Group Adapted Avatar Recommendations for Exergames

Exergames are a promising way to encourage physical activity in the population. Especially competitive gaming has been shown to boost physical activity during gameplay. However, differences in physical abilities and fitness can lead to anxiety, fear of failure, or frustration. One way to mitigate these inhibitors is to balance the exergaming difficulty between competing players. This paper investigates the expectations and attitudes towards adaptivity in sports games, both in real life and with digital support. To that end, we present a survey with 421 participants investigating the general reaction to group adaptivity in sports games as well as a focus group discussing the reactions to group adaptive avatar recommendations within the game Mario Tennis Aces. Our results show that there is potential for group adaptive exergames to increase engagement, especially for non-sporty and female users, and that the first prototypical implementation was perceived positively regarding fairness and expected physical activity.