Any Gamers Who Think This Is A Good Idea?

[[old] Robywar]

After a couple of years of marriage, fatherhood and a very sedindary job, I decided to get back into rowing and bought an erg. Yesterday I was doing a 60 minute piece and one of the (many) things I thought about during that time was how Americans in general were getting fatter and especially the youth. I was also thinking how much I'd rather have been playing a video game instead of a 60 minute erg piece. I remembered when I was younger I used an excersize bike in a gym that was connected to a monitor and you could ride all around this virtual world and enter races on the spot and such, and how it made the time pass much more quickly.<br /><br />I started thinking, as a parent, erging could become a sort of way to earn playtime- something like 5 minutes play time for every one spent erging or something, but then I though about how cool it would be if there were a fun MMORPG that could interface with the erg (or any sort of excersize machine with USB/Firewire connection). <br /><br />There are a few things it could do, like make your virtual character stronger by increasing his stats in some way or something. It would have to be a compelling reason to do it, but at the same time I don't think it should be such a necessity that it would detract from the game- i.e. the game would have to be fun enough to warrant wanting to stop playing and erg for awhile, but only so you can play again and it be more fun for it.<br /><br />It wouldn't need to be anything as grand as WoW or anything like that even- a simple web based game like www.urbandead.com would be plenty. As much as I like the idea of Rowpro, staring at a guy rowing on the computer isn't a whole lot better than staring out the window. As long as the erg can connect to something with as much potential as a computer, using it only for metrics isn't the best use for that capability. Any one have any other ideas??

[[old] Canoeist]

I believe that all the television sets in the house should be connected in some way to the computer which has RowPro. A family would get credit for rowing so that the TVs would work. This would certainly cut down on the obesity problem that we have in the US and UK. <br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Paul Flack

[[old] Cran]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Any one have any other ideas?? </td></tr></table><br />you could just get rid of the tv completely... and the car... and the pc...<br /><br />

[[old] Robywar]

<!--QuoteBegin--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->you could just get rid of the tv completely... and the car... and the pc... </td></tr></table><br /><br />Ok, I'm looking for <b>realistic</b>ideas about how to integrate the erg with the PC in a more creative and fun manner to help make land training more compelling, how about that then?

[[old] JeSteR]

Ok, I'm looking for <b>realistic</b>ideas about how to integrate the erg with the PC in a more creative and fun manner to help make land training more compelling, how about that then? <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Seams like the software needed to run this kind of stuff needs sorting out first before they move on to more complex graphics ect( Any rowers that go grey or register as a spike/packet lost should be kicked straight away from race..and anyone held in a back-up pos offered a place in the starting line up....and that is easy to program) I know games like BF2 kick players for slow connections.<br /><br />Personally i would just rather just play wow <br /><br />

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

<!--QuoteBegin-JeSteR+Oct 16 2005, 05:36 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(JeSteR @ Oct 16 2005, 05:36 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-robywar+--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(robywar)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><br />Ok, I'm looking for <b>realistic</b>ideas about how to integrate the erg with the PC in a more creative and fun manner to help make land training more compelling, how about that then? <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Seams like the software needed to run this kind of stuff needs sorting out first before they move on to more complex graphics ect( Any rowers that go grey or register as a spike/packet lost should be kicked straight away from race..and anyone held in a back-up pos offered a place in the starting line up....and that is easy to program) I know games like BF2 kick players for slow connections.<br /><br />Personally i would just rather just play wow <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />i posted my idea, actually its something I saw years ago in a health club in the UK, but would like to see a similar idea integrated into RowPro.. I posted the idea to the digitalrowing website, but never got any response...<br /><br />basically, you row a race against a virtual boat.. while you are rowing, helicopters fly by and drop off additional rowers into your opponents boat, so that his pace pick up.. occassionally, a shark will jump out of the water and eat one of the other rowers, so the pace boat slows down.. I saw this about 10 years ago, so the graphics were pretty simple.. I'm sure it could be made alot more interesting with a technology update and there could be lots of humorous variations to increasing and decreasing pace. <br /><br />Keeping with your RPG theme, you could recieve powerups for keeping pace or beating a 4 person pace boat. or by completing milestones, (e.g. number of meters rowed, meeting time goals for completion of various race lengths.. you could earn sponsorship from local, national and international race gear companies, you could take prize money and buy better equipment.. sleeker boats, high tech oars, custom paint jobs for your boat..<br /><br />most of these ideas wouldnt be too hard to implement in a simple form if someone knew how to program.. LOL<br /><br />SF

[[old] DavidA]

You could be in a galley, don't row at your preset pace and you get whipped - have a buzzer in the handle and get a little shock when you're whipped. <br /><br />David

[[old] Robywar]

That's more like it guys!<br /><br />I was thinking less of a racing game and more like a more traditional type game where spending time on the erg was not a requirement for the game, but if you did you got special attributes or something additional, though a racing game would prolly be easier to do.<br /><br />It's something I could take a stab at doing, but I don't want to put a lot of time into something no one will use...

