Mixed Reality Lab

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Mixed Reality Lab National University of Singapore
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Age Invaders Social Physical Interaction For
Elderly and Young
Khoo Eng Tat khooet_at_mixedrealitylab.org
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Introduction
Novel family entertainment game Interactive
social-physical game Intergenerational game play
Real time virtual online internet
participation Adjustable game parameters and
balance game play between elderly and young
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Motivation
Huge gap between youth and elderly culture Lack
of family and elderly computer entertainment
Children enjoy computer games Most elderly
games are boring for young people Lack of
physical body movements and social interactions
in most computer games In modern society
parents are busy at work
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Motivation
Allow elderly to play harmoniously with children
in physical space Parents participate remotely
through internet Mixed reality version of the
Space Invaders game Encourages physical body
movements Floor display interface, no heavy
equipments
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Background
Global aging population Increasing generation
gap Socio-economic issues derive from social
isolation and lack of activity
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Background
Video games can lead to changes in an
individual's pleasure, arousal, dominance, and/or
affiliative behavior Elderly enjoy computer
gaming experience Positive move to use digital
media to increase elderly happiness Participation
in an activity helps elderly to feel better and
healthier Strengthen the intergenerational
bond
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Prior Research
Elderly are open to new technology
experience 49 interested in learning new and
more challenging software 26 interested in
computer programming HOLLANDER, E. K.,
AND PLUMMER, H. R. 1986. An innovative therapy
and enrichment program for senior adults
utilizing the personal computer. Activities,
Adaptations and Aging 8, 1, 5968.
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Prior Research
Positive effect of computer games in elderly,
increase of reaction times Weekly high scores
on Pac Man tripled over seven-week study
period Donkey Kong improved almost fivefold
CLARK, J. E., LANPHEAR, A. K., AND RIDDICK,
C. C. 1987. The effects of video game playing on
the response selection of elderly adults. Journal
of Gerontology 42, 1, 8285.
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Prior Research
High social and physical interactions Mixed
reality version of Pac Man game Heavy equipments
CHEOK, A. D., FONG, S.W., GOH, K. H.,
YANG, X., LIU, W., FARBIZ, F., AND LI, Y. 2004.
Human pacman A mobile wideare entertainment
system based on physical, social and ubiquitous
computing. Personal Ubiquitous Computing 8, 2,
7181.
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Game Play as Performance
Introduces performance play element player
doubles as a performer to an audience Players
have to follow a predefined pattern which will
light up on the electronic game floor (illusions
of Saturday Night Fever) Attract the audiences
attention and amusement
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Design Goals
Provide engaging physical and virtual play for
elderly and young together in a novel mixed
reality entertainment system Whole body
movements over a large play area Provides family
entertainment that is attractive to all family
members including the elderly and young
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Design Goals
Encourages and promotes human interaction at the
physical, mental and emotional level Re-connect
family members in shared activities across
locations Thus, increasing cross-generational
interaction
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System Description
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System Description
Game server which is connected to the Internet
Large floor display platform with embedded RFID
tags Online virtual client for real time remote
game play Bluetooth display, controller and
special slipper with embedded RFID reader for
tracking of players. The system's inter-devices
communication is completely wireless.
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Game Play
Grandchildren form a team Grandparents form
another The parents' role (virtual client) is to
balance the game between the two teams.
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Game Play
Each game lasts for up to 2 minutes The players
gain points by picking up bonus items and
avoiding laser beams. The player is out of the
game when energy level drops to zero The game
ends prematurely if the energy level of both
players of the same team became zero Otherwise,
at the end of 2 minutes, the team with the
highest score wins
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Game Play
As the player presses a button, a laser beam
image will be displayed on the game board and
head towards the opponent. Elderly laser beam is
faster than the childrens one Players can avoid
the lasers by hopping over it or just simply step
aside onto other part of the game board
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Game Play
Age Invaders imposes some challenges in an
innovative way for the invader players Invaders
have to physically follow the footprints
indicated with a pattern of lights which they see
on the floor platform If they do not step in the
square in a certain period of time, their energy
is deducted. This period is determined by the
invaders footprint speed which can also be
adjusted by the virtual players at any time.
