Exergaming technology is being used in schools, offices, homes and gyms for health and fitness. This presentation by the leading industry companies in the interactive fitness and exergaming industry explains.
1. Interactive Fitness and Exergaming Richard Coshott CEO and Founder Gamercize Emily Rosenberry Business Manager Positive Gaming
2. Richard Coshott - CEO and Founder, Gamercize “ Video games are a growing part of modern day lives. With 95% of young people playing games has accrued approximately 100 million years of play in the last 5 years. This technology is not going away, so the smart thing to do is work with games for exercise instead of against them .
3. Emily Rosenberry – Business Manager, Positive Gaming “ Exergaming combines physical, cognitive and social benefits unlike traditional sports or physical education classes and has the ability to turn people onto the benefits of an active lifestyle.”
24. Find us online and join in… Richard Coshott [email_address] http://www.gamercize.net Emily Rosenberry [email_address] http://www.positivegaming.com
Notas del editor
This presentation will give you the background into exergaming. A lot of you will have heard about exergaming, or active gaming, from media reports; most likely into Wii or Wii Fit. This is the tip of the iceberg as journalists struggle to engage with this new concept. Exergaming is commonly recognised in Dance Mats, Sony Eyetoy, Wii Sports, Gamercize and also a variety of racing game bikes. Those are the products, but what of the concept, where did it come from, what can it do and why should you be using it?
This presentation will give you the background into exergaming. A lot of you will have heard about exergaming, or active gaming, from media reports; most likely into Wii or Wii Fit. This is the tip of the iceberg as journalists struggle to engage with this new concept. Exergaming is commonly recognised in Dance Mats, Sony Eyetoy, Wii Sports, Gamercize and also a variety of racing game bikes. Those are the products, but what of the concept, where did it come from, what can it do and why should you be using it?
This presentation will give you the background into exergaming. A lot of you will have heard about exergaming, or active gaming, from media reports; most likely into Wii or Wii Fit. This is the tip of the iceberg as journalists struggle to engage with this new concept. Exergaming is commonly recognised in Dance Mats, Sony Eyetoy, Wii Sports, Gamercize and also a variety of racing game bikes. Those are the products, but what of the concept, where did it come from, what can it do and why should you be using it?
First off, lets get some background into the lifestyle and environmental changes that have built not only the space for exergaming but have made this new concept almost a necessity. This is a picture of a local play park serving a very large estate community taken at about 6:30 pm on a warm mid-week day. The facilities look great, only thing missing from this picture is the kids.
The lack of incidental exercise means play has become inactive, and that leads to a loss of fitness and consequently weight gain to obesity.
For incidental activity to get back into play, it needs to be a part of new play - video games. How is this accomplished?
Exergaming is a very simple concept but the important thing to realise at this stage is that exergaming addresses the problem of lost exercise, the problem of video gaming being inactive.
Intro to topic
Socially inclusive – lower barrier to entries for those that are not ‘natural athletes’ excitement beyond activity – social networking
Games and exercise sounds easy doesn’t it? Behind the face of the simple concept there is a lot of thought needed. For exergames to work in delivering health benefits they need to satisfy a number of basic criteria to be effective. So, what are the boxes to tick?
Gaming has now grown to the point that the population supports a wide social community. Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii consoles all offer online gaming networks, and exergames need to support these environments, not just technically, but also in terms of cost of purchase and space. Exergames need to be low cost and take up minimal space to get a social group of exergamers active in one facility.
Being diligent and intelligent people, we now have a shortlist of exergames that have the ability to deliver exercise to our target population in a fun and sustainable way, but how can we employ this new technology?
Reward based exergaming is a powerful tool. The lure of video games in a setting that does not normally allow such pastimes can be justified by adding the exercise element. One school is using exergames in the academic classroom, when children finish their assignments well and in good time they can exergame. Imagine the parents reactions if this was inactive gameplay!
Intro to topic
Being diligent and intelligent people, we now have a shortlist of exergames that have the ability to deliver exercise to our target population in a fun and sustainable way, but how can we employ this new technology?
Competition is far more ethically acceptable with adults than children and this is where exergaming borders on a sport. To compete in sport is seen as a healthy and rewarding activity, to play a co-worker in the squash ladder, as an example, is seen as a social outlet for an adult environment with less social opportunities than school of college. The current generation of young adults have grown up with video games as part of their lives from an early age, and extending these time served skills into tournaments is a grown up way to play exergames.
Intro to topic
Notes
You have most of the facts, not it’s time to decide to go with exergaming or not. To be honest, there is not really a choice here, exergaming is not a replacement for traditional activity is a different option. It educates people that fitness is fun and fits in with the growing demand for gaming. For those people not comfortable with traditional physical activity who would rather be video gaming, exergames can actually help.
The vast majority of video games are based on levels or increasing difficulty, the mindset that takes video games to a high level of appeal and engagement. Given the gateway tools for the job the natural progression from exergames is uptake in traditional sports and exercise activities. Surely this is the ultimate level for gamers to master.