This paper discusses an approach for transforming solitary exercises into social exergames. We frame our discussion by highlighting the relation between the original exercises and game interactions, and by analyzing an example exergame which is successfully transformed from its original solitary exercise. We present a user study of the exergame that evaluates the need for holistic transformation strategies from solitary exercises into social exergames.

We designed and implemented a pervasive game called Swan Boat that targets the bland and tedious nature of running on a treadmill, making it fun through social interaction and immersive game play. We developed Swan Boat on top of PSD, a platform for pervasive games, and using the Interactive Treadmill hardware. We conducted a user study to evaluate our game.