Elgan: Your health isn’t a game, but it should be
Everybody knows video games are unhealthy, right? Instead of exercising and eating right, gamers sit motionless in a dark room eating junk food. The most hard-core gamers get really good at shooting bad guys and playing fake guitars, but the more they win at games, it seems, the more they fail at life.
But what happens when eating right and exercising is the game?
A new category of online service, mobile app and desktop application combines fitness tracking and goals with gaming. The idea is to apply the principles and practices of video games to the goals and behavior of diet and exercise.
The idea is brilliant and, for anyone who struggles to stay healthy, definitely worth a try.
Why games work
I'll confess that I have first-hand knowledge about why video games are so compelling. I don't have time to play a lot of games, so I play only one -- Call of Duty: Black Ops for Microsoft Xbox 360 -- and I play it pretty much every day.
The game is fun and addicting. But playing the game is a massive waste of time. After two hours of play, you've accomplished nothing and learned nothing (except how to play the game better). So, why do we play?
The reason I and millions of others play Call of Duty is that the game's maker, Treyarch, has achieved something monumental: It has unlocked the key to human motivation. And this key could be applied to improving the health of millions of people.
Call of Duty's graphics are spectacular, and the functionality of the game is incredibly good. And, of course, it's packed with senseless violence. But the biggest reason Call of Duty is so addictive is that it's challenging in exactly the right way.
There's some element of chance to the game, but skill, which can be developed, is the main determinant of success or failure. Because the rewards (points, victory, new weapons, the satisfaction of success) feel good, and the punishments (you die) feel bad, you're motivated to play, and to deliberately improve your skills. The better you get, the harder the game gets, because you are pitted against an ever more skillful class of players. So you never get so good that it's boring. Oh, and it's social. You know those are real people whom you're playing against and who are witnessing your successes and failures.
All human motivation -- why we do things -- can be categorized as either intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external). The reward is either inside ourselves or comes from other people. Social or multiplayer videos games are powerful, in part, because they provide both kinds of rewards.
None of this is rational, of course. It's human nature.
What's interesting to me is that these addictive-game attributes are not necessarily associated with pointless, time-wasting activities. Why not apply them to behaviors that enrich our lives?
Why not apply the challenges, rewards and punishments of video games to weight loss and fitness?
Another reason why gamification is a great idea for fitness is that a lot of people who struggle to achieve health goals do so because they happen to have been born with addictive personalities. Some people are simply more prone to food addictions and other addictions that work against health, such as watching TV or, well, playing video games.
The gamification of fitness turns the addictive-behavior personality trait into a benefit, rather than a disadvantage.
Play and get healthy
The world of social fitness games is in its infancy. Many of the most promising titles are still in beta. I'll try most of these, and will report back to you in a future column on which I believe are the best of the lot, and why. In the meantime, here are just two examples that will give you a much better idea of what's possible.
Fitocracy is a Web-based service that lets you log your own fitness activities and then earn points for making progress. When you've achieved a certain number of points, and in some cases accomplished some specially assigned task, you advance to the next level and start over with more challenging goals. Fitocracy is optimized for lifting weights but also has other fitness-related activities, including dietary ones.
Like a social network, you can follow your friends on Fitocracy and monitor their progress in an "activity stream" -- and they can monitor yours.
Fitocracy is in beta, and you can request an invitation on the site.
Nexercise is a smartphone app currently available on iPhone and soon to ship on Android that rewards you with game points for performance in aerobics, biking, running, walking, weight lifting, yoga and other exercises. The app uses your phone's sensors, including location sensor, motion detector and clock, to monitor your performance.
Nexercise rewards users with medals, which look a lot like Foursquare badges, as well as discounts on fitness products. The service randomly picks an exercise and rewards the best performers with public recognition and prizes.
You earn points by doing your selected activities for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. And you can also compete against other "players."
The app rewards social behavior. You get extra points if you check into your gym with a "buddy." You can optionally connect to Facebook and other social networks and are rewarded by the app with additional points (it's like "extra credit").
(Source: computerworld.com)