Observations on Experience and Flow in Movement-Based Interaction

Abstract

Movement-based interfaces assume that their users move. Users have to perform exercises, they have to dance, they have to golf or football, or they want to train particular bodily skills. Many examples of those interfaces exist, sometimes asking for subtle interaction between user and interface and sometimes asking for 'brute force' interaction between user and interface. Often these interfaces mediate between players of a game. Obviously, one of the players may be a virtual human. We embed this interface research in ambient intelligence and entertainment computing research, and the interfaces we consider are not only mediating, but they also 'add' intelligence to the interaction. Intelligent movement-based interfaces, being able to know and learn about their users, should also be able to provide means to keep their users engaged in the interaction. Issues that will be discussed in this chapter are 'flow' and 'immersion' for movement-based interfaces and we look at the possible role of interaction synchrony to measure and support engagement.

Hang in There: A Novel Body-Centric Interactive Playground

“…Several studies have shown that body-centric control in games increase the engagement and immersion of the user (see [1,14] for an overview). Furthermore, Riskind and Gotay showed that putting someone in a certain posture can have a effect on their level of task persistence, expectations and (self-)perceived emotional state [17].…”

Interactive Experience in the Digital Age

“…As such, we became interested in evaluating Tweetris as a platform for observing the infl uence of environmental factors (audience, location) and intrinsic factors (physiology) on wholebody interaction. Since we do not strictly control how shapes are made, we allow playfulness to emerge and permit an experience of "fl ow" Nijholt et al 2011 ).…”

Promoting Optimal User Experience through Composite Challenge Tasks

“…This state, which is referred to here as a state of flow, is characterized roughly by being deeply involved and focused on a fully rewarding and satisfying experience. Although this theory originated in psychology it has been successfully adapted to computational environments [3][4][5][6] and more recently to systems supporting movement-based interaction, such as tangible and natural user interfaces, as well as virtual, augmented and mixed reality [7][8][9].…”