Jogging over a distance: the influence of design in parallel exertion games

"Exertion games"are gaming interactions with technology in which users invest significant physical effort. They form part of an emerging phenomenon with many physical and social health benefits, and we believe that the social and exertion interactions are intertwined. Recent technological developments, particularly in the sports and game domain, have been proposed to augment these exertion activities. However, we only have a limited understanding of how this relationship between social and exertion aspects can be successfully facilitated by the design, especially in mediated environments. In this paper, we present initial findings of a qualitative study of "Jogging over a Distance" that illustrate how technology design can facilitate a social game experience despite participants running in opposite sides of the world. From this study, we derived conceptual themes that offer an analytical and descriptive account of the influence of design on the relationship between exertion and social aspects. Our work aims to support the analysis of existing, and provide guidance for, the design of future games that aim to utilize the many benefits of social exertion.