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Console gaming across generations: exploring intergenerational interactions in collocated console gaming

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Abstract

In this paper, we examine the intergenerational gaming practices of four generations of console gamers, from ages 3 to 83 and, in particular, the roles that gamers of different generations take on when playing together in groups. Our data highlight the extent to which existing gaming technologies support interactions within collocated intergenerational groups, and our analysis reveals a more generationally flexible suite of roles in these computer-mediated interactions than have been documented by previous studies of more traditional collocated, intergenerational interactions. Finally, we offer implications for game designers who wish to make console games more accessible to intergenerational groups.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our participants for sharing their time and gaming experiences with us. This research was supported in part by the NSERC/iCORE/Smart Technologies Chair in Interactive Technologies and by NSERC’s NECTAR Strategic Networks Grants Program.

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  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Amy Voida & Saul Greenberg

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  1. Amy Voida
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  2. Saul Greenberg
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Correspondence to Amy Voida.

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Voida, A., Greenberg, S. Console gaming across generations: exploring intergenerational interactions in collocated console gaming. Univ Access Inf Soc 11, 45–56 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0232-1

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