Effect of Pregame Training Tutorials on Player Performance in Kinect-Based Health Games

The objective of this study was to examine the influence of pregame tutorials on player performance in Kinect(®) (Microsoft(®), Redmond, WA)-based health games and to determine whether the additional exertion caused by longer playtime introduced by the tutorial would influence in-game performance.

Thirty-two college-age test participants were randomly assigned to two groups: pregame training tutorial and pregame verbal instructions. The variable of interest was the degree to which players were able to accurately perform a series of static arm gestures in order to duplicate specific reference poses. Participants played a Kinect-based bird simulator game called "Burnie" that required the player to hold specific, static poses that correspond to physical therapy treatment actions. This study is a pilot conducted in advance of testing the game with its target audience of pediatric cerebral palsy patients.

Analysis of variance did not detect a significant difference in pose accuracy between the tutorial and nontutorial groups. However, the tutorial group's pose accuracy was higher on average than that of the nontutorial group.

Given the limited sample size in this study, it cannot be stated with certainty that greater pose accuracy will occur if a pregame tutorial level is administered. However, a trend was observed along most measures that the tutorial group achieved greater accuracy scores than the verbal instruction group. Further study with greater statistical power is strongly recommended.