not stimulus as they seem

Based on a study by Owens et al. (2011)*, participation is physical activity using active video games, mostly works for children and not for adults. According to their low subject study, levels of physical activity in families owning Nintendo Wii was compared. Children were displaying a significant higher levels of physical activity compared to adults in which was declined from the first 6 weeks of playing with the device to the second week (from 21.5 +/- 9.0 min.d(-1) to 3.9 +/- 4.0 min.d(-1)).
Most measures of health-related fitness in their exploratory study remained unchanged after 3 months of home use of the device. Promoting these devices may not be sufficient stimuli for fitness changes.

*: Owens, Scott G., Garner, John C., III, Loftin, J. Mark, van Blerk, Natalie, & Ermin, Kevser. (2011). CHANGES IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND FITNESS AFTER 3 MONTHS OF HOME WII FIT (TM) USE. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(11), 3191-3197. 

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More than a game

"More Than a Game: Friendship Relational Maintenance and Attitudes Toward Xbox LIVE Communication"

An empirical investigation of relational maintenance and closeness between friends who communicate via Microsoft's Xbox LIVE service. 

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Design Ideas

I am reading a very cool qualitative study* on usability of Exergames in people with Multiple Sclerosis. It's amazing. Sometimes, just reading people's comments about Exergames gives you important insights on application of them in certain domains.

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First Person Shooter goes SERIOUS

We know them. They are complaining all the time that you are not getting enough physical activity. They say that you are a lazy couch potato. They encourage you to leave your favorite First Person Shooter (FPS) and participate in Active Video Game (AVG) often tagged as Exergame which look promising but they are not as exciting as Call of Duty. Well, that's about to change...

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Exercise with music

Couple of years ago I was running with a buddy and we noticed that an old guy is running with a mystic traditional Persian music. It was pretty funny because traditional Persian music is usually considered as slow tempo. Besides I believe it's better to drink a cup of Kamar-baarik (type of cup) tea while listening to that kind of music.

Now researchers at Brunel University (Professor Karageorghis is one of my favorite authors interested on music and exercise) documented* the effects of music on physiological parameters while using cycle ergometer. Their study shows that it's better to workout with synchronous music matched with your rhythm (even if it has higher tempo) rather than listening to a music lower than your rhythm. In practice, I tried it and it really helps. It gave me motivation when I imagine myself as part of the music. However, choosing the right music is crucial too. I personally suggest trance genre.

*: Bacon, C. J., Myers, T. I., & Karageorghis, C. I. (2012). Effect of music-movement synchrony on exercise oxygen consumption. Journal of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness, 52(4), 359-365.

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Are Exergames really Exercise?

I know you have heard this question a lot. I think at first when they wanted a unique word for Active Video Game (god, this phrase is so long and in terms of word limitation, it's killing) they did not consider it scientifically. At least we did not see a lot of research on this fancy word. 

Exergames is a portmanteau of Exercise and Game and it is a shortcut for Active Video Games. At the moment, I think it may not mean exercise (planned physical activity) and gaming because follow up studies have not been performed. I believe the idea of considering exergames as a planned regular physical activity (exercise) and checking if they have the potential to be called exercise, worth doing research.

The triangle of Serious Game Design has three aspects: Theory, Content, and Game Design and each aspect has its own branches. If an exergame (O.K. Lets call it Active Video Game again) wants to be considered as a real exercise, it should be planned and be done regularly.

In "Theory" section, you have Learning, Perception, and Gender (for example). If you learn how to play the game easier with less effort, the chance of performing it again may decrease. If the game is designed for a specific gender (or mostly being performed by a certain gender), you may not be able to force the others to do it regularly (We observed this in the mostra a lot: Playing Justin Bieber's song and expecting guys to come and dance in a way that girls do).

In "Content" section, you have Social Issues, Corporate Training, Ecology (for example). Due to limitation of gaming platforms, you may not expect the same enjoyment and technique as you have in real sports and remember: Everything was designed in advance and you should follow the moves. There are some research performed to consider social playing and they also concluded that when exergames are played socially (with another opponent or through online opponents), energy expenditure is significantly higher and sometimes it's even higher than real sports.

In "Game Design" section, you have Fun, Level Design, 3D-2D (for example). Fun is an important rule in continuing performing a physical activity. I have not encountered a lot of research comparing fun side of different games but from what I personally saw in practice, they loose the fun side easily (because I believe you always play in a passive mode, you just have to follow). So even in the most interesting games, you should not expect playing forever and ever. Now consider other parameters like level design and graphics too.

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Exergame presentation

Me and my colleague, Tiago Montanha were presenting our projects at University of Porto Show (11ª mostra da Universidade do Porto). I was representing Porto Biomechanics Laboratory (LABIOMEP) and Tiago was with The Research Center in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL). We were presenting the use of laboratory equipment in different domains of physiology, biomechanics, and psychology.

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