| 'Ere be dragons: heart and health. (2006) | |||||||
Abstract | |||||||
| This full paper describes a project which developed the first pervasive game to successfully integrate gameplay with feedback about the player's heart rate. It was presented at the International Workshop on Pervasive Gaming Applications in Dublin, Ireland, on 7 May 2006 in conjunction with the 4th International Conference on Pervasive Computing. It The project represents an extension of Moar's interest in novel uses of technology to assist learning into an informal, playful context. The core research questions addressed by the project were: - How may heart-rate information be integrated into a locative-based game? - What technologies may be used to realise a health related pervasive game? - What are the lifestyle implications of such a game? This overview of the project also details the key technical and gameplay features. Using a design-test-design approach together with ethnographic techniques, a successful game was devised and the player's performance and observations were monitored. For the first time, the paper showed that heart-rate information can be used as performance feedback in a locative game; also that affordable, accessible technologies exist to make such games possible. The paper develops the argument that enabling learning about the relationship between heart-rate and physical activity, together with motivational aspects of this type of game may contribute to improving the health of a sedentary population reluctant to participate in more conventional forms of exercise. In this joint paper with five others, Moar was the expert in methodology, user experience and technical implementation. Dragons has received international attention: presentations in Singapore, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Finland; competitive international exhibition (ACM Multimedia Art, Singapore, 7-11 November 2005); other papers; two book chapters – for Space Time Play: Games, Architecture and Urbanism (Birkhäuser 2007); full chapter for Pervasive Games (eds. Magerkurth and Röcker) 2008. Nokia award 2007. | |||||||
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