Exploring how adaptive resistance can be used to create exergame mechanics that increase physical output and improve posture.

  • Joey Campbell

Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract

In 2022, more than 1.9bn adults are classified as being overweight with studies predicting that one fifth of adults worldwide will be obese by 2025 (NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, 2016). Diet and sedentary lifestyle choices are some of the contributory factors; for example, less than half of American adults adhere to the recommended 2.5 hours of moderate, aerobic physical activity per week (Ward et al., 2013). The application of gamified immersive physical exercise is one way to counteract obesity and its associated health conditions. Research has demonstrated that exergames can motivate enhanced physical output (Peng et al., 2011) and that “encouraging young adults to switch from inactive to active videogames may provide a substantial population-level public health benefit for obesity prevention” (Leatherdale et al., 2010).

Rizzo et al. (2011) maintained that exergames lacked the fidelity to fully replicate conventional exercise, however, they did believe it had potential, stating: “advances in full-body interaction systems for providing vigorous interaction with digital games are expected to drive the creation of engaging, low-cost interactive game-based applications designed to increase exercise participation”. The availability of affordable VR hardware (Oculus Quest 2, 2019) and unprecedented financial growth in the exergaming sector, justifies their predictions to some extent.

At the 2021 annual AR & VR conference, Facebook's CEO and Founder, Mark Zuckerberg announced that their exergaming title, ‘Beat Saber’, had amassed in excess of $100 million in revenue, making it the highest selling title on the Oculus Quest since the platforms inception (Suttrich, 2021). During the same month, Facebook (rebranded as Meta) announced its intention to acquire the LA based exergame studio Within for $400 million (Heater, 2021). These acquisitions demonstrate that billion dollar companies like Meta see potential growth from developing and investing in virtualised home exercise.

In addition to immersion and embodied interaction, certain virtual exercycling platforms (Zwift, 2019; Peloton, 2018) utilise smart trainers which allow the exergames to generate physical resistance relative to the slope and terrain of the virtual cycling environments. Zwift subscription rates currently exceed three million (Reed,2021), demonstrating the training platform's appeal. However, not everyone is content with a commercial exergame experience. Unimpressed by the visual fidelity on offer in mainstream exercycle games, an underground cohort of virtual cyclists have taken matters into their own hands and have modified a version of the commercial video game Grand Theft Auto Five (Rockstar Games). In GTBIKE V, players can exercise while experiencing some of the artificial antics on the virtual island of ‘Los Santos’ (Matas, 2021).

The fact that 1300 former Zwift players made an informed choice to migrate to an amateur cycling platform based on the visual and interactive fidelity demonstrates the importance of keeping visual and interactive exergame experiences on par with commercial video games.

The way that commercial games apply resistance is limited and would appear to have a lot more potential. Rather than using dynamic resistance to replicate virtual slopes and terrain, kinaesthetic feedback could instead be used to encourage output by dictating task intensity. Separating user autonomy from task intensity would allow the game, rather than the person, to maintain optimum output. This type of game mechanic could be used to motivate physical activity and in doing so support healthy lifestyles. In addition to health and fitness it could also assist with proprioceptive training, skill acquisition and rehabilitation.

One final aspect in relation to developments in immersive interaction is how enhanced feedback on task performance could be used to improve the quality of physical output. Given the growth in the virtual fitness sector and predictions that mixed reality use in the workplace is set to increase significantly in the coming decade (Dalton & Gillham, 2019) it makes sense that people engage in these environments correctly to enhance performance and reduce injury.
Date of Award20 Jun 2023
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University of Bristol
SupervisorPaul Marshall (Supervisor) & Oussama Metatla (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Resistance
  • Exergames
  • Exertion
  • haptics
  • actuation
  • Physical Activity
  • proprioception
  • posture
  • Virtual Reality
  • Mixed Reality

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