Exploring Personality and Game Preferences in the Younger and Older Population: A Pilot Study

Aim Engagement in gamified applications can be increased by effectively meeting end-user preferences for game content. To design this tailored content insight in user preferences is necessary, obtained from user classification models. This pilot study aims to explore the hypothesised relation between personality traits and preference for game characteristics that is the basis for a new user classification model, deduced from the Five Domains of Play theory. Methods An online questionnaire consisted of the 10-item Big Five Inventory to determine personality, and five questions on the preference for game examples to determine game preference. Results 216 participants completed the questionnaire (M=39 years, SD=17). For the group of participants younger than 60, four out of five personality traits correlate significantly but weakly with their corresponding game preference domains (r=0,13-0,30, p<0,05). For the participants older than 60, no significant correlations were found. Conclusion Personality and game preferences are weakly related in persons younger than sixty years old, while no relation was found for the older participants. For the latter, this may be due to a lack of gaming experience. We therefore propose to extend research towards a field study by providing actual games to play on beforehand.