FitBirds: Designing Heart Rate Feedback for Playful and Social Physical Education.

Participating in physical activity at a moderate-and-vigorous-intensity-level is recommended for teenagers to advance in health benefits. However, due to the fitness differences, the amount of physical activity to reach the recommended intensity varies among teenagers. Therefore, tailoring the physical intensity of each teenager's fitness level is meaningful in physical education. In this paper, we present FitBirds, a multiplayer fitness game to encourage teenagers in physical activity at a recommended intensity level, which is calibrated by their real-time heart rate. The FitBirds game leverages both competition and cooperation game mechanics to enhance teenagers’ playful experiences and social engagement, which could further contribute to their physically active participation in the physical education context.