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

you could integrate it into a regular RPG, and when your character came upon a lake, you would have to actually row across the lake to get to the town on the other side.<br /><br />or, how about integrating it into a fishing game, like Pro Fishing Challenge, where you have to actually row your boat out onto the lake to catch fish. Then row back to the tournament check-in point before the tournament ends.. <br /><br />I like DavidA's idea about the galley boat, unfortunately, I might burn out the buzzer with all the shocking.. LOL

[[old] Schmern]

What a great idea. I just said this same thing to my mmorpg friend. After 6 years of EQ and two of WoW and another of EQ2 (yes, this is why I need this work out more then ever) having a game like enviroment to an exericse would be great. I can play games forever letting time slip out of my life. Wouldn't it be great to have that kind of experience with a RPG rowing game? <br /><br />

[[old] RickMan]

<!--QuoteBegin-Canoeist+Oct 6 2005, 08:18 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Canoeist @ Oct 6 2005, 08:18 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I believe that all the television sets in the house should be connected in some way to the computer which has RowPro.  A family would get credit for rowing so that the TVs would work.  This would certainly cut down on the obesity problem that we have in the US and UK.  <br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Paul Flack <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />I can't help but agree with Canoeist, that is exactly what I was thinking when I read your original post. I saw this documentary on this guy who set up bikes to charge batteries that the kids would use to watch TV. If they wanted to watch their favourite show, they'd have to either do it while cycling or cycle for a certain amount of time to put credits into the TV watching bank. These kids would never get fat.<br /><br />I know it's not the game you are looking for, but it would turn into one for the whole family (look at me, I have 6 hours of TV deposited into the system sis, you only have 20 minutes...hahaha...)<br />

[[old] Canoeist]

At the Head of the Charles race yesterday, Concept had a tent set up with a prototype of their new erg video game. The idea was to score points by catching fish whilst avoiding the sharks. To control the fisherman, the rower would increase or decrease power to the erg. One high school rower kept coming back to play while I was talking to Peter D. I think the kid was thouroughly whipped by the start of his real race.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Paul Flack

[[old] Laupi]

<b>Paul - I need this game - it would not only motivate a youn kid but also an old grufty like me. Please, I would like to have this to feed my motivation. Please post a link to the program.<br /><br />Thanks.</b>

[[old] Sleepy_Floyd]

<!--QuoteBegin-Laupi+Oct 23 2005, 02:07 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Laupi @ Oct 23 2005, 02:07 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Paul - I need this game - it would not only motivate a youn kid but also an old grufty like me. Please, I would like to have this to feed my motivation. Please post a link to the program.<br /><br />Thanks.</b> <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />i want to try it out too.. I'd love to beta test it or be involved with it in any way possible..<br /><br />-SF

[[old] RickMan]

I have no idea if it could be done, but I think it would be cool to somehow be able to interface in with Google Maps and plot a course (with either route points or even a straight line would be cool...) and have the satellite map track your progress. You could have different differentials of plane speed depending on your altitude, for example if you wanted to do a 1x1 row, the eye altitude would be a mile high and you could go from one end of the city to the other... Or, you could plot a course across Brazil, specifying it is a 8000m session, and the plane goes 500 meters for every meter rowed, viewed at a comfortable 'fly by' altitude of, say, 100 miles. (Brazil is 4000km across) I took ULU's idea in the Trans Canada Row thread (around page 16 if you want to check out our pogress... he somehow got our progress into a Google Map interface) and added this idea of rowing to make the map move. Now it is up to somebody else to do it. Please send me a copy when it is done (I might just buy an erg for home to see it work!) <br /><br />hahaha... <br /><br />Edit: It is one page 16 of Trans Canada Row in General, post 227 if anyone wants to take a peek...