For every 10 continuous correct steps, the
Invader gets an Energy increase
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Game Play
Parents as virtual world players can view the
game play in real time Adjust game parameters,
lasers speed and footprints speed Drag-and-drop
Barriers'' or Hearts'' to help the physical
players Barriers'' and Hearts'' will
appear immediately on the game board
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Game Play Challenges
Young Player Must follow the dance steps as they
appear Speed of laser beam is slower More
difficult to collect hearts unless intended for
the player, due to need to constantly follow
dance steps
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Game Play Challenges
Older Player Can move freely on the game
board Speed of laser beam is faster Power-up
hearts can be collected easily Virtual
Player Placing power ups and barriers Balancing
the play experience by adjusting the step speed
and laser speed
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User Study Method
Games play sessions were conducted in a
controlled laboratory setting Users answered
questionnaires before and after game play
sessions to gather levels of enjoyment,
contributing and detracting factors on the game
play, and social aspects of the experience Focus
group discussions with users immediately
following a two hour session of game play
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User Study Method
For the older adults, we also conducted a follow
up focus group session 5 weeks after the first
focus group session. To understand the lasting
impressions and the issues that were most
memorable for positive and negative aspects of
the game play. Borrowing from a grounded theory
approach,All is data, the design team reviewed
and categorized data from all user testing,
demos, and focus group discussions. Themes
emerged and were investigated further.
Glaser, Barney G. Doing Grounded Theory issues
and discussions. Mill Valley, CA Sociology Press
(1998).
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Polytechnic Students User Studies
2 groups, 37 total participants Electronic games
students Pre-game Study Experience level with
electronic games Newbie, Casual User, Moderate
User, and Hardcore User? 78 of the players
rated themselves casual to hardcore users All
reported they do play some kind of electronic
games
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Polytechnic Students User Studies
Post Game Study
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Polytechnic Students User Studies
Post Game Study Physical players enjoyment level
is higher than virtual players Preferred 4
players over 2 players game High likelihood to
recommend to family members Skills of players
matches game difficulty Observers (audience)
perceived the players enjoyment higher than
their enjoyment watching the game

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Polytechnic Students User Studies
Focus Group Discussions Four player games were
more exciting Having a team member to engage in
cooperative competition is fun Virtual role is
enjoyable but enjoyment level was less as
compared to physical players
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Elderly and Young User Studies
10 Young players Hougang Primary School Age
10-12 7 females, 3 males Speaks English, Chinese
(Mandarin) and Malay 10 Elderly players Peace
Connect Age 58 - 80 7 females, 3 males Most
elderly self reported that they are
illiterate Speaks Hokkien and Cantonese, yet
understand Chinese (Mandarin)
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Organised into teams of two elderly, two young
and one facilitator Name tags for each players
and facilitators Children to help elderly to
fill out questionnaires Facilitator to ensure
questionnaires were filled out appropriately
and honestly
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Pre-game Study Questionnaires in simpler
language and with fewer questions Avoid
overloading their experience Important
assumption to be validated Elderly are not
familiar with electronic/computer games
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Pre-game Study 0 elderly reported ever played
electronic games 80 children reported playing
electronic games Elderly reported playing chess
and cards with family Children reported playing
cards and board games with family
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Post-game Study All respondents showed positive
experience playing the game, except one reporting
neutral experience Can you imagine your family
enjoying the game? -100 children answered
positively -80 elderly answered
positively Overwhelming response showed a high
motivation to play the game with their families.
