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EdenicFaithful  Dark Wizard of Ravenclaw  2yr ago (text post)   3829 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 23, 2022

Be advised; this thread is not for serious in depth discussion of weighty topics, this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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What is the state of exercise gaming? My only recollection is Wii Sports. Have there been any fun developments for gamifying exercise since then?

As others have mentioned, smart watches and exercise apps actually have been a huge boon for me. I've always liked bicycling and running, but watching your performance increase along segments and routes, leaderboards etc. is honestly excellent. I'm getting the fun out of playing a game and the benefit of greater strength.

Like gaming though there's a certain tier of competitor I can't touch since I have a job and am no longer in my 20s. Knowing I won't have a KOM on Strava in my life is tough, but being in the top 10% of people who bother gamifying exercise feels awesome.

And specific products you'd recommend?

Strava the app is the most widely used and is constantly being updated. One thing I ended up getting later that gives you a bit more info is a Bluetooth heart monitor.

I got a Fitbit and was unhappy with it.

Besides that it's just the exercise equipment which I can give advice on but would change based on what you're doing.

Smart watches literally exist specifically to gamify exercise. Run further distances, lift heavier weight, walk more steps? You get more points. Then you can share your high point count on social media with your friends.

Although, as someone who has no interest in owning a smart watch, but is in outrageously good shape, I can say that "being physically fit" and "traveling the world doing fun outdoorsy/fitness hobbies" is much more rewarding than an app ever could be.

...So yeah, my advice is to partake in interesting and physically strenuous hobbies, and to try to find friends who do those hobbies. Not to try to get your exercise while looking at a screen

In a different sense. Climbing is exactly that. Instead of adding workout to games, they gamified workouts.

It took the boring act of excersizing and gamified it. Each boulder is like a platformer level where you have to execute a set of moves and exersize becomes an accesory to allow you to execute the coolest moves.

No wonder tech nerds love climbing. It is computer games in workout format. (The wierd hipster in me lowkeys hates how all tech people love climbing. For once i thought id picked up a non tech hobby, only for every tech person to simulaneously pick it up around the exact time I got into it. We are all truly, a hivemind)

To answer your actual question, the quest 2 did what youre asking for.

In death : unchained and especiall thrill of the fight are amazing workouts. Thrill of the fight is up there with fullfield soccer as one sport that pretty knocks the wind out of me within 20 minutes.

Ring Fit did something interesting from a game design perspective, but it's not at all worth it. It gets old really fast, and it's more preoccupied with preventing you from hurting yourself than with actually being fun or challenging.

Down Dog isn't a game in that it doesn't have interactivity but it's great.

Peloton and Zwift are the new generation of gamification.

Oh you're in for a treat, VR exercise is what you're looking for.

A purchase of an Oculus Quest 2, new at ~$499, is enough to get you access to a whole new world of exercise games.

There are great ones like Beat Saber, which is a guaranteed workout, no end of boxing games, games with virtual athletics, such as Gorilla Tag, the list goes on and on.

Even "normal" VR titles are inherently more physically demanding than flat-screen titles, and there's so much out there you won't run dry for years.

You don't need a powerful PC, the Quest 2 works standalone as well as tethered, and given your particular needs I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

I play Pistol Whip with a gun shaped peripheral I bought from etsy that lets you add quarters to add weight. Holding a weaver stance and point shooting moving targets for 30 minutes is a surprisingly ok core workout.

Beat Saber is fun but if you use the Oculus Quest 2, you'll have to do some hacking to get custom songs in. It's worth it once you have that.

I like using the Armswinger movement in H3VR for a similar reason. Armswinger + Take and Hold is the closest approximation of InRangeTV-style 2-gun Action Challenge Match I can get from the comfort of my bedroom.

Ring Fit Adventure for the Switch was the next big thing, I think. It was very hard to acquire for quite some time. Being released right before 2020 probably helped a lot with its continued popularity, but I think I remember it getting a lot of attention when in launched in late 2019.

I would love to hear recommendations for it. In my experience it is a "use once and then put away" game.

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