García de Alba-Chávez Carlos Alberto, Espinosa-Curiel Ismael Edrein, Michel-Nava Rosa María
Departamento de Sistemas y Computación, Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Guzmán, Tecnológico Nacional de México, Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, Mexico.
Unidad de Transferencia Tecnológica Tepic, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.
JMIR Serious Games. 2024 Aug 8;12:e60771. doi: 10.2196/60771.
Home gardens worldwide provide sustenance, economic support, and access to fresh produce and promote household well-being, health, self-sufficiency, and food security. However, they face significant challenges worldwide and necessitate innovative promotion approaches. Serious video games have proven effective in promoting agricultural knowledge. However, more research is needed on the persuasive potential of agriculture games to influence players' thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. This provides an opportunity to examine the impact of persuasive games on promoting home gardening among novices.
This study aims to describe the design and development of Farmily, a persuasive video game promoting home gardening among novices. In addition, it evaluated the effectiveness of Farmily and compared its impact with that of a traditional home gardening workshop. Furthermore, the study explored how game enjoyment relates to the game's outcomes.
A randomized controlled trial with 50 novice gardening participants aged 20 to 50 years was carried out. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group (1.5-hour workshop) or an experimental group (1.5-hour Farmily session). Pre- and postintervention assessments were conducted. We evaluated Farmily's impact on knowledge, attitudes, perceived self-efficacy, and intentions regarding initiating home gardens. In addition, we investigated the user enjoyment and its relationship with the game's effect outcomes.
The experimental group significantly improved their knowledge (t=4.26; P<.001), attitude (z=2.98; P=.003), self-efficacy (t=2.6; P=.02), and intention to initiate home gardens (z=4.15; P<.001). The experimental group showed similar effectiveness in knowledge transfer (t=-1.71; P=.09) and a more significant impact on attitude (z=2.73; P=.006), self-efficacy (t=2.21; P=.03), and intention to start a home garden (t=-5.33; P<.001) than the control group. Farmily was well received by the intervention group, generating high enjoyment. Furthermore, user enjoyment substantially correlated with user attitudes (r=0.72; P<.001) and self-efficacy (r=0.67; P<.001), yet no discernible association was observed among user enjoyment, knowledge (r=0.26; P=.20), and intention (r=0.06; P=.77).
Evidence indicates that Farmily appears to be a viable tool for promoting home gardening among novices in the short term. Farmily demonstrated similar effects in knowledge improvement to those of a traditional workshop and had a more significant impact on the other variables. In addition, we found that the player's gaming experience positively relates to the player's attitudes and self-efficacy. A well-powered randomized controlled trial with more diverse samples and extended follow-up periods will be conducted to establish the long-term efficacy of Farmily and gain a deeper understanding of the influence of enjoyment on game outcomes.
世界各地的家庭菜园提供了食物、经济支持，让人能够获取新鲜农产品，促进了家庭福祉、健康、自给自足和粮食安全。然而，它们在全球面临着重大挑战，需要创新的推广方法。严肃游戏已被证明在促进农业知识方面有效。然而，关于农业游戏影响玩家思想、态度和行为的说服潜力，还需要更多研究。这为研究说服性游戏对新手家庭园艺推广的影响提供了契机。
本研究旨在描述一款名为Farmily的说服性视频游戏的设计与开发，该游戏旨在促进新手进行家庭园艺。此外，评估Farmily的有效性，并将其影响与传统家庭园艺工作坊的影响进行比较。此外，该研究还探讨了游戏乐趣与游戏结果之间的关系。
对50名年龄在20至50岁的新手园艺参与者进行了一项随机对照试验。参与者被随机分配到对照组（1.5小时的工作坊）或实验组（1.5小时的Farmily课程）。在干预前后进行了评估。我们评估了Farmily对启动家庭菜园的知识、态度、感知自我效能和意图的影响。此外，我们调查了用户的乐趣及其与游戏效果结果的关系。
实验组在知识（t = 4.26；P <.001）、态度（z = 2.98；P =.003）、自我效能（t = 2.6；P =.02）以及启动家庭菜园的意图（z = 4.15；P <.001）方面有显著改善。实验组在知识转移方面显示出相似的效果（t = -1.71；P =.09），并且在态度（z = 2.73；P =.006）、自我效能（t = 2.21；P =.03）和启动家庭菜园的意图（t = -5.33；P <.001）方面比对照组有更显著的影响。Farmily受到干预组的好评，带来了高度的乐趣。此外，用户乐趣与用户态度（r = 0.72；P <.001）和自我效能（r = 0.67；P <.001）显著相关，但在用户乐趣、知识（r = 0.26；P =.20）和意图（r = 0.06；P =.77）之间未观察到明显关联。
有证据表明，Farmily似乎是短期内促进新手进行家庭园艺的可行工具。Farmily在知识提升方面显示出与传统工作坊类似的效果，并且对其他变量有更显著的影响。此外，我们发现玩家的游戏体验与玩家的态度和自我效能呈正相关。将进行一项样本更多样化、随访期更长的有力随机对照试验，以确定Farmily的长期疗效，并更深入地了解乐趣对游戏结果的影响。
