Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The ZWIFT virtual cycling platform provides many ways to think about sport and leisure within society and how individuals interact with each other through intelligent artificial worlds. The current poster showcases a study of ZWIFT and highlights the role of AI and VR in the personalized gamification of cycling with implications for ICT design in eSports. The study explores ZWIFT and provides insight into how virtual platforms supplement, reconfigure, or potentially replace traditional sports and leisure activities like cycling. From a health perspective, the study shows how AI and VR-assisted technologies can support physical and mental well-being, while also fostering community participation among minority groups. The current research draws data from two epistemological traditions, ethnography and framing. Over a period of 94 hours in ZWIFT and across a total of 3084km, ethnographic data and field notes were collected through direct participation in the ZWIFT virtual cycling platform. Bio-sensory data was also gathered for quantitative analysis and alignment with the extracted framework. Finally, several interviews were undertaken with other ZWIFT users to better understand the eSports experience. Three primary themes emerged in explaining the perceived value and contribution of ZWIFT to individuals and communities. The study demonstrates the significance of eSports as a vibrant research domain within Systems Information Science. It emphasizes the potential for platforms like ZWIFT to be examined from diverse perspectives, catering to the needs and interests of different individuals and communities.