Currently submitted to: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Mar 13, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 18, 2026 - May 13, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Comparing Energy Expenditure, Physical Activity, and Psychological Outcomes Between Narrative and Non-Narrative Exergames Among College Students
ABSTRACT
Background:
While exergaming is known to boost physical activity (PA) levels and psychological factors linked to sustained PA participation, little research has explored the effects of adding narrative elements to exergames on PA and psychological outcomes.
Objective:
This study investigated the acute effect of narrative and non-narrative exergaming on moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and light PA (LPA). It also examined differences in energy expenditure (EE), perceived exertion (RPE), PA-related psychological outcomes, and potential sex differences.
Methods:
Fifty-nine college students (52.5% female; Mage = 24.3 ± 3.4 years) completed two separate 20-minute exergaming sessions: 1) Nintendo Switch’s Let’s Get Fit (non-narrative) and 2) Ring Fit Adventure (narrative). PA and EE were measured with ActiGraph accelerometers. Enjoyment, situational motivation, self-efficacy, and exercise-induced feelings were self-reported using validated questionnaires after each session. A series of repeated measures ANOVA, with sex as a between-subjects factor and exergame type as a within-subjects factor, was conducted.
Results:
Significant main effects of session were observed for MVPA (F1,114 = 92.24, p < .001;η² = 0.45), LPA (F1,114 = 93.62, p < .001;η² = 0.45), EE (F1,114 = 57.89, p < .001;η² = 0.34), enjoyment, (F1,57 = 121.94, p < .001;η² = 0.22) and self-efficacy (F1,57 = 11.41, p = .02;η² = 0.09. A significant main effect of session was observed for negative feeling (p < .05). Post hoc Tukey tests indicated that the narrative exergaming session produced significantly higher enjoyment, self-efficacy, and LPA, and lower negative feeling (p < .01) than the non-narrative session. In contrast, non narrative exergaming elicited significantly higher MVPA, and EE (p < .01). A significant sex × session interaction also emerged for intrinsic motivation, negative feeling, and situational motivation (p < .01). Post hoc analyses showed that females demonstrated higher intrinsic motivation during the narrative session (p < .01), and lower negative feelings during the narrative session (p < .01).
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that narrative exergaming may increase enjoyment, self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and lower negative feelings during PA among college students, highlighting its potential to support long-term exercise engagement, while non-narrative exergaming may promote greater physical intensity. Clinical Trial: UTK IRB-23-07880-XP
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© 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.