Brute force interactions: leveraging intense physical actions in gaming

People use a wide range of intensity when interacting with computers, spanning from subtle to brute force. However, computer interfaces so far have mainly focused on interactions restrained to limited force and do not consider extreme physical and brutal interactions, such as those encountered in contact sports. We present an exploration on the topic of "Brute Force" that aims to support researchers and designers who want to leverage the benefits of such forceful interactions. We present the results of a survey on this topic and describe how the salient themes could be used to inspire design work, in particular in a mediated environment, augmented with computing technology. We describe how the themes inspired certain features, and how technological limitations were overcome during this process. We hope with our work we can encourage designers to expand their range of supported interactions to include these physically intense behaviors we call Brute Force that are exhibited in many activities in people's lives.

[1]  M. Anshel,et al.  Effect of aerobic and strength training on pain tolerance, pain appraisal and mood of unfit males as a function of pain location. , 1994, Journal of sports sciences.

[2]  L. Keeler.  The differences in sport aggression, life aggression, and life assertion among adult male and female collision, contact, and non-contact sport athletes , 2000 .

[3]  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.

[4]  Ed Huai-hsin Chi,et al.  "Killer App" of wearable computing: wireless force sensing body protectors for martial arts , 2004, UIST '04.

[5]  P. Williams,et al.  Physical activity and public health. , 1995, JAMA.

[6]  C. Gratton,et al.  Sport in the City: The Role of Sport in Economic and Social Regeneration , 2002 .

[7]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Mediating intimacy: designing technologies to support strong-tie relationships , 2005, CHI.

[8]  Jasper Bragt.  Do Exertion Interfaces Provide Better Exercise Environments , 2005 .

[9]  Leesa Morris,et al.  Sport, physical activity and antisocial behaviour in youth , 2003 .

[10]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Design influence on social play in distributed exertion games , 2009, CHI.

[11]  Stefan Agamanolis,et al.  Exertion interfaces: sports over a distance for social bonding and fun , 2003, CHI '03.

[12]  K. Patrick,et al.  Physical Activity and Public Health: A Recommendation From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine , 1995 .

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

[14]  Juhani Heinilä,et al.  Fitness computer game with a bodily user interface , 2003, ICEC.

[15]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Remote impact: shadowboxing over a distance , 2008, SIGGRAPH '08.

[16]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Brute force as input for networked gaming , 2007, OZCHI '07.

[17]  Frank Vetere,et al.  Design experiences with networked exertion games , 2007 .

[18]  Martin R. Gibbs,et al.  Remote impact: shadowboxing over a distance , 2008, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[19]  T. Takeda,et al.  Design of an action interface with networking ability for rehabilitation , 1998, Proceedings of the 20th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Vol.20 Biomedical Engineering Towards the Year 2000 and Beyond (Cat. No.98CH36286).

[20]  Joseph A. Paradiso,et al.  PingPongPlus: design of an athletic-tangible interface for computer-supported cooperative play , 1999, CHI '99.

[21]  Alissa Nicole Antle,et al.  LIFELONG INTERACTIONSEmbodied child computer interaction: why embodiment matters , 2009, INTR.

[22]  Volker Wulf,et al.  Sports over a Distance , 2006, Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.