The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

Failte gu Alba (Scots Gaelic for “Welcome to Scotland”) greeted me as I arrived in Glasgow yesterday morning. It was my fifth language (after French, Swedish and German) in as many days! When I finally got home I managed to unpack my case and have something to eat before heading to bed to catch up on sleep. I just didn’t have the energy to check out the Wii Fit. I slept solidly and woke refreshed this morning and started up the console this morning…

“Well… if it isn’t DrAT! Nice to see you again! It’s been 29 days since our last session.”

“By the way, I recently heard someone commenting that you looked more toned! I can’t tell you who I heard it from… But I can honestly say that I sensed that about you as well.”

Funny thing, my wife said the same thing just over 12 hours previously! So I had manage to spend 3 weeks in North America without being “Supersized”!

Today was my last day in Banff and the weather forecast was for sunshine. I awoke to mist, so wasn’t too optimistic, but a quick check on the webcam on the top of Sulphur Mountain confirmed clear blue skies. The local bus up to the gondola station was busy. On arrival, everybody piled off and headed for the terminal. I checked my kit, admired the view and set off up the 5 km Sulphur Mountain trail. It was fairly easy going at first and then began to steepen and zig-zag under the gondola wires. It wasn’t long before I reached some patches of snow.

With all the gondolas whisking past overhead carry their passengers up the 700 m ascent in 8 minutes, I began to think that maybe I would have been better taking a ride? No, I was heading up to what would be the highest point to date that I have stood on the planet earth (2256 m) and I was going to earn it. I pressed out, boosted by the breathtaking scenery and the abundant wildlife. One walker passed me and I caught up some others. Finally I arrived at the top station, some 87 minutes behind those who travelled up with me  on the bus.

The view from the top was amazing and well worth the climb. I very much enjoyed my climb and felt all the better for it. I had scaled new heights and on the way thought about a couple of ideas of how to make exercise the “Easy Option”. Oh, and I was CAN$26 better off!

But perhaps my story illustrates just how difficult the exercise option may actually or perceived to be for many people.

After enjoying the view and the summit wildlife, I left the “Tourists” behind and headed down the trail on the other side of the mountain into the wilderness. This chapter of the “Quest for the Perfect ExerGame” had come to a close.

So for now, enjoy the view…

“Everything is BIG in America!” was the advice/warning given to me the last time I ventured across the pond. This time I was in the US to try and find out just how BIG “ExerGaming” really was. Suffice to say, it is maybe not quite as BIG as I had expected, but it is getting BIGGER. As I travelled round this BIG country, it became apparent the US was even BIGGER than I realized (despite the World getting smaller).

I had many BIG experiences and met many BIG hearted people who gave me BIG welcomes and shared with me their BIG ideas and how they might address BIG problems.

I would like to say a BIG BIG BIG thank you to each and every one of you.

This is for you…

Physiology = the study of the form and function of the human body
Physiotherapy = the fixing of broken form and function of the human body
Video Games = something completely different from above

Today I was in LA to meet with Belinda Lange at the Institute for Creative Technologies, USC. Belinda is a physiotherapist/physical therapist who researches into applications of video games. We talked about many things, and in particular how our technological society is changing Life and the way we live. The interior design of the building she works in has inspiration from Star Trek – hence the Universe. Finally, we got on to Video Games. Somewhat surreal perhaps, but many ideas were shared and issues discussed. Low cost applications was one key theme that emerged, such that they can reach the widest population group possible. Reaching out to engage with Game Developers was another. I think too we caught a glimpse of ExerGaming 3.0 and beyond and the wish to “boldly go……..”

Having completed the current level, I am beginning to turn my thoughts to the next. My working title is “ExerGaming 3.0″. As I looked out to sea last night, I was struck by the vastness of the Pacific ocean. So unless it involves a Swimming ExerGame, there are very many possibilities. What do you think?

My coast to coast journey across the US started in Baltimore in the east and finished in Santa Monica in the west. I completed the last three miles west, on foot of course, to reach the Pacific. It was a beautiful evening and as the sun was setting in the east, the air was heavy with sweet floral scents.

My goal was Santa Monica pier. It was almost 10 years to the day I had stood on the very same pier on route to a conference in San Diego. As a teenager in the 80’s (might explain a lot), Santa Monica resonates strongly with me for a number of different reasons. As I walked past an arcade, one of Bruce Springsteen’s hits blasted out into the night air and the memories came flooding back.

