Small-Scale Exertion in Sports Video Games

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Date
2015-04-16Author
Sheinin, Mike
Type
ThesisDegree Level
MastersMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Sports video games should be inherently competitive, but they fall short in providing competition between player skills. The translation of real-world physical activities to a game controller and the emphasis on statistical simulations in traditional sports video games leads to a limited opportunity for expertise development, individual differentiation, and fatigue. These are three very important aspects of real-world sports that are lacking in sports video games. One possible solution to these difficulties is to use small-scale exertion. This method requires the design of an input mechanic that requires only the use of hands and fingers (or feet). We created two small-scale exertion sports video games (Track and Field Racing and Jelly Polo) and ran four studies to compare our small-scale exertion games to traditional rate-based sports video games. Qualitative and quantitative results suggest that using small-scale exertion increases the amount of expertise development, individual differentiation, and fatigue in sports video games. Results also suggest small-scale exertion controls are more engaging than traditional rate-based controls. By using small-scale exertion to add physicality into sports video games, we are able to increase richness, competitiveness, and realism in order to create a game which is competitive, in terms of player skill, and sport-like.
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)Department
Computer ScienceProgram
Computer ScienceSupervisor
Gutwin, CarlCommittee
Stavness, Ian; Horsch, Mike; Farthing, JonCopyright Date
April 2015Subject
Small-scale exertion
sports video games
exergames
Jelly Polo
sports
video games