ArticleJMIR serious games2023
Developing a Game (Inner Dragon) Within a Leading Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation: Design and Feasibility Evaluation Study.
Article in JMIR serious games, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05227027 (Influence of a Game Embedded in a Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation on User Engagement), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Influence of a Game Embedded in a Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation on User Engagement: A Randomized Pilot Trial
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating the Impact of a Game (Inner Dragon) on User Engagement Within a Leading Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Theory-based strategies to enhance interventions for smoking: Relevance to a digital intervention.Behaviour research and therapy · 2025Review
- Smoking cessation message testing to inform app-based interventions for young adults - an online experiment.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Perceptions Toward an Attentional Bias Modification Mobile Game Among Individuals With Low Socioeconomic Status Who Smoke: Qualitative Study.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Mobile Health-Based Gamification Interventions for Improving Physical Activity in Individuals With Cardiovascular Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.JMIR serious games · 2025Review
- Centering Health Equity in an Increasingly Digital Environment.Perspectives in biology and medicine · 2025Article
- Efficacy of a conversational chatbot for cigarette smoking cessation: Protocol of the QuitBot full-scale randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2024Article
- Acceptability of heart rate-based remote monitoring of smoking status.Addictive behaviors reports · 2024Article
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Game to Support Smoking Cessation: Repeated Measures Study.JMIR serious games · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 8 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSeveral stand-alone smartphone apps have used serious games to provide an engaging approach to quitting smoking. So far, the uptake of these games has been modest, and the evidence base for their efficacy in promoting smoking cessation is still evolving. The feasibility of integrating a game into a popular smoking cessation app is unclear.
objectiveThe aim of this paper was to describe the design and iterative development of the Inner Dragon game within Smoke Free, a smartphone app with proven efficacy, and the results of a single-arm feasibility trial as part of a broad program that seeks to assess the effectiveness of the gamified app for smoking cessation.
methodsIn phase 1, the study team undertook a multistep process to design and develop the game, including web-based focus group discussions with end users (n=15). In phase 2, a single-arm study of Smoke Free users who were trying to quit (n=30) was conducted to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the integrated game and to establish the feasibility of the planned procedures for a randomized pilot trial.
resultsPhase 1 led to the final design of Inner Dragon, informed by principles from psychology and behavioral economics and incorporating several game mechanics designed to increase user engagement and retention. Inner Dragon users maintain an evolving pet dragon that serves as a virtual avatar for the users' progress in quitting. The phase-2 study established the feasibility of the study methods. The mean number of app sessions completed per user was 13.8 (SD 13.1; median 8; range 1-46), with a mean duration per session of 5.8 (median 1.1; range 0-81.1) minutes. Overall, three-fourths (18/24, 75%) of the participants entered the Inner Dragon game at least once and had a mean of 2.4 (SD 2.4) sessions of game use. The use of Inner Dragon was positively associated with the total number of app sessions (correlation 0.57). The mean satisfaction score of participants who provided ratings (11/24, 46%) was 4.2 (SD 0.6) on a 5-point scale; however, satisfaction ratings for Inner Dragon were only completed by 13% (3/24) of the participants.
conclusionsFindings supported further development and evaluation of Inner Dragon as a beneficial feature of Smoke Free. The next step of this study is to conduct a randomized pilot trial to determine whether the gamified version of the app increases user engagement over a standard version of the app.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.