Yet I was even more struck by the fact that 10 years previously, I would never in my wildest dreams believed things would have worked out the way they have. There in front of me were a couple of DDR’s set up at the entrance to the arcade. Some people stopped to look, others passed by, but for me it was a whole lot more.

I continued on to the end of the pier and took some photos of the setting sun and looked out to sea. I had arrived at my destination and completed the level…

I returned back along the pier as it was beginning to get dark. It appeared as if the setting sun was the signal for the performance to begin. A small crowd began to congregate round the DDR stages as the performers took to the floor. They moved with skill and vigor worthy of any athletic performance. Clearly they were physically exerting themselves, but it was more than just exercise, it was at another level entirely.

Today I had the privilege of having lunch with Jenova Chen, Video Game Designer extraordinaire. Jenova’s MFA Thesis was entitled “Flow in Games“. Why I hadn’t thought of being “in the zone” in relation to active video games I’ll never know. However, Lisa Hansen very helpfully prompted me to explore this area. Indeed, it was when I was playing a Snowboarding ExerGame that I experienced a period of “flow”. As I shifted my weight side-to-side over the board, the immersive graphics of the game responded to my every move as I sped gracefully down the mountain. Suddenly I was totally and utterly in the game. My most vivid memory from my own sporting experience of the flow is a slow motion action replay of 1 hour 8 minutes and 21 seconds running round a forest in northern Sweden in 1990. Quite a long time to be in “the zone”!

I was keen to meet Jenova because his work provides pointers as to how to increase the likelihood of the player reaching the “flow state”. One key issue is that the game needs to be able to adapt to the skill and ability of the player. I had been considering exactly the same issue from the direction of physical exertion. 

So we talked and we ate and we discovered common issues and themes. Our desire to bring video games/ “ExerGames” to a wider audience and make them a richer experience was very much to the fore. Jenova impressed upon me more than ever to not loose sight of the fact that they are all fundamentally “Games”. I shared a variety of applications including rehabilitation therapy, all with the intention of making physical exertion more accessible to more people.

We parted, having both having learnt much form our encounter and very much intending to continue the conversation.

Right at the start of the first live radio interview that I did, the journalist put it to me that “It wasn’t a bad job playing video games all day”. Well I had to put her right and say that it is not the only thing that I do. There are the not so small matters of teaching and administration. Anyway, enough of that, today was all about playing video games. Unfortunately, I had grossly under-estimated the degree of traffic congestion in Los Angeles, so I didn’t arrive at my destination on schedule. I was traveling from Santa Monica to Redlands, home of XRtainment Zone. After a scenic train journey I arrived at San Bernardino station in the searing heat and I began to feel that the visit was becoming more like a pilgrimage.

XRtainment Zone is a commercial facility that offers a wide range of “ExerGames” in a health club type format. For a good overview, visit their website. My arrival coincided with that of a preview copy of the Wii Fit balance board. I was able to help Ernie Medina (ExerGaming Evangelist) set it up and give him a quick demo. I wasn’t at my best and could go down in history as the first (ExerGaming) winter-sports ski-jumper to be affected by heat exhaustion!

Anyway, it was great to see round the facility, try out some of the games I hadn’t seen before, and get a real feel for the place. Being Friday afternoon, it wasn’t too busy, but there was certainly plenty going on. I got a real sense that the kids present were involved in some form of spontaneous play, kind of like a 21st century adventure playground. They could pick and choose ExerGames as they wished. Some were right into a game controlled by cycling and appeared to be really exerting themselves. In such a setting, I found it hard to define it as simply exercise. The sheer sponteneity and playfulness of it all suggested something more like “Active Game Play”.

I had the opportunity yesterday to view the MFA Interactive Media Thesis Exhibition at the University of Southern California. There were a wide range of interactive installations including a wall mural designed by Marc Tuters that responded to subtle movements in the viewer seated in front of it, making the mural respond to the observer’s contemplation.

What really gave me a glimpse of the “Perfect” ExerGame was an immersive interactive bank heist simulation. The designer and “Performance Director” Scott Gillies not only briefed my partner and I on our “misssion” but also dynamically adjusted the difficulty of the various obstacles we had to overcome. For example there were motion sensors that permitted movement for a short period before the players had to be completely still until the next cycle or else the alarm would go off. The “Performance Director” was able to dynamically alter parameters such as the length time movement was possible and the degree of stillness required to not trigger the alarm, so that the game adapted to the physical ability of the players. Kind of neat don’t you think?