Many people struggle to exercise regularly, raising the risk of serious health-related issues. Extended reality (XR) exergames address these hurdles by combining physical exercises with enjoyable, immersive gameplay. While a growing body of research explores XR exergames, no previous review has structured this rapidly expanding research landscape. We conducted a scoping review of the current state of XR exergame research to (i) provide a structured overview, (ii) highlight trends, and (iii) uncover knowledge gaps. After identifying 1318 papers in human-computer interaction and medical databases, we ultimately included 186 papers in our analysis. We provide a quantitative and qualitative summary of XR exergame research, showing current trends and potential future considerations. Finally, we provide a taxonomy of XR exergames to help future design and methodological investigation and reporting.
@article{arxiv.2403.06776,
title = {Born to Run, Programmed to Play: Mapping the Extended Reality Exergames Landscape},
author = {Sukran Karaosmanoglu and Sebastian Cmentowski and Lennart E. Nacke and Frank Steinicke},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.06776},
year = {2024}
}