E-SPORTS Injuries in the Web 3.0 Environment: physical and ethical concerns

by 0x0a05a8a135e3d1f035819dadb4484f74b104a346 (Crusty)

Should the following Tier 4: up to $60,000 USD, 6 months vesting (1 month cliff) grant in the Gaming category be approved?

Abstract

NPACT (npact-village.com) focuses on community growth, research, and adaptation of Decentraland as our mission. With metaverses and gaming experiences evolving towards full Virtual Reality (VR) we investigate potential effects of this transition. Virtual reality and sports will continue to grow recreationally, professionally, and medically, however biomedical research has yet to evaluate the impact of this new VR technology, as ethical and health concerns arise. This grant provides a scientific investigation of potential dangers and benefits of VR integration into the metaverse. Our expert teams of Medical Practitioners, Researchers and Decentraland community members seek to answer these questions.

Grant size

60,000 USD

Beneficiary address

0x0A05A8A135E3D1F035819daDb4484f74b104A346

Email address

info@npact-village.com

Description

We spend an increasing amount of our daily life in the digital environment. This is not a new thing, but the ability to meet social, work, educational, cultural, and even IRL maintenance without ever leaving your computer exploded in post-covid. With this explosion of work from home coupled with tradition gym closures and technologically leverage products like Peloton reaching mass adoption, the future partnership of exercise and the metaverse finally moved beyond its perpetually nascent phase.

To say it has reached full adoption, or is technically proficient as desired, would be taking great liberty with the truth. However, while the technology is lagging, the social structure of sports, includes its competitive nature, are taking subtle but significant steps. Beyond a traditional leader board displaying a name and temporary high score, individualized avatar athletes provide recognition, branding, and the under pinning of the tribal mentality associated with sports rivalries.

Digital uniforms and team names and identities which under tradition are regionally formed, with specialized equipment and sponsorship following, has been turned on its head. In contrast, factors including time zones, preferred equipment, technological compatibility and political affiliations are component parts of the whole. While not the focus of this project, these factors must be considered during any ethical design review process. As these factors could lead to over exertion and injury in any environment, we will endeavor to identify and isolate their direct impact on the metaverse based virtual gaming environment.

As discussed above, home exercise has moved leaps and bounds from aerobic types of yesteryear. Now, instead of being led by the recording, we are now recording the leader. However, that leader is not always human and classes give way for competition on a more regular basis. Without the unpredictability of inclement weather, cost of ravel, ongoing communication, and generally large time commitment associated with organized sporting events, more frequent and bespoke functions are possible.

Ranging from a group of friends virtually cycling together to an esports arena teaming with thousands, virtual reality and sports will continue to grow recreationally, professionally, and medically. Biomedical research and implementation while quite conspicuous with the Invictus games, the impact of tech many not be as obvious in character design and movement. For example, at one of the most simple designs, an underwater adventure game, while perfectly safe for the human behind the goggles, would spell destruction if replicated in the real world. While seemingly far-fetched and low-hanging fruit as an example, it speaks to a potentially increasing problem, realism in avatar function and design. Even the greatest suspension of reality would have difficulty reasonably finding a gamer trying to fly off a building as a dragon. But could the same be said for a human gamer trying to imitate a Tetris style climbing game in the real world if digitally designed? In light of the multiple injuries suffered each year in pursuit of social media challenges like the mild crate climb, these risks become increasingly foreseeable. Simply put, as the likeness to human increases in avatar, does the risk of injury though imitation on competition simply increase?

Specification

Research question

To what degree, if any, does an omnidirectional sporting device and combination with virtual reality increase the risk of injury to the participant?

Sub Questions

1. To what degree, if any, does the underlying physical condition of a participant contribute to risk?
2. To what degree if any are risks associated with physical condition mitigated or warned against by manufactures?
3. To what degree of commonality, if any, will new omnidirectional related injuries occur? What are the most likely injuries?
4. To what degree, if any, does the environmental design of the game enhance risk of injury?
5. To what degree, if any, does the design and functionality of the avatar enhance risk of injury?

Hypothesis

It is our belief that game designers did not properly anticipate the incongruity of digital physical capabilities in design, resulting in participants mimicking unnatural actions or the avatar or game requirements resulting in new sports injuries patterns or occurrences.

Design

Utilizing the Kat VR Omnidirectional system in conjunction with the Oculus Rift, our participants will engage in gaming and digital sports, captured on video. Following 10 sessions to allow familiarity and ease, our lead physician researcher will review the kinetics, identify the greatest points for risk of injury. This will be correlated with the gaming interaction for design review. Following processing and correlation of all data, the highest and most common risks will be identified for further study and to offer precautions to the community at large.

Methods

1. Headset (Oculus Rift) and VR platform/Treadmill
   • Research all variations in platforms/treadmill to accurately simulate all potential human movements/interactions
     • Considerations
     • Size
     • Cost
     • Game variability
     • Compatibility to Oculus Rift headset
     • Allows all directions and speeds of movement
     • Purchase said headset/VR platform after selection
     • Platform set up and lead investigator familiarization with headset/VR platform
2. Initial protocol for participation to be determined by lead investigator
   • Game selection
     • First person interactive shooting/military style game incorporating the widest variety of human movements
     • Game style should permit both movement initiation and reactionary movements
     • Game style/play should permit both standard kinetic movement and higher speed movements, include multi-direction and rotational motions
   • Movement tracking
     • Select video equipment parameters
     • Purchase video equipment for multi-modal and multi-angle monitoring of intra-game actions/movements
     • Record actions/movements for later playback and analysis
3. Post-game play analysis
   • Pitfalls/potential for injury
     • Headset
     • VR platform
     • Game type/style
   • Movement analysis
     • Kinetic stress points
     • Anatomic/Joint loads/stress points
       • Neck
       • Shoulder
       • Low back
       • Hips
       • Knees
       • Ankles/feet
   • Overall analysis/Summation
4. Future considerations and Call for action/follow-up research
5. Publish Scientific study

Personnel

Dr Anand Panchal, DO

• Qualifications: AOBOS Board Certified, Orthopedic Sports Medicine and Surgery of the Upper Extremity
• Affiliation: Center for Bone & Joint Surgery of the Palm Beaches
• Dr Panchal's experience and ability to identify potential injuries in the VR gaming environment directly benefits the health of Decentraland users and the DCL platform as an impactful benefit to the gaming community and beyond

Dr Luca Arnaboldi, PhD

• Qualifications: PhD, BSc, Computer Science
• Affiliation: NPACT, Metaverse Research and Development Director (MRD2)
• Dr Arnaboldi's experience in computer science research and technical expertise in both programming and research methods will aid Dr Panchal's investigation into the VR gaming environment

Ronald J Bogani, Esq

• Qualifications: JD, LLM Human Rights, MRes Artificial Intelligence
• Affiliation: NPACT, Director
• Mr Bogani, is the director of NPACT an active organization within Decentraland aiming to host events, start projects, and work toward mainstream appeal for the future of the platform. His role will be towards community integration

Roadmap and milestones

All information about this grant will be available to track on our website (npact-village.com) we will establish channels of communication to the community via Discord, and through information available on our Decentraland estate (36, 96).

Timeline:

• Month 1-2 - Acquire and familiarize with VR Equipment
• Month 2-4 - Run Experiment as per described in experiment methodology
• Month 4 -6 - fine tune and publish results of investigation
• Month 6 - exhibit full research results on Nakatomi Plaza estate as community event

Vote on this proposal on the Decentraland DAO