From Virtual Gains to Real Pains: Potential Harms of Immersive Exergames

Abstract: Digitalization and virtualization are parts of our everyday lives in almost all aspects ranging from work, education, and communication to entertainment. A novel step in this direction is the widespread interest in extended reality (XR) [2]. The newest consumer-ready head-mounted displays (HMD) such as Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro, have reached unprecedented levels of visual fidelity, interaction capabilities, and computational power. The built-in pass-through features of these headsets enable both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) with the same devices. However, the immersive nature of these experiences is not the only groundbreaking difference from established forms of media.