Effects of Supportive Feedback Messages on Exergame Experiences: A Mediating Role of Social Presence

Since their inception, the popularity of exercise-based video games, or exergames, has continued to grow. Acknowledging the rapid growth of exergames, scholars have investigated exergame play experiences with a focus on the feedback a player receives about performance (e.g., progress bar, score) and how this information can influence game play experiences. To extend the existing exergame research, this study has two primary goals: (a) to test how the supportiveness of verbal feedback messages from an exergame can influence players’ exergame experiences and (b) to evaluate the way that a player’s sense of social presence may serve as a mechanism for understanding the link between feedback and experiences. An experiment (N = 47) was conducted using a between-subjects design. Two groups were compared: highly supportive versus lowly supportive feedback condition. The findings reveal that players who receive highly supportive feedback report greater exergame experience (e.g., enjoyment) than players who receive lowly supportive feedback. Further, social presence is a key variable that mediates the relationship between feedback and exergame experiences. Although the current research findings are important, they are limited to explaining short-term, immediate responses after exergame play among college students. The current research provides implications for research and practice. In particular, the study contributes to an extended understanding of feedback in exergame research and social presence research. At a practical level, the findings suggest that exergame designers should consider incorporating more supportive social feedback messages into a game.