A curious companion for elderly gamers

Author

Wu, Q. ; Miao, C. ; Tao, X. ; Helander, M.G.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Comput. Eng., Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore, Singapore

fYear

2012

fDate

9-12 July 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

The rapidly expanding elderly population is a significant niche market for game developers. However, the main target audiences of the existing digital games are young generations, who do not warrant the special needs required by elderly. In this paper, based on the field study of game for elderly - Chinese Water Painting - we propose a curious companion for the elderly. The curious mechanism of the artificial companion is developed based on Berlyne´s model of curiosity. The implementation considers three needs of the elderly: the smoothness of game playing, the entertainment, and the caring for the elderly. A preliminary study suggests a wide range acceptance of the curious companion.

Keywords

computer games; entertainment; geriatrics; health care; Berlyne curiosity model; Chinese Water Painting; artificial companion; curious companion; elderly care; elderly gamers; elderly population; entertainment; game developers; game playing smoothness; Aging; Complexity theory; Educational institutions; Games; Senior citizens; Uncertainty; Curiosity; artificial companion; elderly gamers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Network of Ergonomics Societies Conference (SEANES), 2012 Southeast Asian

Conference_Location

Langkawi, Kedah

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-1732-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SEANES.2012.6299597

Filename

6299597