Sponsor my Skydive to Support Exergaming Students!

I normally have the left seat when aviation is concerned and it's never occurred to me to land independently of the aircraft I took to the skies with. In all honesty I'm really not that good with heights at all! A skydive represents a significant challenge to me, so it's appropriate that I do this daunting task to support exergame research's equally duanting challenges.

Exergaming research is disparate and unstructured in it's approach and inconsistent with it's results. This leads to a great deal of confusion in the media and public view as to what exergaming can and can not achieve with respect to health. Exergaming is a serious game floundering in the playground of research politics. No more obvious is this than the biggest research projects, that while guaranteeing the principle researchers tier one journal publications, leaving the exergaming genre abused in it's wake. Read more about that sorry state of affairs here.

The Exergame Network (TEN) has been long aware that the limitations of exergaming are public knowledge, dissemination, application and study design rather than failings in the equipment and the excellent individuals who deliver the experience to the users. To that end TEN has collaborated to give the top questions, and therefore evidence, required to understand exergaming. From it's wiki site here they are:

We need studies to show positive results in the following studies; 

1. Energy Expenditure (absolute or comparative) - DONE

2. Adherence of Exergaming - DONE

3. Positive Behaviour Effects

4. Gateway Effect

5. Comparative Enjoyment of PA

6. Health Benefits of Exergaming

7. Family health benefits of Exergaming

8. Cognitive benefits of exergaming

9. Improved social confidence from Exergaming

The first two of these questions have been answered sucessfuly by Konami's DDR and Gamercize's GZ Pro-Sport respectively. In answering these questions the original study design also becomes valuable - as a blueprint for others to follow in the implementation of exergaming. The irony is that exergamers in the field already know what works and what doesn't, so why don't researchers answer their research questions using study designs informed by the experts?

TEN thinks this is a poor state of affairs, so is launching an initiative to get the right designs into the journals. The reason I am facing the challenge of falling out of a plane on my own (note that I'm not jumping tandem but solo) is to give TEN a chance to gain some sponsorship to fund students into exergame research.

TEN will ask for study designs to be submitted for consideration and the best of these will be decided by a panel of experts for funding and support. As indicated above TEN thinks there is more to funding a study than most other foundations - TEN wants the right questions, right design and right approach, so the award to successful candidates will not only be money. TEN is providing the following;

1. Cash for research assistants / buy out from class
2. Exergaming equipment donation
3. Dissemination opportunities
4. Publication opportunities
5. Academic Support and Exergaming Expertise

The way to support this cause is to donate via fundraise.com at https://www.fundraise.com/the-exergame-network/active-gamer - You can also support the initiative by sharing this post, the fund raising page and joining TEN on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and attending Skype calls. Do it now.

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Is Enhanced Physical Activity Possible Using Active Videogames? - Open Response by Gamercize CEO

Making Exergaming A Success?

Gamercize has always performed impeccably in well designed research studies, delivering the validation of sensible, and considered, research questions. (see http://gamercize.blogspot.com/p/active-gaming-research-projects.html for study designs and results)


Applications of Gamercize in these studies have varied from desk exercise to school activities and at all times provided the correct level of engagement for the user to achieve beneficial physiological responses.


Gamercize does not fail because of the core principles of making exercise a secondary activity (automatic response) to the on-screen enjoyment, and allowing the user to engage in the electronic content that they prefer.


Best games and realistic exercise; is there any better formula for an exergame design? According to a recent Clinical Brief in the excellent Games for Health Journal, some researchers are well behind in the learning curve towards this understanding.


The brief is referencing a study reported on earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics, with the lead researcher, Tom Baranowski, defending the original study for it's poor reception by the media. Originally, according the NHS in the UK, the summary of the study by Dr Baranowski was “there is no reason to believe that simply acquiring an active video game under naturalistic circumstances provides a public health benefit to children”. This was a pretty bold statement to be based on just one study - even despite it's size and cost. It is also a statement that is incorrect with respect to Gamercize active video games.


