The document describes a proposed virtual reality exergame called World of Riders. The game would be played on stationary cycle trainers with VR headsets and involve players cooperating to defeat a monster. It would implement high intensity interval training (HIIT) through gameplay mechanics like collecting missiles on the edge of a lake and shooting them at the monster from cannons in the center. The game aims to provide an immersive, social, and effective full-body workout through naturally guiding players to perform the HIIT protocol while focusing on the cooperative gameplay.

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World of Riders:
Exercising is Fun
Lucas Martins de Souza, Anya Kolesnichenko, Irem Gokce Yildirim, Taiwoo Park

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75% of population with
sedentary lifestyle1
Physical activity is affected by
adverse climatic periods2

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Introduction
Need for workout
Need for motivation
to exercise
Fun, engaging and
effective exercising
experience

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Competitive Analysis
Findings
There is no VR supported, HIIT implemented and
social recognition integrated game on the market
for an affordable price for casual players (based
on fitness-gaming.com).
● Natural controllers have positive effect
on immersion (McGloin, Farrar & Krcmar,
2011).
● Competition increases motivation to
engage in sustained exercise (Quindry,
Yount, O'Bryant & Rudisill, 2011).
● Co-presence increases motivation
(Quindry, Yount, O'Bryant & Rudisill, 2011).
● Köhler effect: work harder as a group
member (Feltz, Forlenza, Winn, Kerr 2014).
Background

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World of Riders is a hybrid online
multiplayer exergame developed
for virtual reality and mobile
platform. Players are boat riders who
need to cooperate to defeat a
monster in the centre of the lake. The
gameplay is designed to simulate
high intensity interval training.
Proposed Game:
World of RidersA Cooperative Approach to Exercising on
Stationary Cycle Trainers

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Raiding - Boss Fight Style.
Players work together to defeat a monster. In a
circular lake, players collect missles and shoot
them at the monster at cannons around.
Run against the centrifugal waterflow.
The monster is always pushing the player away
from it, requiring players to pedal on the cycle
trainer to overcome the force.
Risk boss’ spear to attack.
Missiles are located on the edge of the lake, but
the cannon booths are closer to the boss, making
players to constantly come and go from edge to
center cannons.
World of Riders
Overall Mechanics

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Efficient and Effective.
HIIT protocol provides similar fitness benefits as
continuous endurance workouts, but in shorter
periods of time, and leads to more calories
burned after workout (i.e., EPOC) than traditional
ones3
.
Implementation of the protocol.
Players must collect missiles (at the low intensity
range), charge and shoot them (at the high
intensity range), which naturally guides players
to periodically execute HIIT during gameplay.
Play the game and you’ve done your workout.
Players unconsciously and voluntarily execute
HIIT protocol while beating the boss monster.
World of Riders
High Intensity
Interval Training

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Close collaboration.
The collaborative nature of raiding - boss fight style
leads to natural collaboration among players, by pulling
aggro and letting others have a chance to attack the
boss. Players join a match as soon as they start
exercising.
Greater immersion with VR.
The virtual reality environment leads to greater player
immersion and focus on the gameplay as well as
exercise.
Cycle trainer.
With support of low-cost Arduino speed detector,
attachable to many types of off-the-shelf cycle
trainers, players can play the game with greater
physical movements compared to conventional online
video games.
World of Riders
Fun Factors - Social
Play in VR

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First Playable Prototype

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Future Work
In-game player
interactions and
leaderboard integration
Competition phase
before collaboration
phase
Improvement on the
cross-platform support,
mobility and easy
integration
Step 1
Step 1Step 2
Step 3

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Anya
Kolesnichenko
anna.kolesnichenko@atlascorps.org
Lead Designer
UI Designer
Our Team
Lucas Martins de
Souza
lucas@yetanothergamer.com
Lead Developer
Game Designer
Irem Gokce
Yildirim
yildiri4@msu.edu
Developer
Taiwoo
Park
twp@msu.edu
Assistant Professor
Developer

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Thank
You !
Lucas Martins de Souza, Irem Gokce Yildirim, Anya Kolesnichenko, Taiwoo Park

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References
1
Keppel, K. G., and Pearcy, J. N. Healthy people 2000: An assessment based on the health status indicators for the United
States and each state. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Health Statistics, 2000
2
Mizumoto, A., Ihira, H., Makino, K., Saitoh, S., Ohnishi, H., & Furuna, T. (2015). Physical activity changes in the winter
in older persons living in northern Japan: a prospective study. BMC geriatrics, 15(1), 1.
3
ACSM Information on High Intensity Interval Training. Retrieved from
https://www.acsm.org/docs/brochures/high-intensity-interval-training.pdf
Lucas Martins de Souza, Irem Gokce Yildirim, Anya Kolesnichenko, Taiwoo Park
Feltz, D. L., Forlenza, S. T., Winn, B., & Kerr, N. L. (2014). Cyber buddy is better than no buddy: A test of the Köhler
Motivation Effect in exergames. GAMES FOR HEALTH: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications, 3(2), 98-105.
McGloin, R., Farrar, K. M., and Krcmar, M. The impact of controller naturalness on spatial presence, gamer enjoyment, and
perceived realism in a tennis simulation video game. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 20, 4 (2011), 309-324.
Quindry, J. C., Yount, D., O'bryant, H., & Rudisill, M. E. (2011). Exercise engagement is differentially motivated by
age-dependent factors. American journal of health behavior, 35(3), 334-345.