How Gamification Is Changing Fitness July 2012

POINTS FOR PUSHUPS: HOW GAMIFICATION IS CHANGING FITNESS JULY 2012

Presented by Timothy Herman in association with Algonquin College Executive Summary

Gamification is the application of game design elements in non-game contexts. Hundreds of companies are finding ways to apply “Games are the new these game elements to their products and processes in order to better motivate and normal.” engage with their clients. Some of these processes have been in common use for - Al Gore, decades, but the past few years have seen a Former US Vice-President rapid increase in gamified processes.This trend appears set to continue in the future. Game elements, such as points, levels, and badges, are used to meet universal basic human needs and desires. By meeting these desires, such as the needs for status or achievement, users will be more engaged with the process, and even tedious tasks can be made enjoyable. One company is applying these principles to personal fitness with great success. With the motto ‘Get addicted to your fitness’, startup Fitocracy’s goal is to use the principles of gamification to promote fitness and health.

Section I. What is Gamification?

At the most fundamental level, Gamification can be defined as “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts”1. These game elements are used to change people’s behaviour. Game elements can be anything from aesthetics common to games, such as graphics “Play is not the and progress bars, to the inclusion of overarching goals, plot, rules, levels, quests and opposite of work.” achievements all powered by real actions. Gamifying something consists of adding - Dr. Stuart Brown a number of these game elements to a non- game context, such as education or fitness, in order to enhance the users’ experience or increase their motivation and engagement with the experience.

1. Sebastian Deterding et al, “Call for Participation”, Gamification Research Network , http://gamification- research.org/chi2011/cfp/(accessed 12 July, 2012)

1 The overall goal of gamification is to increase user engagement, participation and interaction in a given activity or community. While gamification is becoming a marketing buzz-word, it is nothing new. Humans have been playing various forms of games since prehistory. Fast forward to the modern era with the significant free time that people have today, and gaming has become a hugely popular and tremendously profitable industry, with annual revenue of $74 billion per year. Given this wide acceptance of gaming and the increasing role of the internet in society, people have become more open to game mechanics in other parts of their lives. As a result, “gamification” is becoming a powerful tool through which organi- zations teach, persuade, and motivate people. Many different activities that people do today incorporate game mechanics, including tasks that you might never even think of as games. Every month, we see hundreds of startup companies using gamification launch. Thousands of marketers, strategists, and game designers attend events like the Gamifi- cation Summit in order to build a vision for this growing industry1. Existing companies are also seeking ways to apply the principles of gamification to their products or processes. In 2010, corporations spent an estimated $100 million on gamification, and that figure is expected to climb, reaching $2.8 billion by 2016.2 By 2015, Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company, forecasts that 70% of the Forbes Global 2000 companies will use a gamified app by 2015. While gamification will become more common in the future, it has already been part of our lives for decades. One of the earliest and most common examples of gamification is Frequent Flyer Programs (FPP). Originally, airline customers enrolled in the program accumulated frequent flyer miles (or kilometers, points, or other units) based on the distance they flew on that airline or its partners. Today, over 100 million people are accruing frequent flyer miles in more than 70 FFPs around the world, offered by nearly every major airline3. These programs have many of the game mechanics that we will discuss in the next section. Customers earn mile (points) for every flight they buy, as well as the use of co-branded credit and debit cards. By earning more points, customers can move from Bronze to Silver or Gold status, which parallels the ‘levelling up’ mechanic of games. The miles that users accumulate can be cashed in for free air travel, or other goods or services, giving them a reward to keep them motivated.

