FoodFighters - Improving Memory Retention of Food Items through a Mobile Serious Game
Kristian Nyborg Jespersen, Rasmus Odgaard, Kristian Julsgaard, Jens Lakmann Madsbøll, Marcus Høyen Lundbak, Mathias Øgaard Brams Niebuhr, Milo Marsfeldt Skovfoged, Markus Löchtefeld · 2023
Food waste in private households of industrialised countries is becoming an increasing concern, as its impact on greenhouse gas emissions is comparable to that of the aviation industry. One particular unnecessary contribution to food waste is a person forgetting which food items they have in their household, which often leads to food items expiring before they are used. This paper introduces FoodFighters a mobile serious game aimed at encouraging young adult players to interact with their food items thereby making them more memorable. FoodFighters works by taking pictures of food items, that then can be customized into so called Food Fighters, which are then used to battle other players/friends fighters. In two preliminary lab studies, we validated that Food Fighters actually improved retention of food items and found that players found the game enjoyable based on a GEQ-questionnaire.