Players can control character's movements using their wheelchair
For individuals with mobility impairment, computer games controlled through wheelchair movements can potentially improve quality of life, according to new research from the University of Lincoln.
Computer scientists from the University of Lincoln in the U.K., the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and the University of Cork in Ireland, worked with nine individuals from a leading special needs school to examine what they would want as players in movement-based video games.
The team developed three video games — Speed Slope, a downhill skiing game, Rumble Robots, a robot boxing game, and Rainbow Journey, an experiential adventure game. In each game, wheelchair movements controlled certain aspects of the play, for example forward and backward movements changed the pace of a player in the game.
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“Our results showed that the games provided engaging experiences for players with a wide range of cognitive and physical abilities, and that the users appreciated the combination of physical and in-game challenge,” Dr. Kathrin Gerling, lead author of the study and senior lecturer at the University of Lincoln’s School of Computer Science, said in a statement.
The games work with any kind of wheelchair, according to the announcement. The basic version tracks wheelchair movement through the individual's body position, and the extended version is marker-based, which tracks movement for players who have a very limited ability to move.
Previously, Gerling and co-researchers had developed a system called KINECTWheels, which integrates existing motion-sensor gaming technology with powered wheelchair controls. The following video illustrates how players can use KINECTWheels to navigate inside a game.
The researchers believe that characters, activities and themes represented in games are equally important. The nine individuals from the school, along with the researchers, noted the lack of disabled characters as protagonists in video games when compared to television and film.
“We need to ensure that games reflect how players view themselves, and enable them to become who they strive to be through empowering playing experiences,” Gerling said.
Gerling plans to investigate the design of games for players with different cognitive abilities and explore the idea of sandbox-style play, where the player is not limited to a specific storyline and can do as pleased.
Video games are also being used to help other conditions such as multiple sclerosis. In March of this year, researchers from Sapienza University in Rome showed that video games improved some cognitive abilities of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Games such as puzzles, word memory and other mental challenges were assigned to patients with MS, and using MR imaging, the researchers discovered that the 12 patients in the video games group experienced significant increases in connectivity in areas of the brain involved in cognition.
