Creating an Effective Exergame with Lasting Entertainment Value Kristoffer Hagen Stian Weie Master of Science in Computer Science Submission date: June 2015 Supervisor: Maria Letizia Jaccheri, IDI Co-supervisor: Konstantinos Chorianopoulos, IDI Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Computer and Information Science i Acknowledgments We would like to express our gratitude to our supervisors Professor Letizia Jac- cheri and Professor Konstantinos Chorianopoulos at the Department of Computer and Information Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), who provided us with the opportunity to work on this inspiring project. We give our special appreciation to Konstantinos Chorianopoulos for his invalu- able guidance and knowledge on how to approach and conduct this study. We would also like to thank Trine Moholdt at the Department of Circulation and Med- ical Imaging at NTNU for her help with specifying the physical aspect of the ex- periment, as well as lending us the necessary equipment. Finally, we would like to thank the people at NTNU Hackerspace, Omega Workshop, as well as Department Engineer Ingulf Helland at the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at NTNU, for their assistance in developing the required hardware. ii Abstract There have been many efforts towards developing research prototypes for ex- ergames, but the majority of them have been for short-term demonstration pur- poses. In particular, the design of those prototypes has been focused on usability and immediate fun, which are necessary, but not sufficient attributes for an enga- ging exergame with lasting value. For this purpose, we surveyed the gameplay mechanics of popular contemporary video games, in order to create an engaging exergame that is attractive over longer periods of time. Consequently, we were inspired to develop a biking exergame based on gameplay mechanics found in popular computer games. In contrast to previous exergames, we propose that this biking exergame will seamlessly merge the exercise activity and the video game action and provide a gaming experience which the users can enjoy over long peri- ods of play, as well as provide sufficient physical activity to provide long term health benefits. The result of this work is a specification of features people find most intriguing in computer games, a description of the created exergame, an in- novative hardware solution that can also be reused in similar projects, and an eval- uation with users testing our exergame. Further empirical work should evaluate the long-term health benefits of the biking exergame, as well as further explore the provided guidelines for a finer balance between interaction design and exercise physiology. iii Sammendrag Det er blitt gjort mange forsøk på å utvikle treningsspill for å motivere til fysisk aktivitet, men de fleste er blitt lagd kun med tanke på kortsiktig demonstrasjon. Treningsspillene er blitt utviklet for å være lette å bruke, og for å tilby umiddelbar underholdning. Dette er viktige egenskaper for et spill, men er ikke nok til at ten- gingsspillet skal tilby varig underholdningsverdi. Med dette som utgangspunkt ser vi på egenskaper ved ordinære dataspill som er populære i dag, for å lage et tren- ingsspill som tilbyr lignende spillglede over lengre tid. Som et resultat av denne studien ble vi motivert til å utvikle et treningsspill som spilles med en ergomet- ersykkel, basert på gameplay funnet i populære dataspill. I motsetning til lignende treningsspill påstår vi at dette treningsspillet kombinerer fysisk aktivitet og spill- ing på en sømløs måte. Det tilbyr spillerne et spill som er gøy over lengre tid, og som fører til økt fysisk aktivitet som kan gi positive helsevirkninger. Resultatet av dette arbeidet er en spesifikasjon av spillegenskaper som folk liker best i spill, en beskrivelse av treningsspillet vi har utviklet, en innovativ hardwareløsning som kan bli gjenbrukt i lignende prosjekter, og en evaluering av treningsspillet med frivillige testdeltakere. Videre empirisk arbeid bør utforske langsiktige helseeffek- ter ved bruk av treningsspillet, samt videre utforske de foreslåtte retningslinjene for treningspill for å finne en god balanse mellom interaksjonsdesign og trenings- fysiologi. iv Contents Contents viii 1 Introduction1 1.1 Motivation..............................1 1.2 Exergames..............................2 1.3 Objective..............................2 1.4 Outline...............................3 2 Related Work5 2.1 Designing an Enjoyable Exergame with Lasting Entertainment Value5 2.1.1 State of the Art.......................5 2.2 Feasible Creation and Deployment of Software and Hardware.. 13 2.3 Evaluating Exertion and Enjoyment with Data Triangulation... 