Hacking into exercise games: Could adventure games save us?

Video games have the unfortunate reputation of creating couch potatoes. The idea is that gamers are too busy playing World of Warcraft for sixteen hours a day to go outside, touch some grass, and exercise. Exercise is seen as antithetical to gaming, athletes are the enemies of nerd, the stereotypes go on…

The stereotypical image of an out-of-shape gamer.

But this is an outdated idea, especially when we stop to consider the growing industry of exercise games. In the successful shadow of the Wii, which got gamers and their grandmas alike up and moving, the industry has continued to play with the idea of using motion to control virtual avatars. Wii Sports and its successor Wii Fit established the connection that video games could be a tool in a healthy exercise routine. Today there are listicles galore of Kinect, VR, and Switch games that emphasize movement.

One of the most well-received of these titles is Nintendo’s own Ring Fit Adventure. The game pairs a RPG adventure game with hardware that turns the Switch’s Joy-Cons into exercise equipment. The Ring-Con and Leg Strap allow for players to jog, high knee, perform resistance-band like activities, do yoga, and work up a sweat as they traverse 20 fantasy worlds populated by various monsters. Monsters are defeated by performing certain exercises like squats, and the player regains energy with smoothies. Ring Fit Adventure is an adventure in a world where working out is everything.

Image from Ring Fit Adventure

The game has enjoyed serious success by offering a fun, engaging way to incorporate exercise into gamers’ everyday routine. Gamers have raved that this game finally presented a way to get into fitness by taking advantage of the RPG system that they already knew and loved.

I argue that this adventure RPG approach is how the burgeoning exercise games industry should approach future titles. There is a demonstrable demand for motions-based adventuring. Isn’t that what we gamers wanted all along–the chance to play at adventurer? I know that I would be positively ripped if I had to actually climb as much as I make my characters climb in the mountainous world of Genshin Impact.

Ring Fit Hacks

SuperLouis64 — Controller Bender on YouTube has been bending controllers like the Ring-Con and accompanying Leg Strap to his will. Namely, he has been using his modding skills to play adventure games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring with the equipment for Ring Fit Adventure. By swapping the input he turns actions that would normally require simple button presses or movements of joysticks into exercises. In order to run around in Hyrule as Link, the player has to run in place. In his Elden Ring mod, SuperLouis64 has to complete a squat to heal. As if Elden Ring wasn’t already demanding enough.

This turns what would be a sedentary playthrough into a workout. And people love it. In the hail of praise that SuperLouis64 has received, many people have commented that the option to play their favs as an exercise title would transform their lives. It’s not just the novelty of the idea, either. Nerds, gamers, and your average joes are interested in adventures to workout.

Going beyond gameification

Gameification of exercise isn’t exactly a new idea: there are a ton of fitness apps and products out there that borrow from video games. They increase engagement by dangling achievements, points, ranks, levels, and the like in front of their users. More exercise means more points, which brings you ever closer to leveling up both in-app (or in-game) and IRL.

Aiming for the next level might get some gamers up and out of bed, but others aren’t in it for the achievements. They’re interested in the adventure, otherwise known as the story that unfolds via exploration. Open world adventure games like Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring allow for players to unveil the great story of the game through travel, investigation, and conversation with NPCs. The level they reach or achievements they unlock are a secondary bonus–I play Genshin because I like the world of Teyvat and the characters that live there.

Uncovering new stories and areas is what keeps players coming back to open world games. Completing what was formerly a blank slate of a map is intensely satisfying, perhaps satisfying enough to force me to do push ups.

Could adventure games save us from the couch?

This is where I suggest that there is an opportunity, as demonstrated by the success of Ring Fit Adventure and SuperLouis64’s mods, to create fitness games that motivate players with the idea of adventure. In order to traverse the world of the game and learn its secrets, you have to get up and get going. After all, hiking, mountain climbing, and digging for treasure isn’t available to everyone IRL. Why not make a digital analogue?

What a narrative, adventure-based fitness game might feature

• A compelling story that might play off the tropes we’re already familiar with
• The player wakes up in a new world (see: Breath of the Wild, Genshin Impact, any isekai ever)
• Random encounters with enemies
• Puzzles to find hidden treasure/items
• Difficulty increases with level
• Exercise routines (Do ten push ups!) that buff the character
• Difficult terrain that require high knees or climbing motions

Basically what I’m describing is what Ring Fit Adventure already offers. But Ring Fit Adventure fails to provide a true choose-your-own adventure in a few ways

1. It is not an open world–each fantasy world is a linear jogging path
2. You have to complete certain levels in order to proceed
3. The world is entirely based around exercise

There’s nothing functionally wrong with this last point, but the motivation in Ring Fit Adventure is more based around gameification than narrative or adventure. Players are more motivated to get streaks and achievements than they are to figure out what’s the deal with big bad Dragaux–something I believe to be a missed opportunity.

VR could (again) be the future

Wait a minute Daley, you might say, haven’t you played Skyrim in VR? I have, and it’s so close to the experience I’m talking about. There are VR games out there like Skyrim, like Zenith: The Last City, and like Subnautica that approach an open-world adventure game that can literally get the blood pumping.

Skyrim VR

I’m looking for a mishmash of Skyrim (open world adventure) and Climb (terrain specifically designed for physical exploration) and a little bit of Creed (fighting, punching, and getting sweaty.) Virtual reality is likely the platform that will eventually meet my needs, because this big ask of mine will need to be immersive and feel somewhat real.

I think that the digital analogue to going out on a magical quest will need to be designed with exercise in mind, the way Ring Fit Adventure was. That said, I want to be tricked into exercising–I won’t be as invested in a world themed after the gym as I will be a magical landscape straight out of a fantasy novel.

Until then, I’ll be doing my best with Ring Fit Adventure.