A Design Framework for Ingestible Play

Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Ingestible sensors are pill-like digital sensors performing sensing functions inside the human body. Such technology is becoming increasingly common in clinical uses. However, we believe there exists an opportunity to also investigate ingestible sensors as design material for bodily play to facilitate intriguing bodily experiences. This argument is inspired by a long history of utilizing the intersection of medical technologies and play to bring about intriguing bodily experiences. By designing and investigating the user experience of three playful systems around ingestible sensors, we articulate a preliminary framework showing how ingestible sensors can be used as design material to support the design of playful bodily experiences.

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, 2020

There is an increasing trend in utilizing interactive technology for bodily integrations, such as additional limbs and ingestibles. Prior work on bodily integrated systems mostly examined them from a productivity perspective. In this article, we suggest examining this trend also from an experiential, playful perspective, as we believe that these systems offer novel opportunities to engage the human body through play. Hence, we propose that there is an opportunity to design "bodily integrated play". By relating to our own and other's work, we present an initial set of design strategies for bodily integrated play, aiming to inform designers on how they can engage with such systems to facilitate playful experiences, so that ultimately, people will profit from bodily play's many physical and mental wellbeing benefits even in a future where machine and human converge.

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018

Games research in HCI is continually interested in the human body. However, recent work suggests that the field has only begun to understand how to design bodily games. We propose that the games research field is advancing from playing with digital content using a keyboard, to using bodies to play with digital content, towards a future where we experience our bodies as digital play. To guide designers interested in supporting players to experience their bodies as play, we present two phenomenological perspectives on the human body (Körper and Leib) and articulate a suite of design tactics using our own and other people's work. We hope with this paper, we are able to help designers embrace the point that we both " have " a body and " are " a body, thereby aiding the facilitation of the many benefits of engaging the human body through games and play, and ultimately contributing to a more humanized technological future.

2023

Interactive technologies offer novel opportunities for physically extending our bodies, with the most prominent examples being prosthetics along with systems emerging from the wearables community. However, most such systems appear to focus on instrumental benefits, missing out on the opportunity to use bodily extensions for play and its associated benefits (including a lower adoption barrier and the potential to reveal a broader understanding of such technologies). To begin understanding the design of playful bodily extensions, we interviewed five designers of bodily extensions that have been showcased in prestigious academic venues or turned into commercial products. Here we present themes and actionable advice from these interviews for the design of playful bodily extensions through a thematic analysis. Our work aims to support the design of future playful bodily extensions while promoting the experiential qualities of bodily extension design, with the ultimate goal of bringing more playful experiences to people's lives. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models; Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms; Interface design prototyping; Ubiquitous and mobile devices.

Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '13, 2013

The past decade has seen an increased focus on body movement in computer games. We take a step further to look at body games: games in which the main source of enjoyment comes from bodily engagement. We argue that for these games, the physical and social settings become just as important design resources as the technology. Although all body games benefit from an integrated design approach, the social and physical setting become particularly useful as design resources when the technology has limited sensing capabilities. We develop our understanding of body games through a literature study and a concrete design experiment with designing multiplayer games for the BodyBug, a mobile device with limited sensing capabilities. Although the device was designed for free and natural movements, previous games fell short in realizing this design ideal. By designing the technology function together with its physical and social context, we were able to overcome some of the device limitations. One of the games was subsequently incorporated in its commercial release.

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts

This paper complements the article "Restraints as a Mechanic for Bodily Play" by presenting the paraphernalia of games as different mechanics that address the surrounding and contextual factors of movement-based game and play activities, while restraints address the players' bodily preconditions. Based on an analysis of a collection of traditional games combined as bridging concepts, the mechanics are derived and exemplified in traditional and digital game exemplars and explained using theoretical concepts from phenomenology and postphenomenology. The presented mechanics provide a roadmap to design for and encourage bodily play by drawing on the historical development of (i.e., traditional) play and game activities and leveraging this knowledge into the domain of digital and technology-supported games and play activities. • Human-centered computing; • Interaction design; • Interaction design theory, concepts and paradigms;

2014

To build creative links between ethnographic findings of bodily practices and design, we developed so called body cards to document experiential qualities to be used in idea generation and early prototyping. These focus on the stages of a design process that involves investigating a use domain and making such knowledge relevant and usable for design. This involves challenges of effectively describing-with theoretical and empirical grounding-how bodily action and experience actually occur, in relation to people, artefacts, and activities. We discuss challenges in bridging between ethnographic findings and design of technologies for bodily experiences. Designing for the body in interaction is then not only about better ways of sensing bodily actions, but just as much about integrating these in the space of social interaction.

Handbook of Effective Research on Electronic Games, 2009

Chapter VII This chapter discusses the way that new video game interfaces such as those employed by Guitar Hero™, Dance Dance Revolution, and the Nintendo Wii™ are being used to invoke the whole body as a participant in the game text. As such, new video games involve more than cognitive education; they impart a set of body habits to the player. Drawing on Marcel Mauss’s concept of “bodily technique,” I propose a new vocabulary for understanding these devices, referring to them as bodily interfaces. Next, I discuss three aspects of bodily interfaces: mode of capture, haptics, and button remapping. In order to help educators take advantage of these developments, I conclude by pointing to theoretical literature on the relationship between the physical and mental aspects of the learning process that may be useful in rethinking electronic games."

arXiv (Cornell University), 2023

Spectating digital games can be exciting. However, due to its vicarious nature, spectators often wish to engage in the gameplay beyond just watching and cheering. To blur the boundaries between spectators and players, we propose a novel approach called "Fused Spectatorship", where spectators watch their hands play games by loaning bodily control to a computational Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) system. To showcase this concept, we designed three games where spectators loan control over both their hands to the EMS system and watch them play these competitive and collaborative games. A study with 12 participants suggested that participants could not distinguish if they were watching their hands play, or if they were playing the games themselves. We used our results to articulate four spectator experience themes and four fused spectator types, the behaviours they elicited and offer one design consideration to support each of these behaviours. We also discuss the ethical design considerations of our approach to help game designers create future fused spectatorship experiences. CCS Concepts: • Human-centered computing → Interaction paradigms.

CHI '14 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2014

The goal of this panel is to reflect on the past and discuss the present and future of designing for an experiencing body in HCI. The motivation is to discuss the full range of rich body/movement-based experiences and how the CHI community can embrace and extend these perspectives on designing for the body. The panelists and audience will be asked to share their perspectives on what has most influenced thought in designing for the body, how new sensing technologies are crafting the HCI perspective, and where they see this line of research and design heading in the next ten years.