The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

This post is about embodied interaction. As a concept it starts out as way to describe controlling a computer using physical movement. Hey, I thought – is that not what “ExerGaming” is? Well, yes I suppose it is, and that is what excites me about the concept.

Embodied interaction is described in a book by Paul Dourish. In addition to the physical dimension, it also encompasses a social dimension e.g. the user’s experience. But more than that, it suggests something dynamic and the magic word “actor”.

Which gets me nicely on to a question that fascinates me? “Are (some) ExerGames performance art?” e.g. DDR. 

Why am a blogging about this? Well there is a seminar at my institution next week on embodied interaction in the context of enabling children to program interactive adventure games using physical actions rather than having to abstract code. I shall be going along to see how the concept is developed in that field with a view to applying it to “ExerGames”.