A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has advanced forward in everyday life where virtual fitness is possible through physically moving around in the real world. Exergame is a video game for exercise aimed at making exercise more fun. VR exergame applies these trends together for virtual fitness with imme...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chaowanan Khundam, Frédéric Nöel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-01-01
Series:International Journal of Computer Games Technology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6668280
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841524540411215872
author Chaowanan Khundam
Frédéric Nöel
author_facet Chaowanan Khundam
Frédéric Nöel
author_sort Chaowanan Khundam
collection DOAJ
description Virtual Reality (VR) technology has advanced forward in everyday life where virtual fitness is possible through physically moving around in the real world. Exergame is a video game for exercise aimed at making exercise more fun. VR exergame applies these trends together for virtual fitness with immersive game play. The VR locomotion is traveling in VR, which is commonly used in adventure role-playing games (RPG). Virtual running can be applied as a locomotion technique for VR exergames. The design of virtual running in VR exergames should be considered as an exercise for fitness and also for enjoyment. This paper proposed two motion-based locomotion techniques: ArmSwing and Squat for virtual running, which are considered as aerobic and strength exercise. These two postures were used to study how physical exertion affected players while interacting in the test scene. Usability, motion sickness, and enjoyment were assessed to analyze the differences of each posture. The results showed that motion sickness and enjoyment of ArmSwing and Squat were not different, while usability was different where ArmSwing was rated higher than Squat. The results from the interviews suggest that most players preferred aerobic exercise (ArmSwing) more than strength exercise (Squat) for a long period of exercise. However, for a short period of exercise, players preferred strength exercise more than aerobic exercise. The adventure-based RPG for exercise needs a solution design appropriate for virtual running in VR, and our results can be a guideline for developers in order to handle motion-based locomotion for VR exergames.
format Article
id doaj-art-56ef7826079540a9979b67f6b5a96541
institution Kabale University
issn 1687-7047
1687-7055
language English
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Computer Games Technology
spelling doaj-art-56ef7826079540a9979b67f6b5a965412025-02-03T05:52:56ZengWileyInternational Journal of Computer Games Technology1687-70471687-70552021-01-01202110.1155/2021/66682806668280A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for ExergamesChaowanan Khundam0Frédéric Nöel1IICE, School of Informatics, Walailak University, 222 Thai-Bury, Thasala, Nakhon Si Thammarat, 80160, ThailandInstitute of Engineering Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, G-SCOP, 38000 Grenoble, FranceVirtual Reality (VR) technology has advanced forward in everyday life where virtual fitness is possible through physically moving around in the real world. Exergame is a video game for exercise aimed at making exercise more fun. VR exergame applies these trends together for virtual fitness with immersive game play. The VR locomotion is traveling in VR, which is commonly used in adventure role-playing games (RPG). Virtual running can be applied as a locomotion technique for VR exergames. The design of virtual running in VR exergames should be considered as an exercise for fitness and also for enjoyment. This paper proposed two motion-based locomotion techniques: ArmSwing and Squat for virtual running, which are considered as aerobic and strength exercise. These two postures were used to study how physical exertion affected players while interacting in the test scene. Usability, motion sickness, and enjoyment were assessed to analyze the differences of each posture. The results showed that motion sickness and enjoyment of ArmSwing and Squat were not different, while usability was different where ArmSwing was rated higher than Squat. The results from the interviews suggest that most players preferred aerobic exercise (ArmSwing) more than strength exercise (Squat) for a long period of exercise. However, for a short period of exercise, players preferred strength exercise more than aerobic exercise. The adventure-based RPG for exercise needs a solution design appropriate for virtual running in VR, and our results can be a guideline for developers in order to handle motion-based locomotion for VR exergames.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6668280
spellingShingle Chaowanan Khundam
Frédéric Nöel
A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
International Journal of Computer Games Technology
title A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
title_full A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
title_fullStr A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
title_full_unstemmed A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
title_short A Study of Physical Fitness and Enjoyment on Virtual Running for Exergames
title_sort study of physical fitness and enjoyment on virtual running for exergames
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/6668280
work_keys_str_mv AT chaowanankhundam astudyofphysicalfitnessandenjoymentonvirtualrunningforexergames
AT fredericnoel astudyofphysicalfitnessandenjoymentonvirtualrunningforexergames
AT chaowanankhundam studyofphysicalfitnessandenjoymentonvirtualrunningforexergames
AT fredericnoel studyofphysicalfitnessandenjoymentonvirtualrunningforexergames