Evaluating sensory feedback for immersion in exergames

Exercise video games show promise as a tool for increasing physical activity by providing intrinsic motivation to play the game. Immersion is an aspect of gaming which can lead to increased motivation and enjoyment. Due to the recent rise of consumer level Head Mounted Displays (HMDs), high levels of immersion are possible. In this paper, we evaluate different forms of sensory feedback in an immersive exergame played using an Oculus Rift HMD. We evaluate resistance feedback in the exercise itself, haptic feedback with wind, and sound feedback. Our study shows that all three kinds of feedback increase immersion when compared with no additional feedback, and that sound and wind feedback also increase enjoyment and motivation. Sound feedback is significantly more motivating and immersive than wind and resistance feedback. Combining all three feedback types produces better results than any single feedback type on its own. Exercise performance does not significantly change with the feedback types, although more calories are spent with resistance feedback due to the slightly increased difficulty of the exercise.