Isbister raises an interesting argument in chapter 3 of How Games Move Us. She states that games that involve some sort of physical movement in the real world invokes certain feelings and emotions in players and the people around them, especially in a social setting. I found this to be very interesting, and having thought back to my time playing Wii Sports with my friends many years ago, makes total sense. Whether it was me or one of my friends who was playing, we always were emotionally invested in the game being played (screaming, shouting, and even jumping up and down at certain points). She references figure 3.3 (a picture of a group of people playing a Wii game), and when I looked at it, I was instantly brought back to playing Wii Sports with my friends.
Another example Isbister calls on is that of Microsoft’s Dance Central 2 that utilized the Kinect’s motion-tracking capabilities to determine if players were successfully executing the dance moves outlined on screen. She said that during development, the game initially included a feature that used the camera on the Kinect to put the players on-screen and into the game. It was discovered through playtesting that most players did not like that and were focusing on their awkward movements while learning new moves and not enjoying the game. Because of this, they decided to include avatars that were successfully executing the moves, that way the players could watch and learn the moves more quickly, and also so they would feel more confident. Isbister makes the argument that if the players see these confident avatars dancing along to the song, they will, in turn, feel more confident and enjoy the game more, which I think is is extremely fascinating