‘Just Do What I Do’

Motion-based console games are videogames that are played primarily using gestures and other forms of kinaesthetic input, and include games for Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Kinect. This pilot study sought to investigate how Kinect’s hands-free system trains players to interact with its interface, and if and how players improve, looking specifically at the virtual pet game Kinectimals (Frontier Developments, 2010) for the Xbox 360. The observations gathered during the study suggest that the game involves a period of adaptation in which players continuously adjust their movements in relation to perceived affordances and constraints. Focusing on situations in which participants seemed to have difficulty interacting with the system, this paper argues that while Kinectimals might not be useful for teaching specific, transferable skills such as accurate throwing techniques, it may have the potential to improve players’ general ability to imitate and adapt physical gestures.