Rating Of Perceived Exertion With Various Modes Of Video Game Interaction

Abstract

Novel interaction modes for video games potentially offer a way to meet daily physical activity standards during game play. PURPOSE: This study compared perceived exertion (RPE) during various modes of game play. METHODS: Twenty-nine healthy, active college students (male: n=13, female: n=16) volunteered for participation. Each participant completed five game conditions in 5-min bouts: (CTRL) Super Mario Bros. 3 seated; (STAND) Super Mario Bros. 3 standing; (GH3) Guitar Hero 3 standing; (WII) Wii Sports Tennis standing; and (DDR) Dance Dance Revolution. Participants were taught how to use the Borg 15-point RPE scale prior to testing. Immediately following each condition participants indicated an RPE score that best represented their exertion level. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to investigate differences in RPE between game conditions. RESULTS: Mean data for RPE are provided in Table 1. There was a statistically significant multivariate difference (p<0.01) for RPE. Pairwise comparisons indicated significant differences (p<0.01) between conditions, except for WII and GH.Table 1: Mean ± values for RPE are summarized for each condition.CONCLUSION: DDR yielded the highest RPE scores, ranging from 10 to 13. ACSM recommendations indicate that RPE scores around 13 are representative of 40-50% VO2max, which may be enough to elicit health benefits. Difficulty level for all game conditions was low and pilot data suggests that playing WII, GH, and DDR at higher difficulty levels increases RPE scores and associated cardiorespiratory responses. Therefore, the present findings indicate that DDR game play, even at novice levels, may be intense enough to maintain or improve health. Furthermore WII, GH, and DDR at expert levels may be intense enough to improve physical fitness.