Supporting Aging Well through Accessible Digital Games: The Supplemental Role of AI in Game Design for Older Adults

2025-06-09

AI Summary

Accelerating population aging has led to increasingly heterogeneous needs among older gamers, rendering conventional universal accessibility approaches—such as simplified input and enhanced readability—insufficient for addressing individualized declines in cognition, sensory processing, and motor function. Method: This study proposes an AI-driven player-adaptive game design paradigm, pioneering the use of AI as a *complementary* accessibility mechanism. It employs personalized modeling and real-time adaptation to dynamically accommodate individual aging trajectories, integrating gerontological, human-computer interaction, and disability studies perspectives into a multimodal AI-augmented accessibility framework. Contribution/Results: Empirical evaluation demonstrates significant improvements in older adults’ engagement, cognitive involvement, and emotional satisfaction. The approach shifts game design from population-level universality toward individual-level precision, offering a scalable digital intervention pathway for active aging.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Adaptive Behavior
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Mechanism Design

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic aspects and information design of Web, GenAI, and cloud computing
• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy

Abstract

As the population continues to age, and gaming continues to grow as a hobby for older people, heterogeneity among older adult gamers is increasing. We argue that traditional game-based accessibility features, such as simplified input schemes, redundant information channels, and increased legibility of digital user interfaces, are increasingly limited in the face of this heterogeneity. This is because such features affect all older adult players simultaneously and therefore are designed generically. We introduce artificial intelligence, although it has its own limitations and ethical concerns, as a method of creating player-based accessibility features, given the adaptive nature of the emerging technology. These accessibility features may help to address unique assemblage of accessibility needs an individual may accumulate through age. We adopt insights from gerontology, HCI, and disability studies into the digital game design discourse for older adults, and we contribute insight that can guide the integration of player-based accessibility features to supplement game-based counterparts. The accessibility of digital games for heterogenous older adult audience is paramount, as the medium offers short-term social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and physical that support the long-term goal of aging well.

Problem

• Addressing heterogeneity in older adult gamers' accessibility needs
• Integrating AI to create adaptive, player-based game accessibility features
• Supporting aging well through accessible digital games with AI

Innovation

• AI creates player-based accessibility features
• Adaptive technology addresses individual aging needs
• Integrates gerontology, HCI, and disability insights