Smart Thinking Inside The Box

The Future is Now

How many times have you heard the phrase "think outside the box"? This is a fine phrase to ask people to expand the boundaries of thought process in search of solutions to long standing problems.

Thinking outside the box has given rise to the trend of reducing sedentary activity and increasing voluntary physical activity with exergaming. The concept of using the "enemy" of fitness to actually promote and improve fitness could never have been arrived at with conventional thinking. So it's good to think outside the box? Yes, but there's a limit. When thinking is done, it's time for the doing.

This is what I mean by thinking inside the box. The physical activity innovation exergaming has now been bought inside the "box" - so let's think about using it, start the "doing". Constantly thinking of new ideas is great, for example Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move, but hang on, where's the justification and credibility of exergaming? What successes have we had so far, and is it enough?

The success of the Wii is not in doubt, selling more units than you can shake a wii-mote at, but is that success in physical activity? Not really. From my experience there's not been successful, sustainable, repeatable implementations of Wii in homes or schools (outside of obvious commercial success). How do we change that?

It's pretty clear from the research into energy expenditure and sustainability that we can get a better base for real implementation. This is what we are doing with Gamercize, from a base of promising data from studies we're looking into wrapping product with the process - in a schools programme.

To do this we need to think inside the box, look at what we have, use our experience, look at what it does and then figure out the best way to use it. In the next few months schools and teachers will be preparing to unleash this new thinking on the children of London, and those kids are sure going to have fun! Watch this space for progress updates!

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Exergaming Values

The Four Cornerstones of Active Gaming

During the last four years I have experienced active video gaming, commonly called exergaming, first hand as the founder and CEO of Gamercize.

There are two core aspects of exergaming, namely video gaming and exercise. The games provide the fun and the exercise provides the fitness. Many exergames did not balance fun and fitness so have come and gone.

Seeing this industry grow I have come to understand the four main principles that surround a successful exergame product like Gamercize. We have hit the magic formula and found the perfect balance by common sense and design from experience. This is what I have discovered.

1. Exergaming must be appeal to anyone.

Gamercize works with all video games taking advantage of the massive variety of games to gain universal appeal. Read more here.

2. Exergaming must be affordable for home use.

The entry level Gamercize machine is the least expensive product on the market at the same cost of two games. Read more here.

3. Exergaming must be easy to use for everyone.

Gamercize allows people of different abilities to compete and play together to make exergaming social not solitary. Read more here.

4. Exergaming must be fun to get fitness benefits.

Gamercize supports games that have not yet been released, making it part of the games console rather than a throw away fad. Read more here.

The future is bright for exergaming, and so as long as heavyweights keep public awareness high with their latest attempts to match our level of achievement in the four cornerstone principles - the future is very bright for Gamercize.

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Making Exergaming Sustainable for All

Fitness Gaming Shelved as Gimmicks Lose Their Appeal!

I have talked about exergaming accessibility, and showed how Gamercize does not alienate users based on physical ability where effort based exergames can. I also touched very briefly in that post on another ingredient of the magic formula for exergaming - sustainability.

It is hard for some people to understand Gamercize sometimes – “Where’s the game that comes with it?” they say. “We don’t have a game; if we did it would lose appeal over time while the latest hot release takes over.” I say. The blank look tells me this person clearly doesn’t understand how people are engaged by video games.

If they cannot grasp the fundamentals of video gaming, how can they make good choices, especially if they are the person responsible for delivering sustainable fitness and value? Well, initially they can’t make a good choice and prefer gimmicks with single dimension games. These pieces of equipment are hopeless as a capital investment in their own right and likely to lose appeal and become unused. I have seen it happen with non-Gamercize equipment.

It takes a while to find a parallel they can understand before they realise that not having a game for Gamercize is actually far better than it being a one trick pony. Examples of latest is greatest in technological terms are easy to find, but sometimes the best way of explaining the Gamercize concept is how children play with toys.

Have you ever noticed how kids always play with the new toys they have, and don’t play with last years toys? Sure there may be an old favourite toy, but the new stuff gets the majority of the attention. After all, if one set of toys was enough then birthday presents would never be given! If you want sustainable exergaming it must change to remain interesting.

If exercise is based on a single dimension game, then the only way to maintain interest would be to buy more equipment based on a different type of single dimension game. This will be a very expensive form of sustainability. “Would it actually be far cheaper to just change the game and not the entire machine” people argue? Yep, that’s Gamercize I say, and slowly they understand!

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