Active Design – How the built environment matters to mobile games for health

Mobile games for health aim to provide both for an attractive gaming experience and for a positive effect on their users’ wellbeing. Most of these games are context-sensitive, as they take note of the state of the player’s environment and use this information to adapt the game experience. This article points to the limited research available that validates either the physiological effects of playing context-sensitive games for health regularly, or research that focuses on the complex relationship between mobile games, a players’ health and wellbeing, and the (urban) environment in which many of these games are being played. It reviews aspects of health-oriented urban design that has been shown to influence people’s everyday activity patterns including running and cycling. It speculates how “active design” context can also have an impact on how we play mobile games for health and explains how this knowledge can be used to improve such games.