The effects of a Play Lü inter-team competition exergame on adolescents’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and situational interest

Abstract

Purpose: Cooperation and competition are two elements explaining the motivation for adolescents to engage in exergame play within a social environment. Experimental results have suggested that exergames involving inter-team competition may elicit greater psychosocial and physiological benefits than single-player exergames (Moss et al., 2018). However, few exergames allow two teams of players to compete against each other in the same session (Mackintosh et al., 2016). Furthermore, no study has compared an exergame session and a control condition using both an inter-team competition mode. As a new exergame platform, Play Lü (Lü Interactive Playground, Québec, Canada) is primarily centred on a multiplayer mode allowing up to six players simultaneously engaged in a same session. This study estimated the effects of an inter-team competition exergame condition (Play Lü) on adolescents’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and situational interest (SI) compared to an inter-team competition control condition. Methods: One hundred and twenty-eight adolescents (69 girls; Mage = 13.9; SD = 1.2) completed two 15-min inter-team competition sessions (two teams of three players) using a counterbalanced measures design. They practiced a Play Lü session including Dojo, Pila and Scala games, and a control session using a tic-tac-toe throwing game. Their PA was assessed by ActiGraph accelerometers and their SI via a validated scale immediately after each session (Roure, 2020). Results: Repeated measures MANOVA revealed higher scores for adolescents’ MVPA (67.19% vs. 48.62%, p < .01), triggering-SI (3.88 vs. 2.99, p < .01), maintained-SI feeling (3.67 vs. 2.59, p < .01) and maintained-SI value (3.62 vs. 2.18, p < .01) during the Play Lü session compared to the tic-tac-toe control session. Conclusions: This study showed that an inter-team competition exergame using Play Lü might be a good option to enhance adolescents’ PA and SI. The Play Lü platform offers opportunities for exergame researchers to design and test multiplayer sessions manipulating the cooperation and competition elements.