Authors copy IEEE Life Sciences Conference – Multi-Society Perspectives on Personalized Healthcare and Wearables 2017 Sydney, Australia 13-15 December 2017 Physical Activity Enjoyment on an Immersive VR Exergaming Platform Kiran Ijaz*, Yifan Wang*, Naseem Ahmadpour**, Rafael A. Calvo* { kiran.ijaz, yifan.wang, naseem.ahmadpour, rafael.calvo}@sydney.edu.au * Wellbeing-supportive Technology Laboratory, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, The University of Sydney **Design Lab, Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney Abstract Virtual reality (VR) can be combined with exergames technology to provide highly immersive physical activity experiences. The design of VR exergames, so they are enjoyable and engaging, for different age groups, is currently under-investigated. In this paper, we study enjoyment of physical activity on VR-Rides, a virtual exergaming platform with a recumbent trike controller. In our experiment, we assigned participants to one of the two conditions; a static user interface (UI) or an Open World VR environment which allowed participants to explore a virtual location using Google’s Street View 360 panorama images. In both conditions, participants could track their activity data in real-time. The results suggest higher enjoyment and more activity time in an Open World condition, where participants are encouraged to explore a virtual location. Almost half of participants in the UI condition showed disinterest after a short interaction time, due to the static environment. INTRODUCTION Exergames – games that engage players in exercise or other levels of physical activity, use bodily movements as a means of interaction. The interactivity in the game engages players making physical activity more fun and enjoyable. Current exergame literature reports application in diverse demographics such as healthy young [1] and older adult [2], rehabilitation groups [3] and those with cognitive issues [4]. Exergames can be grouped into commercial and noncommercial. Since engagement is driver for sales, the first generally puts higher emphasis on entertainment. Commercial games have also been evaluated [5, 6]. For example, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect are commercial platforms with widely studied exergames. The commercial imperative means they are often designed broadly for healthy young adults, although other groups often appropriate them and find them engaging [5]. Noncommercial exergames includes those specifically designed for research purposes to investigate different game variables in relation to aspects of physical activity, such as motivation or enjoyment. However, there is a disconnect between academic and commercial games, predominantly due to limited resources available to academics for developing new high quality exergames. Additionally, licensing issues prevent academics from making changes to the content in commercial exergames, for research purposes. Exergames use controllers such as Dance pads, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Kinect as well as regular bicycle or gym cycles [7] (natural pedal interaction). Most recently Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and controllers have created opportunities for experiences beyond those possible in 2D environments. A study that compared Oculus Rift VR headset with the desktop setup suggests that participants experience higher degree of engagement and deeper immersion (i.e. perception of being present in the game environment) in the virtual environment [8]. But few studies to date have evaluated exergaming setups with head mounted displays. In an early attempt at combining exergames with virtual reality, Bolton et al. [9] developed PaperDude, as VR environment where participants engaged in