Nintendo Wii is one of a number of ‘active’ computer games, which differ from the traditional more ‘sedentary’ computer game in that physical movement is the method of interaction. In Wii Sports, gamers hold a motion-sensitive controller containing gyroscopes and accelerometers, and simulate the motion of athletes playing a sport (tennis, boxing, golf, bowling or baseball). In Wii Golf for example, Nintendo instructs players to “hold the controller like a golf club and swing naturally to smack the ball onto the green”.
Other active games include Sony’s EyeToy, which uses a USB motion-sensitive camera to incorporate players’ movements into the game, and Konami’s ‘Dance Dance Revolution’, the pioneering dance game which started out in arcades but can now be played at home in front of the TV.
The style of interaction in active games has generated a stir in the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) world. Donald Norman says: “The Wii has completely changed the game world.” He calls this mode of interaction ‘physicality’, and welcomes the return to physical devices which we control using our body movements. Active games are also a fascinating area for ergonomists. Since the Wii’s launch in 2006, stories have been appearing in the press about injuries sustained by players. Indeed, there is a whole website devoted to this topic;www.wiihaveaproblem.com. Putting aside preventable accidents involving players whacking each other with their Wii hand-held remotes, there have also been intriguing reports of incidents similar to sports injuries. A case of acute tendonitis, an injury often associated with ‘real’ tennis, was first dubbed ‘Wiiitis’ by Julio Bonis in 2007. Also in 2007, the first case of ‘Wii knee’ was reported; a dislocated patella caused by a fall whilst simulating a serve in Wii Tennis. Other variants of Wiiitis such as ‘Wii Shoulder’ have emerged since.
Rachel Benedyk, ergonomist at UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC), first heard about the occurrence of such injuries from an osteopath, who had seen three cases of Wii-related injuries in quick succession. Rachel is particularly interested in the multiple risk factors involved. The risks for active gamers are likely to differ from those for sedentary gamers in that players are physically active, as they would be whilst playing a real sport. However players are not necessarily limited by the stamina needed to play a real sport, so that players who are deeply immersed in the game may play for many hours without taking a proper break.
Nintendo warns Wii Sports players to take breaks of minimum 10-15 minutes every hour, and to stop if they experience any discomfort or pain. Players of active games should also be advised to warm up; players may not be active or sporty, and may not be aware of the need for preparation before playing sport – indeed are they even thinking of these active games in terms of a ‘sport’? Which prompts the question: how similar are active games to ‘real’ sports?
There are some important differences. One might be the mental approach taken by the players which, as speculated above, may be to take such games less seriously than they might take a ‘real’ sport. Another is the movement patterns of the players; whilst gamers are required to simulate the action of the actual sports, experienced gamers have learned that, to play effectively, it is necessary to make “only small movements from the wrist, as this allows more precise control” (from a study on the movement patterns of gamers playing Wii boxing by University of Twente and UCLIC, as pictured). Also, the Wii remote control is much lighter (200g) and smaller than a tennis racket, a golf club or a bowling ball, which a study by Nett, Collins and Sperling suggests “may lead to awkward deceleration forces being applied to the upper extremity”. And movements are generally concentrated in the upper body, with the important exception of Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution.
But there are similarities, too. A study by Graves, Ridgers and Stratton shows that adolescents playing Wii Boxing may burn more than triple the amount of energy burned at rest and over twice that burned in sedentary games (although still less than that burned whilst playing the sports they simulate). Given this fact, could active games actually bring players the benefits of playing a real sport, especially that of combatting obesity? In researching the answer to this question some of the snobbery which is common in discussion of gaming by non-gamers was encountered. “Virtual gaming is no replacement for real exercise,” says a spokesperson for the University of Michigan Health System, “really, you want to get out there, give it a try and have some real fun.” The expressions ‘real exercise’, ‘real fun’, like ‘real sports’, are barriers to our understanding of active gaming, and could blind us to the benefits, which may far outweigh the risks.
The argument that energy expenditure during active gaming is less than that of the sports being simulated, rather misses the point. It suggests that active games are in some way replacing real sports. It seems more likely that the alternative to playing active games for most children is playing sedentary games or watching TV, both of which have been linked to childhood obesity.
As to suggesting that active games are a poor relation of the ‘real’ fun of ‘real’ sports; by what measure are we quantifying ‘fun’? If ‘immersion’ in games is any indicator, then active games are so much fun that they are being used in injury rehabilitation as a form of physical therapy, which acts as a powerful distraction from the pain which such therapy often entails. Using computer games in rehabilitation is not new, but active games have opened up new possibilities. They are currently in use in treatment of spinal cord injuries, combat injuries, broken bones and strokes, as well as in surgical recovery and occupational therapy. Therapists using this so-called ‘Wiihabilitation’ have reported increased motivation of their patients relative to traditional rehabilitation (from a study by Galego and Simone).
So for ergonomists, there is an intriguing range of issues in this area. Clearly there are health and safety issues and we need to look at both the profile of gamers and the games themselves, as well as the home environment in which they are played, to explore how best to minimise the risks. The British Chiropractic Association provides useful guidelines for preventing injuries to players at www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk. Meanwhile, lets also focus on the potential of active games; for instance as a way of bringing activity into a sedentary lifestyle.
The aforementioned University of Twente/UCLIC study suggests adapting games to monitor exertion levels and movement patterns, so as to steer gamers towards more healthy body movements. Nintendo themselves are clearly aware of the potential here; the Wii Fit was launched in the UK in 2008, claiming to “change how you exercise, how you balance, and even how you move”.
Returning to that Wii console you’ve recently got…feeling worried yet? You may have good reason; are you ready for the humiliation of your teenage daughter thrashing you at Wii Golf? Either way, please do some stretching exercises first.
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