With the growing popularity of exergames, researchers have noted the importance of presenting players with customizable avatars to encourage the long-term adoption of healthy behaviors offline. However, the “idealized” avatar bodies presented in avatar customization interfaces can represent limited body types and often problematically represent gender as binary. In this paper, we present a systematic analysis of the avatar customization interfaces of six console-based exergames. Results of our analysis indicate that customization options tend to be limited in exergames, especially with regard to body type and gender. Implications for avatar self-priming, self-identification, and healthy behavior adoption are discussed.

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As the video game industry grows and becomes more popular, new players with limited experience may be joining the video game community and learning to play for the first time. This thesis study investigates how the experience and mental models of novice players differ from experienced players, and how this information can be utilized to design more effective tutorials for these new players, particularly with multimodal interfaces as a possible technique in mind. To do this, an exploratory survey study about experiences and preferences related to difficulty and tutorials was presented. The results indicated support for hands on tutorials with gradual onboarding techniques.Participants also identified unfamiliar control schemes, game complexity, and assumed knowledge about video games as major barriers to entry for new players. To address this, a pilot user study was conducted to test the effectiveness of finger-based haptic cues in addition to the user interface as a novel technique to alleviate difficulty and aid learning for novice players in a first-person shooter game. Results indicated that the system produced somewhat positive effects on player performance, and the system was generally supported by players as a potential solution. However, there were several limitations impacting this study and the significance of its results.

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