Successful exergames should lead players not only to achieve enough level of energy expenditure but also to engage in the play itself. The aim of this study is to review studies that explored the psychological effects of playing exergames, from the viewpoint of player engagement. Peer-reviewed journal articles in English collected via database search (Science Direct, Web of Science, ACM Digital Library) from 2011 to 2015 were considered, and 45 experimental studies were selected out of 911 studies. The results show that a variety of psychological effects of engagement including enjoyment, immersion, and flow were measured in the exergame studies. In addition, physiological variables (e.g., energy expenditure), feedback modality (e.g., auditory and tactile), and play modes (e.g., solitary or group play mode) are related to psychological effects of playing exergames. Finally, salient methodological issues (e.g., validated measurement, sample size calculation) in the studies are identified and discussed.

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This review demonstrates the potential for games to improve health outcomes of young individuals. However, the mixed results suggest that more serious game interventions need to be better designed and rigorously tested to support their impact on improving health outcomes.

This paper discusses an approach for transforming solitary exercises into social exergames. We frame our discussion by highlighting the relation between the original exercises and game interactions, and by analyzing an example exergame which is successfully transformed from its original solitary exercise. We present a user study of the exergame that evaluates the need for holistic transformation strategies from solitary exercises into social exergames.

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