New research shows that, contrary to the fears of many parents, video games might be able to help children with obesity exercise more.
A study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity aimed to see whether active video games, which involve physical activity from the player, when combined with a narrative throughline like an animated TV show, would keep children engaged in exercise. Amy S. Lu, an associate professor of communication studies and public health and health sciences at Northeastern University and lead author on the project, was inspired by her own experience with active video games.
“I was surprised that almost none of [these active video games] had any story element,” Lu says. “What if we actually tried to combine the story and active video games so that people will continually play that with a better motivation?”
In a country like the United States where almost one in five children and adults are obese, the answer to that question could be a necessity, she explains. Lu worked with dozens of mostly Black and Hispanic children in Boston and created a six-season animated children’s show to figure out whether adding stories to active video games could make them more engaging and, thus, more useful in tackling obesity.
She admits her intervention was affected by pandemic-related disruptions, but the findings still show that active video games combined with a narrative can have an impact.
Children who played active video games with a completely custom-made animated story interspersed throughout their playtime over the course of three months of a six-month period had about seven minutes more daily moderate to vigorous physical activity than children who didn’t. Those same children also did more “brisk walking” during the same period.
“If you want to make people exercise more to combat this obesity problem around the country and around the world, maybe we should make these exercise games more interesting and engaging,” Lu says.
In order to conduct this research, the researchers had to design a story that could be woven into the six preexisting active video games used in the study. They turned to Fablevision Studios, a Boston-based children’s media company, and ended up essentially creating a 72-episode, six-season animated TV show specifically for the study.
Lu says creating the show was also an exercise in what on-screen representation means practically for children. Designed with input from children, the serialized show featured a racially ambiguous cast of characters who shared the same overweight or obese body type as the children in the study. Those creative choices made it easier for children to get invested in the story and games, Lu explains.
The 79 children who took part in the study were recruited from several Boston neighborhoods and randomized into three groups.
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One group was provided with an Xbox that came pre-installed with the first three episodes of the show and the first of six active video games and would experience the narrative and active video games. They would then download the remaining seasons and games as they continued in the study. A second group was also provided with an Xbox but only played the games, and a control group had neither games or the show.
For those who both played active video games and experienced the narrative Lu and her collaborators created, the increases in exercise time and steps were modest and occurred primarily in the first three months of the study. However, Lu notes that even small daily gains in physical activity can contribute meaningfully to the development of long-term physical activity habits. In that same period, the group that only played active video games also experienced a slight decrease in mass gain and cholesterol levels compared to the control group.
Perhaps more notable is the fact that every child in the study who played active video games –– with or without a narrative component –– showed no signs of worsening obesity. Lu hopes this, along with future studies she does in this area, can potentially shift the broader perception of video games as a one-way ticket to becoming a couch potato.
“When you give children something that can be used for both active and sedentary behavior, will they use it to become couch potatoes and sit there playing ‘Need for Speed’ all the time? The answer is no,” Lu says. “That also helped to reassure people that game consoles like these can have positive uses.”