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions The elderly who didnt
imagine playing the game with her family did not
previously consider extended family members She
shared the game with her niece and she would
enjoy playing the game in a family setting
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions Five weeks after the
user study, we went back to the senior center for
follow up focus group session To investigate the
longer lasting impact of the game 7 of the
elderly players were present Most memorable
thing about the game All mentioned the launching
of lasers, avoiding lasers and chasing after the
hearts
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions This is a fresh idea
and it was my first time playing quoted by few
elderly They were all excited about this new
entertainment platform. Many of the elderly
relate the game to the popular arcade game, Dance
Dance Revolution
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions Elderly gave negative
answer when asked if they have increased interest
in trying out other electronic/computer games
after played our game Reasons given Illiterate,
no prior experience with operating computers The
elderly see the game system as being so different
from traditional computer platforms
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions Sound was too
soft Desire for a sound event indicating the
game outcome Suggested new version to
incorporate louder sound and music Larger screen
for displaying game score
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Elderly and Young User Studies
Focus Group Discussions Game speed is just
nice Game is easy to learn Good form of
exercise The game gives me good exercise. When
you see heart, you have to run to collect it. If
a laser if approaching, you have to avoid it
quickly. The game is very engaging and can we
play it again?, quoted by an elderly
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Conclusion
User studies support the claim that the Age
Invaders system is engaging for the physical and
virtual players of all ages The older players
have shown a high motivation to play the game
again immediately after the game play and even
after considerable time has past since they have
played the game Physical movements and skills
needed in the game, such as collecting hearts,
avoiding and launching lasers, and the aspect of
performance made for very exciting and enjoyable
play
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Conclusion
Playtesting of game iterations is especially
important for the elderly because their
familiarity with gaming technology is
limited Age Invaders encourages large physical
movements over a wide area The user study
results support our claim that the Age Invaders
game is a form of exercise for the
elderly
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Conclusion
Social interaction has been identified as the key
factor that attracts the elderly and young to
play the game harmoniously 84 of the players
enjoyed the experience of playing the four-player
over the two-player game. The elderly and young
gave feedback that the game should be played with
many spectators
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Conclusion
Another strong point indicated was the
performance aspect of playing the game We will
explore this more closely to determine how the
audience affects the game experience and search
for limits and optimum scenarios of
interaction It is our hope that this project
will encourage more future works aimed at fusing
art and digital games to fulfill the scientific
objective of improving the welfare of older
people and the entire family
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Publications
(1) Khoo, E.T. , Lee, S.P., and Cheok,
A.D.2005.Age Invaders. In 15th International
Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence
(ICAT), 5-8 Dec. 2005, Christchurch, New Zealand.
ICAT '05, vol. 157. ACM Press, New York, NY,
273-273.(2) Cheok, A.D., Lee, S.P., Kodagoda,
S., Khoo, E.T., Le, N.T. 2005. A Social and
Physical Inter-Generational Computer Game for the
Elderly and Children Age Invaders. In 9th IEEE
International Symposium on Wearable Computers
(ISWC), 18-21 Oct. 2005, Osaka. Page(s)202 -
203. (3) Khoo, E.T., Lee, S.P., Cheok, A.D.,
Kodagoda, S., Age Invaders Social and Physical
Inter-Generational Family Entertainment. In
Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
(CHI) 2006, 22-27 Apr. 2006, Montreal,
Canada. (4) Khoo, E.T., Lee, S.P., Cheok, A.D.
Age Invaders. Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI
international conference on Advances in computer
entertainment technology, 2006, Hollywood,
California. ACM Press, New York. Page 94. (5)
Khoo, E.T., Lee, S.P., Cheok, A.D., Age Invaders
Social and Physical Inter-Generational Family
Entertainment. In Proc. of International
Conference on E-Learning and Games (Edutainment)
2006, 16-19 Apr. 2006, Hangzhou, China.
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Publications
(6) Eng Tat Khoo, Adrian David Cheok, AGE
INVADERS SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL INTER-GENERATIONAL
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT, Interactive Tokyo 2006
conference proceeding. 15-17th September 2006,
Tokyo, Japan. (7) Khoo, E.T. and Cheok, A.D.,
Age Invaders Inter-generational Mixed Reality
Family Game.  The International Journal of
Virtual Reality, 2006, 5(2)45-50 (8) Khoo,
E.T., Lee, S.P., Cheok, A.D., Nguyen, T.H.D., Age
Invaders Social and Physical Inter-Generational
Family Entertainment. Special Issue of Springer
Journal Virtual Reality, "VR-based
Edutainment (9) Eng Tat Khoo, Tim Merritt,
Adrian David Cheok, Mervyn Lian and Kelvin Yeo,
Age Invaders User Studies of Intergenerational
Computer Entertainment. Entertainment Computing -
ICEC 2007, 6th International Conference,
Shanghai, China, September 15-17, 2007, Springer,
Volume 4740, 231-242.
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Exhibitions and Demos
International 1. SIGCHI 2006, 22-27th April
2006, Montreal, Canada. 2. Interactive Tokyo
2006, 15-17th September 2006, Tokyo,
Japan. Singapore 1. Channel 5 Teenager TV Show,
November 2006. 2. Greenfield 2006, 24-26th
November 2006, organised by MICA. 3. i-Future,
Dec 2006, Singapore Science Center 4. Techno
Series, NUS Arts Festival, March 2007 5. Kids
Central TV Show, June 2006
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SIGCHI 2006
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Channel 5
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iTokyo 2006
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Greenfield 06
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Kids Central
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Thank You! Contact Eng Tat khooet_at_mixedrealityla
b.org http//ageinvaders.mixedrealitylab.org/