Exergame development using the dual flow model

Reviewer: John M. Artz

Flow is a psychological theory of optimal experience developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It suggests that optimal experience comes from pursuing activities that have clear goals and clear feedback. The activities must be both challenging and achievable. Applying this theory to video games is not new, but Sinclair, Hingston, and Masek take it a step further: they develop a dual flow model and apply it to exergames-video games in which exercise is a component. Most people are aware of Nintendo Wii, a game system that provides a wide variety of exergames. The dual flow model considers two dimensions of flow activities: psychological activities, in which the goal is to improve in skill, and physiological activities, in which the goal is to improve in fitness. So far, this looks very promising. Next, the authors test the idea by developing a prototype of a game that uses an exercise bike as a controller. It is unclear whether their goal is research or the prototype, as more effort goes into explaining their prototype than explaining the connections between theory and their test. The authors conduct a single test that provides verbal feedback; it is hard to know what to make of this. The dual flow model looks very promising for exergame research. Hopefully, the authors will continue their work with a more critical eye toward research. Online Computing Reviews Service