HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
The M.A.G.I.C. Framework for mHealth Development: Applying Game Design Principles from 'Magic: The Gathering'
Provisionally accepted
James Broussard1*
Jana Fleet1Joseph McBride1Shanteria Brock1Joanne LeBrun1Monica Miller1
Edelgard Wulfert2- 1Department of Psychology, Jackson State University, Jackson, United States
- 2Department of Psychology, University at Albany, Albany, United States
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With the rapid advancement of digital health technologies, developers and behavioral health experts are increasingly exploring unconventional methods to modernize technology-based clinical interventions. The primary aim of this paper is to outline game design principles and lessons described by the developers of Magic: The Gathering (MTG), one of the world's most popular and enduring fantasy role-playing card games, and explore how these tenets can be used to enhance mHealth (including wellness apps, wearable devices, and digital therapeutics). To accomplish this aim, we synthesized twenty lessons compiled by Mark Rosewater, the head designer of MTG, into an framework to aid development of digital health interventions, called the M.A.G.I.C. framework for mHealth. Key components of this framework include Mesmerization, Audience-centeredness, Goal-orientation, Individualization, and Community-drivenness. These elements, which helped to make MTG a worldwide success, can be used to create engaging, customizable, and user-friendly mHealth interventions. Thus, the M.A.G.I.C. framework for mHealth provides a template for mHealth development that encourages user engagement and maximizes the potential for enhanced therapeutic outcomes.
Keywords: App development, behavioral health, Digital health technologies, digital therapeutics, game design, Gamification, mHealth, user engagment
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Broussard, Fleet, McBride, Brock, LeBrun, Miller and Wulfert. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: James Broussard
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