Adapting Data from Physical Activity Sensors for Visualising Exertion in Virtual Reality Games

Head mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR) games have shown promise beyond entertainment. Work has shown that playing VR games even for 10 minutes can provide players with valuable levels of physical exertion that is much higher then their perceived exertion. Despite VR showing promise at providing engaging forms of exercise, there is a risk that players can become over-exerted because they are so immersed in VR games, potentially leading to injury. Activity trackers like smart watches and chest heart-rate monitors can help with keeping track of exertion. However, the player is inherently locked out of the real-world while they are in the game. This means that the data can only be viewed if the player takes off the HMD, interrupting their game session. At present, the design of suitable feedback about exertion has had little attention in HMD VR games. In this paper, we show how fully-immersive VR and data from activity trackers can be combined in real-time so players can track their level of exertion, to help prevent over-exertion during gameplay.