Abstract
Sedentary time is considered a health risk factor, even when it is compensated with some exercise. Frequent activities of minimal physical exertion throughout the day like walking or climbing stairs are therefore recommended. To promote these activities through social play and collective awareness, we designed a semi-public display that shows the step count of a group of players in near real-time, using a wearable self-monitoring device that senses their physical activity. We included a fictional player that walked at constant speed during the whole day to promote a shared goal. Our preliminary findings suggest that the display motivated players to use a self-monitoring device everyday and enabled new conversations among players without producing privacy issues. Emotional connections with non-collocated participants and creative ways of cheating were also observed. We believe our work highlights the opportunities to extend the potential of self-monitoring devices, which require little effort and resources to be implemented.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | IE 2013 - Proceedings of the 9th Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment |
Subtitle of host publication | Matters of Life and Death |
Publisher | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781450322546 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment 2013: Matters of Life and Death - Melbourne, VIC, Australia Duration: 30 Sept 2013 → 1 Oct 2013 Conference number: 9th |
Conference
Conference | Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment 2013 |
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Abbreviated title | IE 2013 |
Country/Territory | Australia |
City | Melbourne, VIC |
Period | 30/09/13 → 1/10/13 |
Keywords
- Behavior change
- Behavior change technologies
- Persuasive games
- Persuasive technology
- Physical activity displays
- Self-monitoring devices
- Serious games