Inside and Outside: Boundaries of Play in a Wearable Technology Game for Youth

• In Event: Immersive Learning via Playful Engagements With Physical Data

Abstract

Increasingly prevalent wearable and mobile technologies with embedded sensors can passively create traces of lived activities and patterns across contexts (Starner, 2014). In our research we focus on wearable technology fitness gaming, wherein youth wear physical activity monitors each day and play a browser-based fantasy game driven by data from their devices. Originally we conceived of this design as having two complimentary parts: a “serious” data inquiry piece (facilitated by devices as they are worn throughout schools, homes, and communities) and a fun, motivational/affective piece (facilitated by playing the game on-screen). What we found, however, was that youth brought similar playful patterns to their activity in both spheres.
Our theoretical framework emphasizes play as a continuous and pervasive activity (McGonigal, 2003). Vygotsky asserts that play is not a circumscribed activity that takes place solely within spheres of games or imagination, but rather, play becomes a mode of engagement with language, tools, and the physical world at large (1967; 1980). Scholars in game studies also describe how digital game play is not limited to in-game actions. Instead, immersive game engagement extends beyond the screen to interactions and investigations in the physical world (Jones, 2008; Stevens, Satwicz, & McCarthy, 2008).
Our paper examines observations, focus groups, surveys, and interview data with middle-school youth. We found that youth played our game and also "played their data" via activities common to both. The first type of common pattern was engaging in hacks, cheats, and exploits. Cheating is a common phenomenon in digital gaming, and it has been described as a way of creating agency or capital within a rule-based gaming environment (Consalvo, 2007; Fields & Kafai, 2010). We observed youth exploiting loopholes in the game’s code or allowable actions to create advantages for themselves as players. But youth also initially tried to cheat the Fitbit, by attempting to get the device to record more movement than their bodies actually produced. The second pattern was one of collaboration and competition in terms of the social interactions surrounding game progress (checking one another’s screens, trying to beat the leaderboards, etc) and in terms of their physical activity, wherein youth would compare their devices at various points throughout the day. Finally, the third pattern was strategic action, in which youth made long-term plans about what activities they would engage in to achieve a particular goal, both in the game and with their physical activity (such as walking versus being driven to school).
Whether for health or for learning, much of previous scholarship on wearable/mobile technologies and potentials for their use focuses on the authentic, serious, and “objective” nature of data and accompanying user insights (e.g., Fritz, et al, 2014; Roschelle, 2003). In contrast, this study emphasizes the importance of play as a form of engagement with physical data and devices. Building systems and interventions around this kind of engagement may help ameliorate what current research describes as a real problem with impact sustainability of physical activity monitor devices on their own (Schaefer, Ching, Breen, & German, in press).

Authors

• Cynthia Carter Ching, University of California - Davis

• Danielle Hagood, University of California - Davis