Long-distance Sports

The merging of sports and computer technology has been mainly focused on supporting performance enhancement of professional athletes or, on the other end of the spectrum, simulating professional sports competitions for entertainment purposes in computer games. Less work has been undertaken on using computers to enhance social sports experiences. Long-Distance Sports is a novel approach using telecommunication technology in particular to enable geographically distant participants to enjoy a social sports experience together. The Long-Distance Sports presented here focus on physical exertion comparable to collocated sports, a shared experience although being geographically apart and social interaction between the players during casual sports play. Two systems are presented that have been tested by hundreds of players: Breakout for Two is a soccer-like game that uses distributed targets on a life-size videoconference to enable a sports experience between two players who each kick a real physical ball. Airhockey over a Distance creates an increased sense of a shared space across the distance by having puck cannons shooting out real pucks on the remote end to enable a game of airhockey between geographically distant players. The results from these implementations indicate that Long-Distance Sports can be a valuable contribution to society by supporting interactions between players who are spending time apart, in which they can achieve both, a work-out and socializing.

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