Most digital bodily games focus on the body as they use movement as input. However, they also draw the player's focus away from the body as the output occurs on visual displays, creating a divide between the physical body and the virtual world. We propose a novel approach - the ''Body as a Play Material'' - where a player uses their body as both input and output to unify the physical body and the virtual world. To showcase this approach, we designed three games where a player uses one of their hands (input) to play against the other hand (output) by loaning control over its movements to an Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) system. We conducted a thematic analysis on the data obtained from a field study with 12 participants to articulate four player experience themes. We discuss our results about how participants appreciated the engagement with the variety of bodily movements for play and the ambiguity of using their body as a play material. Ultimately, our work aims to unify the physical body and the virtual world.

翻译：大多数数字身体游戏将身体作为输入手段，通过动作输入进行互动。然而，这些游戏的输出发生在视觉显示器上，导致玩家的注意力从身体上转移，进而在物理身体与虚拟世界之间形成割裂。我们提出了一种创新方法——"将身体作为游戏材料"——玩家同时将身体用作输入与输出，从而统一物理身体与虚拟世界。为展示这一方法，我们设计了三款游戏：玩家通过一只手掌控（输入）与另一只手掌控（输出）对抗，其中输出手的动作由电肌肉刺激（EMS）系统接管控制。通过对12名参与者实地研究数据的主题分析，我们提炼出四种玩家体验主题。我们讨论了研究结果，展示了参与者如何享受游戏中多样化身体动作的参与感，以及将身体作为游戏材料时其模糊性所带来的独特体验。最终，我们的工作旨在实现物理身体与虚拟世界的统一。