Bye-bye couch potato : body movement in the gaming experience

Video game consoles that enable their users to use active body movements as mode of interaction are becoming more and more popular. In fact, the best selling video game console at the time of writing this study is the Nintendo Wii, which is operated by one or two handheld controllers that gamers have to point and swing to operate their games. There has been plenty of research on how gamers experience nonmovement-based games as well as research on experiencing sport and physical exertion. Yet, there is little knowledge on how gamers experience physically active video games. This study aims at contributing to this research endeavor and embarks from an exploratory approach. Video gamers are interviewed to investigate how they assess and conceptualize their experiences with movementbased games. A Grounded Theory analysis approach reveals two distinct motivations (“achieving” and “relaxing”) with which gamers approach such games, together with two respective strategies. Also, control is identified as a crucial factor and the outcomes of the interviews are applied to existing knowledge of the gaming experience.

[1]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[2]  John Kremer,et al.  Sport and Exercise Psychology , 2002 .

[3]  Maureen K. Holden,et al.  Virtual Environments for Motor Rehabilitation: Review , 2005, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[4]  Christina Goulding.  Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide for Management, Business and Market Researchers , 2002 .

[5]  D. Norman.  Emotional design : why we love (or hate) everyday things , 2004 .

[6]  Philip Hingston,et al.  Considerations for the design of exergames , 2007, GRAPHITE '07.

[7]  M. Csíkszentmihályi,et al.  Flow in sports: The keys to optimal experiences and performances. , 1999 .

[8]  K. M. Lee,et al.  What do we know about social and psychological effects of computer games? A Comprehensive review of the current literature , 2006 .

[9]  Giuseppe Riva,et al.  Being there : the experience of presence in mediated environments , 2003 .

[10]  M. Bradley,et al.  Measuring emotion: the Self-Assessment Manikin and the Semantic Differential. , 1994, Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry.

[11]  N. Cable,et al.  Comparison of energy expenditure in adolescents when playing new generation and sedentary computer games: cross sectional study , 2007, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[12]  O. John,et al.  Handbook of personality: Theory and research, 2nd ed. , 1999 .

[13]  Paul A. Cairns,et al.  Behaviour, realism and immersion in games , 2005, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[14]  G. Stratton,et al.  The contribution of upper limb and total body movement to adolescents’ energy expenditure whilst playing Nintendo Wii , 2008, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[15]  G. Burdea,et al.  Low-cost Virtual Rehabilitation of the Hand for Patients Post-Stroke , 2006, 2006 International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation.

[16]  Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze,et al.  Does Body Movement Engage You More in Digital Game Play? and Why? , 2007, ACII.

[17]  Thomas N Robinson,et al.  A randomized trial of the effects of reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young children. , 2008, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine.

[18]  J. Murray.  Hamlet on the Holodeck , 1997 .

[19]  K. Fox.  The influence of physical activity on mental well-being. , 1999, Public health nutrition.

[20]  Frans Mäyrä,et al.  Fundamental Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion , 2005, DiGRA Conference.

[21]  Paul A. Cairns,et al.  A grounded investigation of game immersion , 2004, CHI EA '04.

[22]  G. Burdea.  Virtual Rehabilitation - Benefits and Challenges , 2003, Yearbook of Medical Informatics.

[23]  John C. McCarthy,et al.  Technology as experience , 2004, INTR.

[24]  S. Srivastava,et al.  The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. , 1999 .

[25]  B. Galego,et al.  Leveraging online virtual worlds for upper extremity Rehabilitation , 2007, 2007 IEEE 33rd Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference.

[26]  Alex Pentland,et al.  Human computing and machine understanding of human behavior: a survey , 2006, ICMI '06.

[27]  G. Borg,et al.  Perceived Exertion and Pulse Rate during Graded Exercise in Various Age Groups , 2009 .

[28]  J. Levine,et al.  Energy Expenditure of Sedentary Screen Time Compared With Active Screen Time for Children , 2006, Pediatrics.

[29]  D. Zeltzer,et al.  Simplifying the Programming of Intelligent Environments , 2009 .

[30]  T. C. Nicholas Graham,et al.  Using games to increase exercise motivation , 2007, Future Play.

[31]  O. Sacks,et al.  The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales , 1985 .

[32]  C. Gotay,et al.  Physical posture: Could it have regulatory or feedback effects on motivation and emotion? , 1982 .

[33]  Andrew D Cowley,et al.  Watch out for Wii shoulder , 2008, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[34]  Amy Hillier,et al.  Childhood Overweight and the Built Environment: Making Technology Part of the Solution rather than Part of the Problem , 2008 .

[35]  Dominic Arsenault.  Dark waters : spotlight on immersion , 2005 .

[36]  Jenova Chen,et al.  Flow in games (and everything else) , 2007, CACM.

[37]  J. Bailenson,et al.  Digital Chameleons , 2005, Psychological science.

[38]  Julio Bonis.  Acute Wiiitis. , 2007, The New England journal of medicine.