NutritionRush - a serious game to support people with the awareness of their nutrition intake

摘要

Malnutrition poses a threat to our physical health and to our well-being. Among the effects of malnutrition are stunting, wasting, overweight, obesity or micronutrient deficiencies. All of which foster the onset of noncommunicable diseases, which grow at alarming rates, especially in the European Region, according to the World Health Organization. This problem can be found across all age groups. In order to raise awareness on that matter and educate about healthy nutrition the authors designed a serious game which was entitled “NutritionRush” together with a nutritionist. It offers a nutrition library to look up nutrition details regarding nutrients, nutritional values, daily energy intake and encourages users to actively employ their knowledge while trying to accomplish specific missions during the game part. The authors also evaluated the initial prototype of NutritionRush with 14 participants in terms of gameplay satisfaction, user experience, quality of nutritional content and the potential to educate or foster healthy eating behaviors. The feedback showed that there is a lot of potential for such serious games and that the prototype is a good initial starting point for different identified requirements.