Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Themes Addressed.
These systems encourage a sense of
challenge
: allowing
for different routes to be created, objectives to be achieved and diculty to be
altered depending on climbing ability. They also encourage a sense of rivalry and
specifically alter the core climbing experience by turning the wall into a social
game experience and thus encouraging
social engagement
.
Design Opportunities.
Though these systems address the themes of
main-
taining challenge
and
social engagement
there exists the opportunity to embrace
the additional themes that we have outlined. For example,
reliving the experience
could be embraced by recording the pattern of the climb and allowing the climber
to “race” their previous attempt by playing it out on the wall in real-time.
Risk
is removed by the gaming element for more experienced climbers; perhaps the
systems could alter routes in real-time based on how well the climber is ascend-
ing the wall in order to automatically adapt to their ability. The theme of
beauty
and nature
is absent in this instance as the walls are situated indoors, however,
theming the walls or creating a “realistic” rock face could help to create the
illusion of being outdoors. Making use of a sound system to create an outdoor
ambiance is also a potential approach to help facilitate the outdoor experience
and hence
beauty and nature
.
3.2 Augmented and Projection-Based Systems
Daiber et al. [6] present the
BouldAR
system, which uses augmented reality to
support collaborative boulder training. The system allows climbers to use their
phones to make a virtual bouldering route by overlaying a computer-rendered
image of the bouldering wall on the phone screen when the climbers hold their
phones in front of the wall. This allows the climbers to click on the screen to
outline their chosen route. Furthermore, users are able to track their progress
and log successful and unsuccessful bouldering attempts by using a built-in diary.
Study results found that participants preferred the smart phone to the paper
solution when describing existing routes. This is an interesting finding as the
results imply that a digital experience can be adopted by climbing enthusiasts
in a positive way. Kajastila et. al. [13] also investigated augmented climbing by
tracking the position of a climber and altering projected images on a wall based
on their position. For example, climbers are able to move around the wall whilst
being chased by a projected chainsaw, with the goal of not getting “hit” and
surviving for the maximum amount of time. Additionally suggested climbing
routes can be illuminated on the wall as a person climbs - suggesting different
paths to take. Those not climbing were also able to participate by suggesting
routes on the wall that the current climber should take. This is interesting as it
is a system aimed at climbers of differing skills and abilities, which allows the
experience to be altered accordingly based on climbers' needs.
Themes Addressed.
These systems address the themes of
social engagement
,
maintaining challenge
,and
documenting and reliving the experience
. Since it is
