Gaming meets Fitness: Engaging With Virtual Training Worlds
Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken |
TEDxZurich
• November 2018
Although some years ago movement-based games for the Nintendo Wii turned our living rooms into playful training settings, today new technologies have found their way into the gym, converting these training spaces into virtual sports arenas. There is a huge potential for these innovative applications since the technology, and the general mindset of the society, are ready for the playful future of fitness training. But, to sustainably establish fitness games as an effective and attractive alternative or addition for traditional fitness training, the design process of fitness games needs to be refined. A holistic and symbiotic design approach of the player’s moving and sensing body, the mediating game controller technology, and the virtual game scenario, as well as a close collaboration of sports scientists, game designers and the target group itself, are essential to exploit the full potential of immersive fitness game settings. Anna Lisa explores this approach in her talk and discusses some of the results of her and her team’s R&D work in this field.