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Deconstructing gamification: evaluating the effectiveness of continuous measurement, virtual rewards, and social comparison for promoting physical activity

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Abstract

Game design elements are often implemented in persuasive systems aimed to promote physical activity, a process called “gamification.” Gamification is believed to motivate users to become more active, and is commonly implemented in commercial products. However, relatively few studies rigorously evaluated the effectiveness of gamification, and they yielded contradicting findings. We set out to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual rewards and social comparison—two game elements prevalent in persuasive systems. We developed a research prototype, called “StepByStep,” aimed to promote routine walking. We created different versions of StepByStep, implemented as an application on Android-based mobile devices, and compared their effectiveness in two field studies. Study 1 showed that a quantified version of the application—offering continuous measurement of walking time, a daily goal, and real-time feedback on progress toward this goal—facilitated reflection on activity and significantly increased walking time over baseline level. Study 2 showed that gamified versions offering virtual rewards and social comparison were only as effective as the quantified version. Thus, we advise designers to facilitate reflection on meaningful aspects of physical activity by developing novel ubiquitous measures. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of systematic comparisons between quantified and gamified elements for better understanding their motivational affordances.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Meytal Abo, Michal Gilon-Yanai, Orad Weisberg, Dr. Yaniv Kanat-Mymon, Dr. Guy Hoffman, and Dr. Guy Doron for their assistance with conceptualizing StepByStep; Shai Yagur, Roy Ofer, Omri Baumer, and Yair Halevi for their assistance with developing the different versions of the StepByStep prototype; Dr. Ofer Bergman for his suggestions on an early draft of the manuscript, and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that helped improve the final paper.

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  1. Media Innovation Lab, Sammy Ofer School of Communications, The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel

    Oren Zuckerman & Ayelet Gal-Oz

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  1. Oren Zuckerman
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Correspondence to Oren Zuckerman.

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Zuckerman, O., Gal-Oz, A. Deconstructing gamification: evaluating the effectiveness of continuous measurement, virtual rewards, and social comparison for promoting physical activity. Pers Ubiquit Comput 18, 1705–1719 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-014-0783-2

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