Abstract
Persuasive health systems such as wearable trackers and mobile applications can facilitate self-reflection on one’s physical activity. The gamification approach incorporates game design elements with persuasive systems to encourage more physical activity. However, some investigations have shown that using gamification to promote physical activity could have contradictory effects. To explore the conflicted findings in more detail, we designed and studied FitPet – an interactive virtual pet-keeping mobile game focused on encouraging physical activity. In a six-week field study, its effectiveness was evaluated and compared with two other gamification strategies, the goal-setting strategy and the use of social communities. Findings are that the social interaction strategy was the most effective intervention among these three. Contrary to prior research, goal-setting was not found to be as effective at providing motivation compared to social interaction. Although FitPet failed to promote significantly higher levels of physical activity, participants enjoyed this approach and provided design insights for future research: implementing social components and more challenging gameplay.
Highlights
A sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor to chronic disease
We found that the goal-setting strategy was less useful and helpful for promoting awareness or motivation of a higher level of physical activity as suggested in prior studies [6] [12]
The lessons learned from this research can inform the design of applications for promoting physical activity or well-being behavior changes
Summary
A sedentary lifestyle is a contributing factor to chronic disease. Regular physical activity is critical to everyone’s physical and psychological health, regardless of his or her normal, overweight, or obese weight categories [13]. Of particular interest are technologies that are designed for activity tracking and promoting behavior change in everyday life, such as the FitBit, Jawbone UP, Nike FuelBand, etc These technologies hold the potential to assist with counteracting the lack of regular physical activity by motivating people to develop and maintain a healthier and more active lifestyle. These systems capture and measure activity-related parameters and present the measured data to people in various ways, including gamification approaches. Once the game is turned on, the virtual animal is hatched from an egg and grows up To sustain it and maintain its health, the Tamagotchi required virtual care, when necessary, in the form of sleep, a regular supply of food and drink, washing, playing, teaching, scolding and medicating. Similar gameplay was implemented in FitPet, in a more flexible way so that attending to the virtual pet was not too intrusive or overwhelming for the adult players
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