Group Introduction and Analysis for Validation
4:00pm, 6 August 2018, GP P413
This week was great for getting to know my new project team and was incredibly important as I got to learn what they all individually want to both gain and create while working on this project. It was also great to see that the team is diverse in ability, it definitely helps to alleviate some worry about creating high fidelity deliverables. This particular blog post aims to refine some of the items created by the team in a condensed format.
Generating Context: - #process
In order to create a base to work off we as a team needed to identify the key people, places and things that would ultimately be associated with the exergaming project.
Young children / Students - Early primary or PREP, Sporty, Unfit, With or without siblings (Older/Younger)
Family Members - Parents, Aunts & Uncles, Grandparents, Cousins (Younger/Older/Same Age)
Teachers - Grades 1 and below, After School Care, Day-care, Prep Teachers, PE Teachers, Art Teachers, Music Teachers
Health professionals - GP, Physiotherapist
Schools - Schoolyard, Class Room
Housing - Backyard, Living Room
Public - Park, Shopping Centre
Mobile Devices - Phones, Tablets, Laptop
Non-Mobile Devices - Xbox, PS4, Kinect, VR(Vive / Occulus)
Sporting Equipment - Balls, Hoops, etc
Events - Supported by App, Sports Day, Cross Country, Fete
Mapping Scenarios: - #process
Expanding off of the generated context the team mapped out some possible scenarios that would require and exergaming solution.
Scenario 1: Teachers - Schoolyard - Sports Event:
There is a sporting event, such as a sports day. The children can implement the following idea to fully participate given their abilities, whether athletic or not. Therefore the app would measure participation and effort in:
The actual sporting events - Sprints, High Jump, Long Jump, etc
Students not currently participating - Teachers start separate activity to occupy them and support students participating
Teacher hands students a device (tablet) - Each student gets a task/game to further involve them in the events. Points awarded for best picture
The games include would be as follows:
Cheering game, students get measured on their cheer volume and are awarded points
Points are also awarded points for competing
Team with the most points gets a reward - such as a ribbon or a trophy
Use photos of events taken by students online
The plan being that these events, games, and rewards lead to the desired outcome:
Desired outcome: Competition between students urging them to get more involved regardless of their skill level.
Short Scenario 2: Family - Living Room - Mobile Devices:
A small mobile game that challenges the parents against their children. At random intervals, they need to complete a randomized challenge that is scaled to their age and skill level. First, one to complete the challenge gets a point. Hopefully, the family competition leads to the desired outcome:
Desired outcome: Increased exercise for children and possibly parents / Parent-child bonding. Keep kids occupied and away from parents.
Creating Interventions: - #proposal
Branching off of the last 2 sections the group finally generated some interventions that can be scoped towards project solutions. Essentially avenues where games could be made to benefit the project brief and where things need to be considered as to accommodate all participants
Unfit children or children have health issues
Challenge the child given their abilities
Every child will have different abilities, some will be better at running than others, etc
Point systems are independent of the exercise so children aren't discouraged from different activities
All children can be involved, large rooms aren't required, and expensive technology aren't required
If exploratory, the rewards system can be time-based, therefore, less sporty children won't be disadvantaged
Use the game to track student data to discover underlying health problems/issues. Could also be used to track student improvement
Link back to project challenge:
Encourages children of all body types and abilities to get more active and interact differently with their technology.
Solution Validation: - #procces, #research
Working with the idea of exergaming for unfit children it is fair to note that exergaming is not a new concept and there are plenty of design avenues, however, in some cases, does not fully accommodate all play styles and abilities.
https://www.exergamefitness.com/solutions/what-is-exergaming/
https://www.pecentral.org/activegaming/whatisactivegaming.html
Using the two websites above it was clear that exergaming is full of interesting ideas and approaches to fitness but not all are helpful or do much to accommodate a wider diversity of children.
As a greater break down of certain exergames, this small blurb about Dance games can be used to see the barriers present to unfit children. (issues bolded)
Dance Games are the pioneering series of the active gaming genre in video games. Players stand on a platform or stage and try to hit colored arrows or characters with their feet to musical rhythm and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose the music to play during each game.
As can be seen there is nothing inherently wrong with Dance games, however, without rhythm, the players' score will be diminished. Our solution (mentioned above) aims to incorporate all types of players and give them a score based on their skills instead of measure them on a single skill, such as the dance games’ blurb suggests.
Deconstructing Our Own Work:
Although it’s easy to deconstruct another teams’ work it is important to measure our own and see the possible shortcomings it may possess. With this in mind it can be seen that although our game idea strives to ‘break down the wall’ between unfit children and exergaming it ultimately also discourages said children from attempting or trying something new and ultimately means that we could end up rewarding laziness which flies directly in the face of the point of the exergaming brief.
