Johanna Höysniemi, International survey on the Dance Dance Revolution game. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), April-June 2006, Article No. 8. The article is an account of a study about a specific form of physically interactive game-playing: dance gaming.

An online questionnaire was used to study various factors related to Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) gaming. In total, 556 respondents from 22 countries of ages 12 to 50 filled in a questionnaire which examined the players’ gaming background, playing styles and skills, motivational and user experience factors, social issues, and physical effects of dance gaming, and taking part in dance-gaming related activities. The results show that playing DDR has a positive effect on the social life and physical health of players, as it improves endurance, muscle strength and sense of rhythm, and creates a setting where new friends can be found.

Why do I blog this? This is of interest to people (especially game designers) who will have to think about these issues, with regards to new consoles such as the wii. I tend to watch conspicuously this sort of user studies because there is not that much about it and because it might form the grounding recommendations for some tangible game design ideas.