Environment setup

I just read a paper entitled "Evaluation of the Kinect™ sensor for 3-D kinematic measurement in the workplace". Since the passive systems (e.g. Vicon or Qualisys) are expensive and bulky, Kinect could be good alternative.

In the object detection, they were saying:

The Kinect had trouble detecting dark surfaces that absorbed light. It was also blind to shiny surfaces that resulted in specular reflection and even rough surfaces if the angle of incidence of incoming light was too large.

As at the first step, it looks like a great cheat code during playing Exergames (playing semi-naked if you are not not sure what to wear), this feature is very important in performance analysis in Exergames. This setup requirement plays a key role in detecting novice and experienced players.

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Serious Game Informatics

I read a paper titled "Accessible Telehealth - Leveraging Consumer-level Technologies and Social Networking Functionalities for Senior Care" and I thought how come would it be related to Exergames. I started to read it anyway. It was saying that most of the time people don't know about the symptoms of a disease or they don't know how much physical activity is needed. The personal health informatic section is also getting costly. Using serious games and particularly using social networks can be a good alternative to know more about their health and participate and learn new thing through gaming and having fun.
They were arguing that "lack of content" is one of the things that makes the Exergames boring after some time. They first came with the idea of "replacement for physical activity" but in action we saw that they don't increase the levels of physical activity in long term usage.

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long term enjoyment

Just read a paper on "The Effect of Exergaming on Vascular Function in Children*". In this paper, they also assessed level of enjoyment with PACES questionnaire within Hi-intensity and Low-intensity Exergaming. Having relatively same results for both conditions, authors concluded that children enjoyed them the same.
I believe, this sense of achieving and accomplishing is illusory. I believe long term considerations of enjoyment will show different results.


*: Andrew Mills, Michael Rosenberg, Gareth Stratton, Howard H. Carter, Angela L. Spence, Christopher J.A. Pugh, Daniel J. Green, Louise H. Naylor, The Effect of Exergaming on Vascular Function in Children, The Journal of Pediatrics. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347613003958)

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learning or fitness

I am reading a paper on Active Learning (1). In that study, they are using active pedaling to control a mouse in which eventually helps them learn about nutritional concepts. Challenging tasks results in continued persistence, allows players to use different strategies while having greater interest for performing the given task better (2). However, it’s not clear whether when the tasks are completed successfully, there would be any interests towards continuing them or not. This happens frequently during Exergames as they have lots of repetitive movements. So maybe this is the reason why they are interesting for a short period and after sometimes it gets boring.

(1): Mellecker, R. R., Witherspoon, L., & Watterson, T. (2013). Active Learning: Educational Experiences Enhanced Through Technology-Driven Active Game Play. The Journal of Educational Research, null-null.

(2): Turner, Julianne C. (1995). The influence of classroom contexts on young children's motivation for literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 30(3), 410.

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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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