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Exergaming final
This document discusses designing effective exergames with lasting entertainment value. It first provides background on exergames and their goals of getting people active. The authors then propose developing a bike-based exergame incorporating features of popular video games. Their prototype, called "Pedal Tanks," is a cooperative multiplayer online game requiring lower body exercise. Initial reception was positive but larger studies are still needed to understand long-term adherence and health benefits once novelty fades. Future work should explore game mechanics that sustain appeal and encourage long-term behavior change.
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Exergaming final
- 1. Designing an effectiveexergame with lasting entertainment value Kristoffer Hagen and Stian Weie Supervisors: Letizia Jaccheri and Konstantinos Chorianopoulos letiziajaccheri.org
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- 3. 3 The way Isee it – Electroboutique 2010
- 4. 4 Sonic Onyx –an interactive sound installation in a school playground 2007
- 5. 5 Trå for vann– Experts in team project 2012
- 6. 6 ICEC 2015 Trondheim30 Sep – 2 October • International Conference on Entertainment Computing • http://ICEC2015.info • Floyd Mueller keynote on Exergames • http://exertiongameslab.org/
- 7. 7 Motivation • In thelast five years alone, average computer use in youths has increased by 40 minutes a day, or the equivalent of 240 hours a year.
- 8. 8 Exergame • A termused for video games that are also a form of exercise • One primary goal of exergaming is to get children or adults "off the couch" and more active. • The first commercially available exergame, Computrainer, was created in 1986, since then many more, both commercial and experimental exergames have been developed • Large diversity in the games created
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- 13. Table Tennis forThree
- 14. Efficacy of exergames Metabolicequivalent of task (MET) for a sample of exergames
- 15. 15 Questions • What featuresare important in an exergame in order to make it a healthy and sustainable exercise option? • How can the gameplay provide incentive for further play once the novelty wears off? • What exercise equipment is best suited for this, and how should such a prototype be designed and evaluated? • Can long-term use of exergames help prevent lifestyle diseases?
- 16. 16 Our project • Exergamewith focus on lasting entertainment value • Bike with buttons mounted on the handlebar for performing in-game actions (steering, shooting, etc.) • Game based on the features of today's popular games • Our target group is people (mainly youths) who play a significant amount of video games
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- 18. Features in today'stop 10 most popular video games
- 19. Features in aselection of commercial and experimental exergames
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- 21. Core features inour exergame Pedal Tanks • Cooperative • Online multiplayer • Persistence • Competetive • Real time • Depth / complexity • 3 dimentional • Lower body muscles • Hands available for precise controls • Interval driven gameplay • Physical prowess an advantage but not the deciding factor
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- 23. Conclusions and furtherwork • Longitudinal study on the health benefits of exergames • Maintaining adherence once the novelty wears off • Intervention study on the energy expenditure during regular use "While these results are promising, there is a need for larger and better trials. Future work should explore mechanisms present in games that make them more appealing than traditional exercise to inform game design. Research should also examine long term effects of exergame use, and unpack how long term behaviour change can be encouraged once the novelty of a game has worn off." -Douglass-Bonner and Potts 2013
Editor's Notes
- #3 General research context At IDI we have since 2000 started to investigate the relationship between space, computer, and body. You can see an youtube video, now available at my blog together with this presentation and the student report https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap7m1GIBg5w Our investigations take a combined empirical and design science approach. It means that we build prototypes and we evaluate them with real users and we contribute back to theory by writing scientific papers. I have been fascinated and guided by the role of art in all this as art is a way to look after a positive message, and it is relavant in the discussion about computer games. We want to see the positive in it.
- #4 When you enter our department you are met by an interactive art installation that makes you reflect about the role of ICT
- #5 This is a phd project in addiction to an art project.
- #6 We always document these projects as research papers. Often they get a bit of attention in the local media too. See http://www.universitetsavisa.no/student/article38714.ece
- #8 Computer games are becoming a larger and larger part of everyday life for youths and adults alike. More time is being spent on television, computer and other gaming devices than any other activity apart from sleeping. People are also living increasingly sedentary lifestyles, replacing physical activity with stationary activities. In the last five years alone, average computer use in youths has increased by 40 minutes a day, or the equivalent of 240 hours a year. This lifestyle, characterized by increased time spent in front of a screen and decreased physical activity, has been shown to increase the risk of both physical as well as psychological illness. We want to help people to prevent lifestyle diseases and increase their physical activity by providing a fun , motivating and engaging way of getting physical exercise.
- #9 Exergaming is a term used for video games that are also a form of exercise. "Exergaming has the potential to be a safe and effective tool for maintaining or improving cardiovascular fitness," if the right games and options are selected, write researches at the American Council on Exercise. Here are a few examples of exergames.
- #10 The most basic form of exergaming is simulator games. One example of a simulator game is cycling simulators, where you have a stationary bike equipped with a computer screen. On this screen you see simulated terrain, which pass by as you pedal, just like when biking outdoors. The problem with simulators, such as this, is that if you don't enjoy biking outside, you probably won't enjoy simulated biking either.
- #11 Wii Fit is a video game by Nintendo for the Wii home video game console. consisting of activities using the Wii Balance Board peripheral. It is an exercise game that uses a unique platform peripheral called the Wii Balance Board, on which the player stands during exercise. The game features yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games.
- #12 Dance Dance Revolution is a music video game series pioneering the rhythm and dance genre in video games. Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.
