Digital games have long been at the forefront of technological development, and research on ways of interacting with it, are an important part of HCI and cultural studies. Games can (indeed, should) enable older people to enjoy later life by, for instance by connecting them with their interests, motivating them to achieve their goals, cultivating a more social life.
In an attempt to contribute in this topic, with the Worthplay Project we introduce a type of digital games that are worth playing, i.e. sufficiently appealing, playable and meaningful, in the everyday lives of older people who are interested or not in games. These worthplaying games are grounded in an ethnographical study of older people’s play experiences, i.e. reasons for (not) playing, what games they (would like to) play and how they go about it. We will present this study, the games created by participants, and how it contributes in their wellbeing.
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