LEGO League team requests game feedback

[souperbob]

Hello! Coach Robert here from the Donut Family LEGO League team with a request. If you have a moment, can you please have a look at the team’s idea to get kids more involved with fitness? Any feedback would be great!
Thank you,
Robert

Hi my name is Ty. I am a 4th grader in Shoreview. I am a member of The Donut Family LEGO Robotics team. This year the theme is Replay. As part of Lego League we are challenged to identify a problem with people not getting the right amount of exercise and propose a solution.

As a team we asked our friends what they like to do in their spare time. They all said they liked to play electronic games for as much of the day that they could. Our team talked about how we could add exercise to games people like to play. Other ideas we talked about included making exercise equipment part of the games or using virtual reality.

Our team decided to create a role playing computer game that will use real world player exercise to gain important game resources and milestones. We selected this idea as we thought it would be the most fun to create and our friends would be most likely to play it – enjoying the game and getting their exercise. This idea could be applied to other types of games as well.

We are currently making our game (working title – Donutland) using an RPG maker application and plan to import steps recorded from a fitness tracker into the game as gold used to buy adventuring gear. We are still working on how valuable exercise or steps are in the game. We want the game to be playable without exercise, but extra rewarding and fun when exercise is recorded.

Do you like our idea? Are there any improvements you'd recommend for our game? What is the hardest part about making a new game that we need to be aware of? Could gamification tie into the kind of games you enjoy? Do you know of games used to encourage peoples' heath or physical activity?

Thank you for your help with our project.
Sincerely,
Ty

[Kaptin Keen]

What you do is this: You build a handheld controller that measures fat percentage. The higher the fat percentage, the slower your avatar moves on-screen.

Seriously, any idea for getting young'uns to do more exercise that begins with a video game is wrong from the get go in my view. You get kids to get more exercise by handing them a ball.

[Brother Oni]

You get kids to get more exercise by handing them a ball.

And then what? Let them throw it around inside the house? Or should they bounce it off the wall endless like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape?

Not everybody has access to open spaces, be it because of geography (living in a built up urban area) or safety. This isn't even getting into the separation required for the current pandemic.

[Keltest]

And then what? Let them throw it around inside the house? Or should they bounce it off the wall endless like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape?

Not everybody has access to open spaces, be it because of geography (living in a built up urban area) or safety. This isn't even getting into the separation required for the current pandemic.

Yeah, you pretty much do exactly that actually. Young kids require very little outside resources to make their own fun. Yeah, the pandemic is problematic in the immediate future, but kids frequently just like to run around. Just give them ready access to the space they need and make sure its clear of stuff you dont want broken. Theyll invent their own reasons to do it.

[Kaptin Keen]

And then what? Let them throw it around inside the house? Or should they bounce it off the wall endless like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape?

Not everybody has access to open spaces, be it because of geography (living in a built up urban area) or safety. This isn't even getting into the separation required for the current pandemic.

That's not wrong, but it doesn't address my point: Exercise-via-videogame is the wrong premise. Exercise-without-videogame is better. I've lived in a metropolis for 20+ years and still managed to stay fit. If I can - anyone can. The ball isn't the problem. Attitude is.

Edit: I mean .. it's not that I don't get it. This is about reaching those kids who'd rather play videogames than chase a ball around. I still disagree with the method.

[souperbob]

Thank you for the replies playground.

Ty says -

Thank you for the feedback. We used it to make our game better. Our target group to get exercise were kids who currently did little to no exercise. We didn't think of the pandemic or access to balls or spaces as a limit. We did some additional research and learned that fitness has components of flexibility, endurance and strength. Rather than just count steps, we'd like to incorporate more real-world feedback into any game. We think this will make the game better, but we'll have to work on making it fun so kids who aren't active play it and maybe change their behavior. Instead of thinking of exercise as pushups or steps, the exercise becomes a fun game of football or basketball.

Thanks again,
Ty

[J-H]

A lot of kids don't find football or basketball fun. At that age, I'd have rather read during recess, if the teachers had let me. Instead, I was just always one of the last ones picked for touch football.
If you want to encourage exercise in those who don't already play sports, find activities that you won't already find on a playground that are athletic.

-Climbing to the ceiling inside a 3-4' wide hallway (my 6 year old can do this)
-Practicing how to sneak around without making any noise (requires a lot of body control); works best with a blindfolded partner
-Practicing slow-motion movement (like tai chi) where it takes 10, 15, 20 seconds to extend and retract a kick.
-Basic parkour and jumping/landing (requires an adult to make sure things are set up safely).

All of these can be flavored to be something interesting, like "ninja skills" or "hunting" or "spy skills".

I'm not sure how to integrate physical activity into a video game, though, unless there's a sensor like a Kinect involved.