The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame » What if?

EX-UXD’d?

GamerSize — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:01:36 +0000

Going for the prize of most cryptic post title ever. Give you a clue, “EX” as in EXercise. If you are reading this blog, and looking for, or into, ways to make exercise a fun and engaging experience then you might just have done some UXD! Still confused? Well the inspiration for this post was a profile of a really cool sounding job – wait for it – a “User eXperience researcher/Designer”. At last there are people out there whose job it is to make technology fit round people and not the other away around!!!

So, if you are interested in or in the business of helping people have a really great experience when they are physically active, then whether you realized it or not, looks like you too have been doing some EX-UX Design. Which now leads me nicely onto ExerGaming. It got me thinking as to whether or not “good” ExerGames are EX-UXD’d? Is ExerGaming about designing exercise to fit around people rather than try to get people to do things that don’t appeal to them and are just not a good experience.

Digital Dreaming

GamerSize — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:17:21 +0000

No, this post is not about the wish for a bigger, brighter, sharper flat screen TV. Nor is it about longing for a mobile phone that is yet to come, one that my current model is not worthy to call. Rather it is about a manifestation of what I consider to be the reality of 21st century living where many people exist both in the physical world and in one or more digital worlds.

Last night I had an experience of a “digital dream” in which I was a fugitive being pursued through a digital landscape. The best way I can describe it is something like Logan’s Run meets Second Life. I managed to dodge my pursuers across a bizarre digital landscape with several narrow escapes. Finally I made a bid for freedom by clambering aboard the last train to leave the digital world. I was awoken from my slumber just as the train pulled into my stop. It was a great feeling to be back in the real world. But I wonder, what would have happened if I had missed my stop?

Whilst I am not going to attempt to attribute any meaning to the dream, I would consider to have significance as a sign of the blurring of the boundary between physical and digital worlds. Why does any of this matter? Well, if you are trying to understand human behavior and only pay attention to the influences present in the physical world and neglect to consider the influences that arise in digital worlds, then you are not going to get the complete picture.

Making Taking the Stairs Fun

GamerSize — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:19:31 +0000

Part of the Quest of writing this blog has involved me “getting in touch” with my creative side. I have ventured into a range of varied experiences with a variety of new forms of art, media and technology. Often these have been a catalyst for novel ideas for ways to tackle some of the social and health problems of society in the 21st century. If you were to ask me what my guiding design principle was it would be:

Make if Fun and Make it Easy

So I have to hand to these guys in managing to successfully make taking the stairs fun.

I just wish I had thought of it!

Closer to Home – Shopping Trolley Jive

GamerSize — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:05:27 +0000

Thursday evening is the local late night shopping night. After picking up a couple of small items it was time to head to the grocery supermarket. There was a particularly groovy compilation of music playing and my toes where soon tapping away as I weaved my trolley up and down the aisles. I was so inspired that I even engaged in some impromptu performance art as a swung my trolley round in graceful arcs and pulled 270 and 540 degree turns.

I began to tire and switched to playing “Guess the Trolley Owner”. In this game, whenever you spot trolley coming round a corner or one that has been temporarily abandoned, you a have a split second to guess the appearance of the owner. This is not as difficult as it may seem as the relative amounts and composition of “healthy” and “unhealthy” foodstuffs can be quite revealing. We are after all to a large extent what we eat.

At the checkout the music was interrupted by an advert for a new ExerGame that will give you a high quality work out and have you looking great in now time. Nothing wrong with that, but I couldn’t help but wondering if the problem was a little closer to home. What if the store turned shopping into an ExerGame by mixing up all the items so that you had to wander round the store and hunt them down? But maybe then by spending more time in the store, people would buy more stuff and negate the increased calorie burn. But hold on, don’t supermarkets do that anyway?

Games Accessibility Workshop – Games for Health 2008

GamerSize — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:28:45 +0000

What if video games were accessible to whoever wanted to play them? That was the message coming out loud and clear from yesterday’s Games Accessibility Workshop at the Games for Health Conference 2008 in Baltimore, US.

I have been rather busy from the middle of last week making final preparations for my trip to the US and Canada. I have finally made it, although Tuesday was a long… day traveling. So yesterday’s workshop was a great pick me up and there were some very inspiring speakers. I am aware that there are many accessibility issues in terms of educational provision, but in the realm of video games, I had no idea that there were so many issues and problems.

Wii Fit – Where’s the Training Schedule?

GamerSize — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:05:10 +0000

Having been enthusiastically working my was through the various Wii Fit activities, I suddenly wondered “Where’s the training schedule?” Whilst the guidance given when performing the various activities is very helpful and readily picks up where you are going wrong – there does not appear to be a specific “Programme”/”Program”! Has personal interest replaced the personal trainer or am I missing something? Perhaps this is a subtle (or not so subtle) to place the player very much in control?

Virtual ExerGaming in Second Life

GamerSize — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:42:27 +0000

Whilst waiting for an imminent new product launch, I managed to take a brief fly through a virtual island in Second Life that has been developed by students taking a multi-media design course at my institution. I had already seen a live demo of some of features, one of which was a virtual gaming centre. Another was a dance zone which helpfully applies some dancing animation to any avatar willing to accept it. However, I had a bit of difficulty stopping it and continued my travels round the island to a certain dance beat. I managed to email myself a couple of virtual postcards (screen shots) back from Second Life and they are shown below.

It got me thinking. What if rather than simply been able to zoom effortlessly through the Second Life terrain, some physical effort on the part of the real world user could be incorporated?