1. Gabe Zichermann, “Gamification is Here to Stay (And its not Bullshit)”, Kotaku, http://kotaku.com/ 5833631/gamification-is-here-to-stay-and-its-not-bullshit?tag=gamification (accessed 20 July, 2012) 2. Jason Tanz, “The Curse of Cow Clicker”, Wired, www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_cowclicker/ all/ (accessed 19 July, 2012) 3. “History of Loyalty Programs”, FrequentFlier.com, http://www.frequentflier.com/ffp-005.htm (accessed 20 July, 2012)

2 Section II: The Elements of Gamification

Game Mechanics & Game Dynamics Game mechanics are the rules and rewards that make up gameplay. These are the aspects that make an activity challenging, fun, satisfying, or whatever other emotion the game’s designers hope to evoke. Game mechanics are the basic building blocks. They can be combined in various ways to guide users through very complex sequences of actions, in a variety of different contexts. What does that mean? By using these game mechanics, people can enjoy even tedious tasks. For example, the gamification of education can result in children who want to go to school and learn, who are more highly motivated, and who enjoy it more. The founders of Fitocracy, with their gamer background, have used these mechanics to increase their users’ motivation and engagement with personal fitness. These game mechanics include: •Points •Levels •Challenges • Leaderboards • Competitions Game dynamics are the desires and motivations that make the experience compelling to users. Game dynamics include: •Reward • Status •Achievement • Competition

Points Points are one of the most basic game elements, and people love them. We love to earn points, to achieve them and see our score go up. Often, points are displayed as a progress bar, graphically displaying the points earned so far, and the amount needed to level up, which we’ll discuss next. This makes points incredible motivators. Some systems, like the FFPs discussed earlier, allow users to ‘spend’ their points, to turn them in for some form of gain, whether virtual or real. Points don’t need to have any monetary value associated with them though. Studies done by IBM Research and the University of Chicago describe the dramatic effect that earning points can have on user behaviour, even if they have no value outside the game.

3 Levels Levels are another common feature in games. Examples of levels in our daily lives are different classes in frequent-flyer programs, different coloured belts in martial arts, even job titles in your career. They are all ways to indicate you have reached a milestone, a level of accomplishment in a community and should be afforded a certain amount of respect and status as a result. Levels in games are often gained by passing a point threshold, so users can level up based on their participation and performance. The US edition of Google News offers badges that let people “level up” by reading articles online.1

Challenges, Trophies, Badges, Achievements Challenges, which can also take the form of trophies, badges, or achievements, give people set goals to accomplish and reward them for doing so. Challenges provide users with goals and the sense that they are making progress towards something. The general approach is to design achievable, but difficult challenges, and reward users for their accomplishments with trophies, badges and achievements. Trophies, badges, ribbons, etc. are forms of visible recognition for users who have reached new levels or completed challenges. One of the keys to making levels and challenges effective is providing a means for users to show off their achievements, like a trophy case or user profile page that displays their badges. Examples of these in the real world include Scout merit badges, coloured credit cards that indicate high spending limits, or the aforementioned coloured frequent flyer cards that indicate one’s member status.

Leaderboards Many classic video games that made their debut in arcades implemented a “high- score table” which provided players a goal to aspire to. Having one’s initials emblazoned in lights would give one bragging rights and a modicum of ‘fame’ in that community. Leaderboards can also allow users to compare themselves against their friends and other players. In the context of gamification, leaderboards are used in order to track and display individuals’ progresses, and use competition to increase the desired behaviour.

Competitions Competitions allow users to challenge each other at some activity. Each user is given a chance to compete, and generally the user with the highest score wins some form of reward. This is a great method to enable “multiplayer” in single player games and other experiences. For example, it might not be feasible to compete directly against a friend in person, but by providing a challenge framework that allows users to compete

1. Jason Tanz, “The Curse of Cow Clicker”, Wired, www.wired.com/magazine/2011/12/ff_cowclicker/ all/ (accessed 19 July, 2012)

4 on their own schedule, sense of community is increased and competitive users will be more satisfied. Game Dynamics Satisfy Desires Why do these game mechanics motivate us? Why do we crave points and badges? We are driven by these mechanics because of game dynamics. All of us have fundamental needs and desires, which are universal, crossing cultural, generational and gender divides. These desires have been the subject of countless psychological studies and theories. Some of these desires and needs are can be met by game mechanics, including desire for reward, status, achievement, and competition, among others. Video gaming has become a $74 billion dollar industry1, and the industry has funded a great deal of study into how to successfully meet these needs within gaming environments. This same research also applies to how gamification tries to meet these needs in non-game contexts

Reward At the most basic level, all humans are motivated by receiving rewards, something of value received for some kind of action. By presenting a reward, tangible or intangible, after an action or behaviour, it is more likely that the behaviour will occur again. With gamification, the primary reward mechanism is through earning points or the equivalent (like frequent-flyer miles). But levelling up and completing achievements also satisfy this desire.

