Eudaimonic gamification to engage cancer patients in positive coping strategies

Abstract

This paper presents a mobile gamified application encouraging positive coping strategies for patients of serious and possibly fatal illnesses. The application concept is based on the analogy between one’s lifetime memories and future bucket lists and a journey in the sea of remembrance, traveling back and forth between past and present positive moments and future wish-lists, whilst being aware that life as water, goes on. This concept was co-designed by a team of UX researchers, engineers, and domain experts applying the principles of Eudaimonic design. The iterative development process brought to the final prototype: a multimedia diary with a gameful interface, which is thoroughly described, along with the relative heuristic and empirical evaluations, in this paper.