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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games

Date Submitted: Aug 22, 2019
Date Accepted: Mar 21, 2020

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study

Arjoranta J, Kari T, Salo M

Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study

JMIR Serious Games 2020;8(2):e15967

DOI: 10.2196/15967

PMID: 32449689

PMCID: 7281148

Exploring the Features of Pervasive Games that Enable Behavior Change: A Study of Pokémon GO

  • Jonne Arjoranta; 
  • Tuomas Kari; 
  • Markus Salo

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. While prior literature concluded that digital games can enable changes in players’ behaviors, there is limited knowledge about the different types of behavior changes and the game features driving them. Understanding behavior changes and the game features behind them is important because digital games can motivate players to change their behavior for the better (or worse).

Objective:

This study investigates the types of behavior changes and their underlying game features within the context of the popular pervasive game Pokémon GO.

Methods:

We collected data from 262 respondents with a critical incident technique (CIT) questionnaire. We analysed the responses with applied thematic analysis with the Atlas.TI software.

Results:

We discovered 8 types of behavior changes and 13 game features relevant to those behavior changes. The behavior changes were: Added activity in life, Enhancing routines, Exploration, Increased physical activity, Strengthening social bonds, Lowering social barriers, Increased positive emotional expression and Self-treatment. The game features were: Reaching a Higher Level, Catching New Pokémon, Evolving New Pokémon, Visiting PokéStops, Exploring PokéStops, Hatching Eggs, Fighting in Gyms, Collaborative Fighting, Exploiting Special Events, Finding Specific Pokémon, Using Items, Pokémon Theme and Game Location Tied to Physical Location. The behavior changes were connected to specific game features, with Game Location Tied to Physical Location and Catching New Pokémon being the most common and connected to all behavior changes.

Conclusions:

Our findings indicate that the surveyed players changed their behaviors while or after playing Pokémon GO. The respondents reported being more social, expressed more positive emotions, found more meaningfulness in their routines, and had increased motivation to explore their surroundings.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Arjoranta J, Kari T, Salo M

Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study

JMIR Serious Games 2020;8(2):e15967

DOI: 10.2196/15967

PMID: 32449689

PMCID: 7281148

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© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.