Games over a Distance: Playing Together Although Apart Using Exertion Interfaces

In our modern, often nomadic society, people increasingly lack the opportunity for social leisure activities, such as social gaming, although beneficial to mental and physical health. We aim to work against this trend by recreating the social experience known from existing games in a distributed environment. Our approach utilizes the physicality of existing leisure games in a networked environment to support social interactions between geographically distant players. We present four pervasive games of this concept, each with a different focus on this approach. Based on our observations with these systems, we believe the physicality of the games facilitated by an Exertion Interface contributes to a compelling experience, which can support social interactions and connectedness between geographically distant players