Status “We are driven by Most people have a need for status, recognition, prestige, attention and, ultimately, recognition, and once the esteem and respect of others. People need to engage themselves in activities to gain this you start getting it, it esteem, though. All elements of game mechanics drive these dynamics, with levelling- has an incredible up, much like getting a gold or platinum credit card in the real world, being one of the primary power that is hard to motivators. stop.” Achievement - Stefan Olander, Some, but not all, people are motivated by a VP of Nike Digital Sport need for achievement. They want to accomplish something difficult through prolonged and repeated efforts, to work towards goals, and to win. People motivated by achievement

1. David Hinkle, “Report: Game industry worth $74 billion in 2011”, Joystiq http://www.joystiq.com/ 2011/07/05/report-game-industry-worth-74-billion-in-2011/ (Accessed 18 July, 2012)

5 tend to seek out challenges and set moderately difficult, but achievable goals. Their most satisfying reward is the recognition of their achievements. Badges and trophies are a common way to gain this recognition.

Competition Individuals can also be motivated by competition. It has been proven that higher levels of performance can be achieved when a competitive environment is established and the winner rewarded. That’s because we gain a certain amount of satisfaction by comparing our performance to that of others. All elements of game mechanics tap into this desire but the use of leaderboards is central to display competitive results and celebrate winners. Many games provide at least a simple top ten list, and using that public display to indicate new levels achieved, rewards earned, or challenges met can be a great motivator to other players.

Section III: How Does Fitocracy Bring Gamification to Fitness?

By employing the principles of gamification and a robust social aspect, Fitocracy strives to motivate its users in the pursuit of fitness goals. Fitocracy motivates its users in several ways; through game mechanics, through interaction with other players, and through feedback. Game Mechanics Fitocracy uses all of the game mechanics previously discussed, in an attempt to maximize user engagement and enjoyment.

Points Users earn points for every activity they log on Fitocracy. Some exercises are worth more than others depending on their difficulty and their return on the user’s fitness. For example, a user would get more points for running a kilometer in 7 minutes than they would for running a kilometer in 10 minutes. As users earn points, they’ll see a progress bar fill up, providing visual feedback.

6 Figure 1: Points Earned From a Workout

Levels Levels are a way to see how far a user has come in their personal fitness. Getting to the next Level is a clear indicator that they’ve made progress. The user can see a statistics bar that shows how many points they needs before they gain their next level. When a user gains a new level, it is displayed as an image on the social newsfeed and is visible to other users.

Challenges, Trophies, Badges, Achievements Fitocracy offers both Quests and Achievements. Quests are optional goals users can attempt to beat in order to push themselves further. By completing a quest, the user is rewarded with bonus points. Fitocracy offers 50 quests to users, suitable for users of any activity level, and covering a range of different exercises. When a user completes a quest, an icon is shown on the newsfeed for other users to see. Achievement badges are received as recognition for reaching a special milestone. Fitocracy has 38 different achievement badges. While the majority are exercise-based, others reward users for their involvement in the social network aspect of the site. They’re designed to be shown off and are displayed on an individual’s profile page. They also appear on the social newsfeed when they are gained.

Leaderboards Like elsewhere in life, many people want to compare themselves to their peers. Although Fitocracy prides itself on its welcoming and friendly community, they also understand that a certain amount of competition can push users to go that extra mile. Users can choose to compare themselves to just their friends, or all users of the site. They can choose the timeframe as well, either the past 7, 30, or 90 days. They can even choose to compare themselves only to users of the same gender. Fitocracy also spotlights members who have made extraordinary transformations or accomplished inspiring feats.

7 Figure 2: Leaderboard

Competitions For those who thrive on competition, Fitocracy offers two forms of competitions. The first is Duels, a direct competition between two users. Borrowing liberally from the concept of Player vs. