The Role of Steps and Game Elements in Gamified Fitness Tracker Apps: A Systematic Review

Aatish Neupane,Jerry Alan Fails,Anud Sharma,Derek Hansen

doi:10.3390/mti5020005

Aatish Neupane, Jerry Alan Fails + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5020005

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Abstract

This article reviews 103 gamified fitness tracker apps (Android and iOS) that incorporate step count data into gameplay. Games are labeled with a set of 13 game elements as well as meta-data from the app stores (e.g., avg rating, number of reviews). Network clustering and visualizations are used to identify the relationship between game elements that occur in the same games. A taxonomy of how steps are used as rewards is provided, along with example games. An existing taxonomy of how games use currency is also mapped to step-based games. We show that many games use the triad of Social Influence, Competition, and Challenges, with Social Influence being the most common game element. We also identify holes in the design space, such as games that include a Plot element (e.g., Collaboration and Plot only co-occur in one game). Games that use Real-Life Incentives (e.g., allow you to translate steps into dollars or discounts) were surprisingly common, but relatively simple in their gameplay. We differentiate between task-contingent rewards (including completion-contingent and engagement-contingent) and performance-contingent rewards, illustrating the differences with fitness apps. We also demonstrate the value of treating steps as currency by mapping an existing currency-based taxonomy onto step-based games and providing illustrations of nine different categories.

Highlights

Fitness trackers are in high demand, and the market for them is ever-increasing.Market researchers predict that 105 million fitness tracker devices will be sold by 2022 [1].This rising market of activity-tracking devices has given birth to a broad spectrum of games and apps that utilize data from these devices to encourage people to be more physically active
We examined existing works that have dealt with the concept of in-game economy and found several frameworks that fit well with our initial analysis of how steps were used in fitness tracker games including: the European Central Bank’s schema of virtual currencies [26] and the works of Asadi and Hemadi on identifying the rationale behind the virtual economy in games and game mechanics they facilitate
The qualitative process involved looking at how different game elements were used in existing games, identifying existing frameworks that mapped to our initial findings, and translating those into the context of gamified fitness tracker apps that track steps

Summary

Introduction

Market researchers predict that 105 million fitness tracker devices will be sold by 2022 [1] This rising market of activity-tracking devices has given birth to a broad spectrum of games and apps that utilize data from these devices to encourage people to be more physically active. Many of these apps incorporate gamification techniques (i.e., the use of game elements in non-game contexts [2]) and game mechanics that are dependent on the physical activity data such as step count or distance travelled Keeping pace with this development, the academic research community has prototyped different gamified fitness tracker apps and have looked at the effects of gamification techniques and game elements on motivation. While these prototype games have shown promising results by recommending certain game elements over others (e.g., such as in [3] where they compare between collaborative and competitive game elements), there is still a need to better understand the game elements and mechanics that have made their way into commercial apps

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