14 3 Desirable Features in an Exergame 17 3.1 Features Found in Popular Computer Games............ 18 3.2 Team-based Gameplay and Competitive Multiplayer....... 19 3.3 Selection of Playable Characters and Character Progression.... 21 v vi CONTENTS 3.4 Strategic Depth........................... 24 3.5 Different Kinds of Goals and Rewards............... 25 3.6 A Cohesive Experience....................... 27 3.6.1 Stationary Bicycle..................... 27 3.6.2 Natural Movements and Alternating Periods of Intensity. 27 3.6.3 Natural Mapping of Exercise into Gameplay Mechanics. 28 4 Creating the game 29 4.1 Overview.............................. 29 4.2 Software............................... 29 4.2.1 Gameplay.......................... 30 4.2.2 Strategic Depth....................... 31 4.2.3 A Persisting Element.................... 33 4.2.4 Rewards........................... 33 4.2.5 Implementing Immersive Movement............ 34 4.3 Hardware.............................. 35 4.3.1 Speed Measurement.................... 36 4.3.2 Handlebar Buttons..................... 39 4.3.3 Arduino Communication.................. 39 4.3.4 The Arduino Script..................... 40 4.3.5 The Circuit......................... 40 5 Evaluation Methodology 47 5.1 Empirical research......................... 47 5.2 Triangulation............................ 47 5.3 Flow................................. 47 5.4 Data................................. 50 CONTENTS vii 5.4.1 The Physical Aspect.................... 50 5.4.2 The Psychological Aspect................. 51 5.5 The Experiment........................... 51 5.6 Data Collection Methods...................... 52 5.6.1 Initial Person data..................... 52 5.6.2 Measuring Physical Data.................. 52 5.6.3 Measuring Psychological Data............... 53 5.7 Sampling.............................. 55 5.8 Reliability and Validity....................... 57 5.9 Incentive to Participate in the Experiment............. 59 5.10 Ethical Issues............................ 59 5.11 The Participants........................... 60 6 Results 61 6.1 Physical Exertion.......................... 61 6.1.1 Pulse............................ 61 6.1.2 Energy Expenditure.................... 62 6.1.3 Perceived Exertion..................... 63 6.2 Enjoyment.............................. 64 6.2.1 Flow............................ 64 6.2.2 Activity Duration...................... 67 6.2.3 Perceived Enjoyment.................... 68 6.3 Development of Exergame Enjoyment over Time......... 68 6.4 Qualitative Feedback and Observations............... 69 6.5 Summary.............................. 70 7 Discussion 71 viii CONTENTS 7.1 Designing an Enjoyable Exergame with Lasting Entertainment Value 71 7.2 Feasible Creation and Deployment of Software and Hardware.. 73 7.3 Evaluating Exertion and Enjoyment with Data Triangulation... 74 8 Conclusion and Further Work 75 8.1 Conclusion............................. 75 8.2 Further Work............................ 76 Appendices 85 A Flow State Questionnaire 87 B Anonymized personalia questionnaire 91 C Experiment participation agreement 95 D Experiment results 97 E ICEC paper 125 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation Computer games are becoming a larger and larger part of everyday life for youths and adults alike. More time is being spent on television, computer and other gam- ing devices than any other activity apart from sleeping (1). We are also living increasingly sedentary lifestyles, replacing physical activity with stationary activ- ities (2). In the last five years alone, average computer use in youths has increased by 40 minutes a day, or the equivalent of 240 hours a year (1). This lifestyle, characterized by increased time spent in front of a screen and decreased physical activity, has been shown to increase the risk of both physical as well as psycholo- gical illness (3)(4). Health organizations across the world (5)(6), recommends an average of 22 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 11 minutes of vigorous-intensity, physical activity a day for adults. For youth and children the suggested requirement is three times higher. The benefits of following this recommendation are many, and the consequences of not doing so, are grave. With this in mind we decided to investigate the possibility to promote physical activity in tandem with providing gaming-type entertainment. We wanted to create a computer game that is played like an ordinary video game, but is controlled with exercise equipment (instead of a keyboard, touch screen, or remote control). This way we could create an attractive and useful computer game that also could help the users be more physically active. The similarities to existing video games should make the game familiar to players of traditional video games and keep the barrier of entry