Gaming Apps Help Women Make Positive Choices About Their Wellbeing: Study
In an Oxford Open Digital Health paper, published by Oxford University Press, it has shown that mobile gaming apps help young women make positive choices about their health and lives and improve their wellbeing.
A team of programmers and researchers based in India and the US created a digital mobile gaming platform for consumers called Game of Choice, Not Chance with the first game for adolescent girls called Go Nisha Go.
The game uses discovery and play to empower young girls to be active decision makers. The game features a travel adventure story, presenting players with challenges, conflicts, and negotiations similar to those they might encounter in their own lives.
Based on the principles of game-based learning, players experience the consequences of their decisions in the game through the avatar, the main character of the game. Players also get feedback on their choices with the option to play again and experience different results. Throughout the game, players were also granted access to real-world resources that could provide relevant information, skill-building opportunities, and links to health products to help tackle topics such as menstrual hygiene management and job skill building.
The purpose of this research was to develop a psychographic profile to help game developers create relatable characters. The researchers conducted a qualitative survey of 105 women aged 15 to 19 in her four cities in India. They used surveys to gather information about young women's role models, families, education, dreams, fears, and decision-making skills.
Researchers found that participants primarily wanted to be seen as docile, respectful of their parents, and compliant with prevailing social norms. They expressed a desire to stay in and enjoy his adult career. Education and a desire to stay in the workforce were widespread, but young women often lacked the necessary resources to achieve these goals, had limited guidance and appeared to have an unclear understanding of how decisions, small or large, would affect their future, improving negotiation strategies, and understanding the relationship between decisions and outcomes are used to improve the game.
The purpose of this research was to develop a psychographic profile to help game developers create relatable characters. The researchers conducted a qualitative survey of 105 women aged 15 to 19 in her four cities in India. They used surveys to gather information about young women's role models, families, education, dreams, fears, and decision-making skills.
"This study represents a new research approach to a game as revolutionary as the game of behavior shaping and health awareness in adolescents," said Aparna Raj, lead author of the study.
Researchers found that participants primarily wanted to be seen as docile, respectful of their parents, and compliant with prevailing social norms. They expressed a desire to stay in and enjoy his adult career. Education and a desire to stay in the workforce were widespread, but young women often lacked the necessary resources to achieve these goals, had limited guidance and appeared to have an unclear understanding of how decisions, small or large, would affect their future, improving negotiation strategies, and understanding the relationship between decisions and outcomes are used to improve the game.
The authors of this study identified four characteristics of adolescent girls. They use these personal traits to tailor the game to the target audience so that the game's narrative and the scenarios players explore are relevant and engaging.
