ExerGaming

[Arctic_Wolf] My friends parents bought him the nice DDR pads so he could lose some weight.
[Arctic_Wolf] He gets in trouble whenever they find out he's bought a non DDR PS2 game.
[Arctic_Wolf] "HOW IS ARMORED CORE 2 SUPPOSED TO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT, WONG?"

So, this week I'm looking at exergaming. Contrasting with the other portmanteau-named genres I've looked at before, the object of exergames isn't to teach anything (though, as with most games, this is somewhat of a side-effect) but instead they intend to promote physical activity.

Exergames can be seen as sort-of a subset of games that use non-standard control apparatus (whether simply in the form of something like a light-gun or something like a Guitar Hero controller). The intention of these controllers is usually to elevate the gaming experience away from something simply controlled by pushing buttons. In the end, you're still just pushing buttons, but it's the way you're doing it that's important.

The exception to this is certain specialist controllers that don't just rely on buttons for control. Where a dance mat is just buttons you push with your feet, something like a Guitar Hero controller or the rod controller from Sega Bass Fishing rely on motion input on a varying scale. This is of course ubiquitous in the Wii controller.

So, to move to exergaming, why is it popular and why does it work? Anyone who's played games can tell you of the phenomenon of how often people will move their controller as they move their character/vehicle/etc. They'll jerk the controller up when they try to jump, or they'll lean the way they're attempting to turn a car. It seems that, as we become involved in a simulation, subconsciously, our bodies want to be involved. And this extends to exergaming. So when playing DDR, players don't just tap the pads with their feet in a disassociated manner, they move with the rhythm of the music and involve their whole bodies. When playing something like Wii sports, while they could just use a small and precise flick of the wrist to return a shot in tennis, it feels more natural to do a proper tennis swing. Even to do it in the proper point in space, when you could just as easily do it while sat down.

But why do this instead of playing a regular game? Why put in this effort when you can just push buttons? There's the obvious reason of the benefits provided by more physical games, but that's not what I think about when playing them. I don't play Wii sports because it'll make me fit. I play it because such an immersive simulation makes a simple game much more fun. Not just that, but because these games have somewhat of a performance aspect, they become very social. People at parties have Guitar Hero battles or they sit around playing bowling on the Wii (the fact that you don't compete simultaneously in bowling on the Wii allows it to transcend certain limitations, such as the fact you might only have one controller).

Another aspect of the appeal of these games is the fact you get instant praise for how well you play. If you begin to play an actual sport or going to the gym, your initial experiences could be horrible and you can fail to see any progress. But, like my experience with Burnout, you are easily able to track your progress in these games and see yourself getting better over time. If you play football, there are few obvious goals other than things like scoring a goal or contributing to your team winning in some way and these goals can seem very far off. Playing DDR, the goals are smaller and show progress far more easily. You could get the chance to score in football, only to have it denied by the keeper, but in DDR you get to experience yourself progressing through the game without any hindrances other than your own skill.

This positive reinforcement doesn't end at any specific point in the game. You don't complete every song and get the highest score and that's it, you can carry on and see if you can repeat that phenomenon. The performance aspect of the games fires your desire to "show-off" to others. You're not content to just load up the high score board and point to your score, you have to have them watch you get that score (or close to it) or you have to challenge them. And so you keep playing so you can maintain that skill.

There's also the element of the outsider. Not trying to delve too far into stereotyping, but the personalities of people who play video games tend to be different to the ones pre-disposed to sports or exercise in general. So, what exergaming allows these players to do is to partake in these activities in an environment they're comfortable with. They're not dancing or exercising, they're simply playing a game. Playing games is something they can do, so a perceived barrier is brought down that would otherwise be there without the gaming environment.

To bring this back to something I mentioned in my previous posts, while these simulations are no substitute for the "real thing" they have their place and are "their own thing". You obviously wouldn't suggest breaking into a Tennis match at a party, but in the same way you'll never think playing tennis on the Wii will help you improve your Tennis game. It's like the people who criticise Guitar Hero and say people should just "learn to play a real guitar". That's not what people want to do. They want to play a game and they want to be good at that game. I don't get a high score when I play a song perfectly on a real guitar...