Rise Of Exergaming

AN ABSTRACT OF THE MASTERS PROJECT OFBADRINARAYANAN RAMAKRISHNAN, for the MASTER OF SCIENCE degreein MASS COMMUNICATION & MEDIA ARTS, presented on April 11, 2011 atSouthern Illinois University Carbondale.TITLE: THE RISE OF EXER-GAMINGMAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. John HochheimerThis paper looks at childhood obesity in the United States ofAmerica, its causes, and various intervention methods as well as videogamesthat have been employed in the fight against obesity through the emergence ofphysically engaging games. While childhood obesity is spreading fast, its effectsare devastating. Illnesses and other conditions previously seen only in adults arenow occurring more frequently in children. Though the Center for DiseaseControl has made recommendations and tried to educate children about ahealthy diet and regular physical activity, obesity remains a threat to health.Though a combination of diet and physical activity are the recommendedintervention criteria, the importance of physical activity has been realized in manystudies. But, even here many studies only reached near significant changes intheir interventions due to adherence issues. Videogames games help in burningcalories and also in increasing physical activity levels in children, since thesegames engage players physically. Adherence issues are solved using the help of“exergames”, as they hide exercise behind a layer of fun. These exergames areseen as a genre of videogames rather than a novel way to play (i.e. aiireplacement of the traditional videogame controller) and need to expand fromonly one kind of videogame title