Narrative-driven VR exergames for active older adults: Examining the impact of narrative styles and themes on motivation and user experience

Zhou, Min, Jin, Mingxuan, Peng, Xiaolan, Stawarz, Katarzyna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9021-0615, Denisova, Alena, Huang, Jin and Barathi, Soumya C. 2026. Narrative-driven VR exergames for active older adults: Examining the impact of narrative styles and themes on motivation and user experience. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies , 103954. 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2026.103954

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Older adults often face the dual challenge of insufficient physical activity and unmet psychological needs. Although exergames can promote physical activity, they often struggle to sustain motivation or adequately support psychological need satisfaction. This work explores the potential of integrating narrative into a VR cycling exergame, focusing on how narrative design can enhance motivation and fulfill psychological needs. Two experiments examined the impact of narrative styles with varying interactivity demands and different narrative themes (hedonic, eudaimonic, mixed-affective) on user experience. Study 1 (N=15) suggested that interactive narrative styles were associated with enhanced autonomy and relatedness, facilitated attentional dissociation from bodily fatigue, and led to higher psychological need satisfaction and lower perceived exertion, albeit at the cost of increased cognitive demands. Study 2 (N=36) compared hedonic, eudaimonic, and mixed-affective narratives. Hedonic narratives appeared to support flow and motivation with relatively low cognitive demands, whereas eudaimonic narratives were linked to deeper emotional and reflective engagement but imposed higher cognitive and emotional demands, leading to reduced replay intention. Mixed-affective narratives, by contrast, presented a potentially more balanced trade-off between motivational benefits and competence satisfaction. Interpreted through a Self-Determination Theory-informed perspective, these findings provide insights into how narrative styles and affective themes may be leveraged to design VR exergames that better align psychological engagement with older adults’ physical capacities. Overall, these exploratory findings highlight both the promise and the limitations of narrative-driven exergame design, and they offer implications for the development of adaptive, psychologically informed exergames for older adults.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Computational & Mathematical Sciences Schools > Computer Science & Informatics
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1071-5819
Date of Acceptance:	3 October 2026
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2026 16:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190179

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item