Get off the Couch: An Approach to Utilize Sedentary Commercial Games as Exergames

The objective of this research is evaluating a novel method to enable any sedentary commercial game to be utilized as an effective exercise game (exergame). In general there are significantly fewer exergames than sedentary games. This limits game choice and potentially has negative implications for long-term use. Previous work on exergames has been focused on deriving guidelines for designing the most effective exergames, but has rarely leveraged the mass amounts of existing sedentary games. To address this issue, we present a potentially generalizable approach to utilize sedentary commercial games as exergames. Specifically, we developed a visual overlay technique that interfaces with a Microsoft Kinect and disrupts the user's visual perception of a game as a consequence for lower exercise performance. To evaluate this approach, we conducted a two user studies with 14 and 20 undergraduate students that evaluated use in single-player and two-player competitive modes, respectively. Results indicate that although we expected intermittently blocking players' view would be annoying, it actually made the game more exciting, while at the same time providing a vigorous workout.