In defense of the controversy stirred up by the study and it's subsequent media reporting the recent Brief diverges from rational perspective and common sense further, claiming "Children early in the diffusion curve might have used the games more actively" - which translated basically means, had the study been conducted when Wii first came out it would have favorably changed the outcome. The suggestion for rectifying this (of many) faults of the study claims that Kinect for Xbox 360 would have been a resolution.


The most basic and fundamental failure of this research, the attempt to recover via the Brief and of the researcher is that; A CONSOLE IS NOT A GAME! A new game is all that is required to sustain interest. Clearly the more engaging and appropriate for the user the game is in the first place, the longer the period of time before interest wanes. 


The game titles used had not been chosen by the participants in the original study and were weak gameplay fitness games (excusing DDR of course!). There is not one person familiar with video games that would have expected the outcome to be anything but a failure as a result.


Gamercize, of course, does not suffer from the weak fitness title sustainability problem (see the list of exergaming studies earlier in this post that references this) as Gamercize uses the game the user wants to play! Would this have been a more considered exergame to put under test? I think so. It is a pity the genre of exergaming took such a high level kick in the teeth by the media reports, slowing our progress towards the very health benefits this study sought to prove.


To summarize, the basic lack of understanding into the interaction between video games and the target population is outstanding. There is no systematic or methodological failure in the study outside of this. The foundation of sheer ignorance of video gaming was not understood by media and hence why the media reporting was so outspoken and prolific. 


My conclusion for any researcher looking to expand their portfolio with exergaming studies is (and I would welcome Tom's open reply in comment);


"If you don't understand video games you will never be able to design a successful study using exergaming. Certainly don't undertake any exergaming study until you have taken advice from an expert - any twelve year old will do."

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Study: Xbox is better exercise than Wii

Active Gaming Proved To Keep Kids Interested

Two major criticisms of using active gaming for physical activity are the lack of exercise compared to traditional activity and the expectation that kids easily get fed up with the new way of moving.

Two linked studies in the United Kingdom have tackled these issues head-on by trialling active gaming in a free-play environment. Two schools in the Midlands undertook a medium term study using popular active games compared against free play in the playground.

The effort that the kids expended was converted into “steps” to make the results comparable between the playground and the video games. The initial study, over six weeks used Nintendo Wii Sports active play compared with the baseline of traditional play. The results showed that in week one the Wii was king of the calories, keeping kids 25% more active than the playground.

After the first week, the criticisms of boredom and poor exercise appeared well founded, as Wii exercise floundered to a poor 65% of traditional activity. The study was then repeated, this time using Xbox and Gamercize Power Steppers. The results, unexpectedly, turned the thinking about the shortcomings of active gaming on its head.

For the second data collection, the kids had to keep moving on the Gamercize steppers to power their controllers and play the game, which would pause if they stopped moving. Normal video games are compatible with Gamercize and games such as Lego Star Wars and FIFA were used.

The Gamercize results were similar to Nintendo’s results for week one, reflecting the kids excitement of “something new”. What happened next was unexpected. Rather than the initial interest tailing off like it did with Wii, the combination of Xbox and Gamercize kept the kids playing, engaged and active throughout the entire study period.

The Wii data supported the loss of interest and lack of exercise critisims of active gaming, but Gamercize for Xbox did not suffer a lack of interest over time or a drop in physical activity. What can we conclude from this? As a physical activity intervention, Gamercize uses the attraction of videogames to keep the kids engaged and the patented Gamercize approach of minimal interaction kept the kids active the whole time.

Results of the Gamercize study have been presented at the European Child Obesity Group. Reference: Duncan, M. J., Birch, S., Woodfield, L., Hankey, J. (2010) An evaluation of a 5-week, school-based, exergaming intervention using the Gamercize power stepper on body mass index and physical activity during school lunch breaks in British primary school children. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Workshop of the European Child Obesity Group, Nov 17-20th, Brussels, Belgium.

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