How to design an interactive solution to decrease loneliness for people who live in solitude?

Abstract: Single-person households have become a popular trend that has grown dramatically since the 1960s. And loneliness is an unpleasant experience that can bring a negative impact on the physical and mental health of human beings. This study focused on designing an interactive solution in order to reduce loneliness for lonely solitary living people. The study used the qualitative research method and identified a design opportunity to reduce loneliness for lonely people living alone - promoting offline social meetings. The study designed a solution— Matching Pal to engage people in offline social meetings by adding gamification factors, providing two ways of playing, and other useful factors. As a result, the solution showed a positive result in attracting and encouraging people to meet new friends. This shows that gamification can have a positive influence on encouraging users´ behavior in the context of promoting offline social meetings. Also, it provides a design idea that designing multiple ways of interaction based on the traits of different types of users in the solution could help more users achieve the goal.