Evaluation of a Systems Engineering Approach to using a Virtual Reality Game for Rehabilitation of Motor Function presented at ISAGA Conference, Singapore, 2009
Designing Health Promoting Dance-based ExerGames to Maximize Physical Exertion and Perceived Enjoyment based on an Evaluation of Three Commercial Games - ISAGA 2009 Presentation
Pixel art is all around us. How about doing some digital doodling where you have to physically move around to create the doodle? The DigiGripper is a interactive pixel wall which you can physically interactive with to create art. Is this a new genre?
ExerArt = Exercise + Art
Physical exertion to me is almost as natural to me as breathing, but I had always wondered what it feels like to have an aversion to exercise. Well for the past four days anything more than the slightest exertion outside results in profuse perspiration. Walking up steps becomes a real chore as your try to lift your legs against the force of your trousers sticking to your skin.
Having adopted a rather slothful attitude (minus the fur and hanging up-side-down) exertion avoidance was very much becoming the norm. Given the time difference (-7 hours), I haven’t been sleeping all that well and awoke at 5 am this morning and was rather restless. Fortunately it was still dark so I put on my running gear and headed out into the dark with only crickets for company.
I decided a lap of the National University of Singapore was in order. However the heat wasn’t my only problem. I had carefully placed the campus map I had in a plastic pocket in order to prevent it from turning to mush. Due to the fact that the roads on the map where effectively shown in white, the map was in fact of questionable value. I would hate to play an ExerGame designed by a cartographer with such a sadistic streak.
Given that I have managed to write this post, you will be glad to know I made it back without getting lost. I even had a momentary urge to take a detour to run to the top of a small hill. At one point there was a slight breeze as I could here it whistling past my ears, but rather bizarrely I couldn’t feel any cooling effect on my face.
Edutainment is the term commonly used in Asia to refer to interactive forms of cultural activities with an element of education. Think interactive of interactive museums and having fun (and in my case being a kid again!). I couldn’t therefore be in Singapore without taking a visit to
Singapore’s leading ‘edutainment’ attraction that offers engaging exhibits for everybody
It was great fun and an opportunity to explore using interactive media both Singapore’s relatively short history and also engage in simulation-type activities to explore plans for Singapore’s future. I even managed to fit in some traditional dancing by means of an interactive virtual dance tutor!
There are so many things to talk about, but as a little taster, I was particular taken by a table top maze game that required teamwork between three players to tilt the not inconsiderable mass of the table in order to move a ball in the virtual maze that was projected onto the surface.
Having been in Singapore for couple of days now you would have thought I would have got the hang of the light rail (MRT) system. Owing to a small but significant navigational error on my part I got off downtown one stop earlier than I had planned. I emerged above ground to be greeted by a “new” river! Where did that come from? It is not on the map that I have! Can’t be very good map this!
As I scanned the terrain, I noticed a bridge that we had crossed the day before (albeit in daylight) whilst been taken on a guided tour by a colleague. It then began to dawn on me that the reality I had constructed was at odds with the ground/river in front of me. Contemplating the alternate reality that I was in fact was not where I had planned to be and that the reason was that I didn’t get off that the stop that I thought I did.
I could see the towers of Suntec City in the distance and thought for a moment about striking out cross-country so to speak. However, despite being dark, it just wasn’t getting any cooler, so I quickly dropped that idea. It was therefore serendipitous that I was able to take in the last night of the Singapore River Festival. The place was buzzing with street performances and people walking everywhere and enjoying the spectacle. Everywhere was lit up along the riverside and there were junks (boats) with colored lights on the too. The water taxis where zipping around all over the place (free rides).
It was a bit of a photography fest with every available vantage point occupied by at least one serious snapper. In the absence of a tripod I had to improvise with street furniture in order to avoid camera shake on long exposures.
I have thought for a while that “Vorsprung durch Tecknik” would make a good advertising slogan for ExerGaming. Trouble is that it has been established in popular culture by a well known European car manufacturer. Not only does it convey its meaning remarkeably efficiently, the act of uttering it is a very visceral and evocative experience.
I have just been conveyed to Singapore by Lufthansa including a connecting flight and stop over at Frankfurt airport. The whole journey was a testament to German efficiency including what seemed like my own personal security screening line, copious amounts of in-flight fluid including pre-prandial drinks, frequent tops-ups during the meal and even post-prandial liqueurs for those who wished them. The in-flight entertainment also included a rather eclectic jazz channel which helped smooth the ride along with the understated grey interior finish.
In contrast, having negotiated the vagaries of London’s Heathrow airport, my recent flight across the Atlantic to Boston (to attend the Games for Health conference) with Virgin Atlantic was quite different. On boarding the plane, the red decor with silver finishing made an altogether different impression. To me it had a more holistic, personal feel including 21st century eco-techno, two fingers to British Airways establishment and a bit of eighties retro-chic thrown in for good measure (due to the airline celebrating 25 years of operation) and which I found somewhat appealing.
It got me thinking about the contrasting “brand” styles and the slew of new consumer technology releases (including big-ticket ExerGames). Is technological progress all about enhancing functional efficiency, or has it now reached a such maturity that technology is becoming more of a tool to create experiences?
For me it is creating experiences is where things ought to be at, in that they will have the potential to change behavior. For example, should I happen to be heading to Boston in the near future, would I go for the steady and reliable Lufthansa option via Frankfurt, or would I take my chances with London Heathrow and opt for an altogether different experience? Choice: Efficiency or Experience?
Note: any mention of branded products or services should not be construed as any form of endorsement.
The taxi driver who took me to the airport this morning was remarking about how my neighborhood had changed since he grew up there as a kid. He began to reminisce about how he was inseparable from his bicycle and how he and his mates rode all over the country side in one big rolling adventure.
Such freedom and apparent invincibility from perils (or simply the ability to pick yourself up and brush yourself down) where a feature of my childhood in the north of Scotland. Interestingly, the taxi driver remarked that he was aware at the time (several decades ago), that when mixing with boys from the city they had a markedly lower level of fitness and all round physical ability.
The conversation continued and we found much common ground on the question as to why children these days have a greater need to be entertained rather than create their own playful amusement. Perhaps there always have been dangers, it is just that now as a whole society is more aware of them?
It got me thinking as to what where the key elements at play and I began to focus on a sense of adventure and of having confidence in one’s abilities. I then began to think about how exploration and the development of ones skills and abilities is very much a feature of many video games. Perhaps there is a way that ExerGames could be developed that would make this form of exploration, adventure and skill development more transferable to real life?
Poster presented at ISBNPA 2009 Conference, Cascais, Portugal
At this point I have to apologize for the lack of updates from the Games from Health conference. A severe network connectivity problem was an obstacle that I just could not overcome. Furthermore, a lack of sleep on my return journey coupled with jet-lag resulted in a lack of clarity of thought for several days. Having said that, I am now beginning to feel somewhat more normal now. Just one small issue - I am off to Lisbon, Portugal tomorrow morning to see if health promotion researchers have anything to say about smart applications of technology to promote positive behavior change - I will keep you posted.
Overall, I found the Games for Health conference quietly reassuring. There was not the excitement and novelty that I experienced last year, but instead a real willingness to ask questions and to seek answers. In addition, there was a real sense that whatever “ExerGaming” is and for that matter whatever “Games for Health” are, they are much bigger phenomena than they first seemed. In fact it appears that we know even less about them than was first apparent, but at least now people are beginning to ask searching questions and are beginning to undertake significant exploration. To me this would suggest a growing maturity of the field and bodes well for the future.