The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

If you are counting down to midnight or wondering why you woke up a 1 second early today (presuming that you are reading this tomorrow), a “leap second” will be/has been added at 00:00 GMT. This is because the Earth’s spin is slowing down and therefore our clocks need to be adjusted to keep them in sync with the Earth’s rotation. You can read more about this problem and how you can help to keep the planet SPINNING in a previous post.

With new developments taking place in the field of ExerGames all the time, it is hard to make any concrete predictions at this time. However, continuing my “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame” in 2009, I will be keeping a particular eye out for developments in three specific areas.

The first area I will be watching is “Networked ExerGames”. Networking ExerGames will further increase their appeal. If a critical mass of players is generated (and that will be crucial)  then you will be able to break free from the constraints of physical location and engage in meaningful challenges and competitions with players of similar ability, no matter where they are. Also, there is the possibility of a social channel wrapper around one or more networked games, team competitions and challenges.

The second area to watch is “Mobile ExerGames”. Already there are some exciting developments in this area including both location-based games and also “Mixed-reality ExerGames” which combine real and virtual worlds (e.g. pedometer step count linked to online game play time).

The third and final area I will be keeping an eye out for is “Home-brew ExerGames”. By this I mean enthusiasts with a soldering iron, a few electronic components and some programing skills constructing their own ExerGames. There are already quite a few interesting ideas with alternative takes on balance boards and the like. Given the low-cost of wireless micro-controllers and sensors, I expect more innovative and exciting developments in 2009.

The phone call from the European Commission was an invitation to come and speak at the EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. I couldn’t make the first suggested date as I would be in Vienna for the ED-MEDIA 2008 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications. On route to Vienna I managed to take in some of the London Hide and Seek Festivaland experience some mobile location (GPS) games and also an interactive game that was a combination of “Eye Spy” and a Treasure Hunt based on SMS texts. ED-MEDIA 2008 was an enlightening experience and I learnt a lot about using social networking tools in education (and also got a few ideas about using them in ExerGaming). Vienna was a beautiful city to spend a few days holiday and the icing on the cake (literally – it was Vienna) was my poster winning an award and subsequently was a Finalist in the 2008 Handheld Learning Awards.

It was then back to work for a few weeks, despite having only recently finished off one academic year, the next would be starting two weeks earlier due to changes in the teaching schedule. As I was turning my attention to my presentation for the EU Platform, I received a further request to speak at the “Major Moves 2008” conference which forms part of the major UK Leisure Industry Week Trade show.

I couldn’t not take in the Edinburgh Interactive Festival on my doorstep. It provided a wide range of interesting experiences and a window on the wider video games industry in the UK. A holiday in the Black Forest for a family wedding in August was my last chance to pause for breath before a busy Autumn schedule.

Speaking at the EU Platform was a real honour and certainly an experience to remember. Needless to say I made a good few contacts and had several fruitful conversations. I will be watching future developments at the platform with interest. You can view my presentation and read a transcript to see how I tried to sum up ExerGaming and present a vision for the future of a virtual exercise environment  which I have termed a “Personal Activity Platform” which supports and complements physical infrastructure and services.

The “Major Moves” conference was really exciting and engaging. There was a wide variety of health promotion professionals from across the country there to hear about innovative ways to use technology to promote health. I definitely think that the conference was the start of something new in UK health promotion and the impact will be felt for years to come. The conference was a great chance to touch base with Biray Alsac whom I had met physically and Richard Coshott whom I had only met virtually up to that point. I also made a good few contacts and was actually quite surprised as to the range of ExerGame type products and activities already going on in the UK and indeed in Europe. Most likely because a large proportion of the leisure provision is based in the public sector, ExerGaming type activities don’t have such a high profile.

The year drew to a close with several interviews for various magazine articles and my thoughts started to turn towards my plans for the next. At this stage it is a bit of an unknown, but there are some interesting results on psychological aspects of ExerGaming play, an interdisciplinary research proposal on a next generation ExerGame and some commercial engagements.

In summary: I have moved up several levels on my “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame”, but there a still plenty more to go.

Last night I experienced my first “ExerGame Party” when I finally managed to get some thirty-something friends together with a selection of ExerGames. Obviously there is a great social aspect to ExerGames, but it is not something I have yet researched as it is hard to control in an experimental situation. Anyway, last night was a great fun and a very enjoyable experience. We tended to play more balance, skill and coordination games rather than out and out aerobic ones, although there were a few intense boxing matches! Having a random shuffle of music playing the background added interest with the lyrics of “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John being suitably apt for a particularly fast and furious segment of game play. On balance I reckon slightly more calories were consumed than expended. However at the end of the night there was a definite sense of euphoria (a.k.a “Feel Better Effect”).