- #13 Paperdude is an exergame with more focus on the gaming experience than simulators. Here, you still use a mounted bike, but instead of the computer screen in front of you, you wear a virtual reality headset. In this headset you are a virtual paperboy, biking down streets where you are supposed to deliver newspapers. To deliver newspapers, you perform throwing motions with your hands, which are recorded by a Microsoft Kinect camera, and the virtual paperboy throw the newspapers on doorsteps.
- #14 Table Tennis for Three is, as the name suggests, a game of table tennis designed for three players. Another important feature with this exergame, is that the multiplayer experience is online, that is you don't have to be in the same room, house, or even country as your opponents. Instead of using the whole table, as you normally do when playing 2 player table tennis, you only use half of the table. Instead of the ball passing over the net, it actually hit a wall with sensors on it, which registers where the ball hit, and sends that information to the other players. In addition, on this wall, you see your opponents as you play against them.
- #15 A meta-analysis found that there was a 4-fold to 8-fold increase in energy expenditure above rest for various forms of gaming. Exergaming compared favorably with walking on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour, with 4 out of the 6 activities resulting in higher energy expenditure. The meta-analysis demonstrated that playing AVGs significantly increased HR, VO2, and EE. However, AVGs were not found to have significantly different effect sizes in increasing HR, VO2, and EE than traditional moderate-intensity physical activities. Several systematic reviews have arrived at the same conclusion regarding exergames. The analysis shows that the effect size of AVG play on HR did not differ significantly from traditional physical activities. However, this result needs to be interpreted in a cautionary fashion, it cannot be stated that playing AVG alone meets the recommended daily moderate to vigorous physical activity recommended. On the other hand, the metaanalysis demonstrated that exergames seem to have good potential to improve aerobic fitness.
- #17 PLAY VIDEO
- #18 The ultimate goal of every game designer is a high degree of user enjoyment in playing the game. This enjoyment is paramount; without it, there is no motivation for the user to continue playing. Such enjoyment is equally as important, if not more so, in the application of an exergame. The user must be engaged to the degree that they almost “forget” that they are performing a perceived unpleasant task (exercising). Dual Flow is specifically developed for evaluating exergames. The two components that make up the “dual” in Dual Flow are attractiveness (psychological/gameplay), which is what regular Flow theory and GameFlow theory are about, and effectiveness (physiological/exercise), which is the additional, exergame-specific component. To achieve flow in both dimensions, both skill vs challenge, and fitness vs intensity must be properly balanced. Thus, the game cannot be too easy, but neither too hard, and it cannot totally exhaust the player nor be relaxing to play. Considering that degree of variability in people’s general video game skills and physical fitness level, both within and between age groups, a balance can be very difficult to get right for every possible player. Thus, when designing an exergame, it might be more important than ever to choose a specific target group. What makes this even harder for exergames as compared to traditional games is that developers must also target a specific fitness group (i.e., overweight people, average active people, athletic people) instead of simply targeting a traditional group of gamers, such as casual gamers or serious gamers.
- #19 Features of popular games MOBAS, multiplayer online battle arenas, is heavily represented, with Leauge of Legends (LoL) and Defense of the Ancients (Dota) being the largest components of this category. These cooperative games are characterized by small teams of 4 to 5 players, each controlling an in-game avatar through a third-person isometric view. With this avatar, players must complete various objectives to achieve victory over the opposing (human) team. These games are fast paced, extraordinarily competitive, and reward good team dynamics. Another genre of games represented on the list was the objective-based, team-based multiplayer first person shooter (FPS). Games such as Counter Strike, Battlefield and, to some extent, World of Tanks belong to this category. These games share many similarities with the MOBA genre; players are placed on two opposing teams to vie against each other for victory. They must complete mutually exclusive objectives while also defending against the opponents’ players. The most significant difference is that the game world is viewed through a first person view, and there is a higher focus, and reward, on hand-eye coordination and fast reaction rates. The last kind of game well represented is the MMORPG, massively multiplayer online role playing game, represented by World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2 and a few others. In these games, the player controls a fantasy character who, either alone or together with other players, explore a digital environment on adventure quests. A central concept of MMORPGs is the idea of character progression and rewards. Players want to feel their character becoming more powerful and gaining access to more complex abilities as they progress through the game. Frequent rewards for various accomplishments, both large and small, and both with and without actual gameplay implications, are also an important feature of these games. “Research has indicated that rewards can enhance people's’ intrinsic motivation, control their behavior and distract them from the responsibility of regulating themselves” [Hsu et al. 2009, Deci 1999]. After a gaming session, the player wants to feel that they accomplished something, that they put work into their character and that this character is now better, in some way, than it was before the session began. This is also supported by Whitehead et al. [2010] who says “Long term benefits require a long term investment. The game’s incentive elements must provide long term (months and years, not hours and days) motivation”. The benefit of investigating current popular games and designing our exergame in consideration of such information is two-fold. Utilizing this approach, we are capitalizing on tried-and-true game concepts from the industry, and at the same time, increasing the prototype’s relatability to those who can most benefit from it. Combining elements of games that are correlated with popularity will, at least theoretically, yield an exergame that is both relatable and well-received.
- #22 When designing an exergame, it is natural to look into what makes people exercise in addition to what makes people play video games. Research has shown that social interaction is among the most common reasons for people being physically active [Allender et al. 2006, Trost et al. 2002]. This indicates that a multiplayer game may be an ideal course, and indeed this is reinforced by the statistics on the most-played PC games [Statista], where 8 of the top 10 games are purely multiplayer games (League of Legends, World of Warcraft, DOTA 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Smite, ArchAge, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, Battlefield 4), and all of the top 10 games have support for multiplayer.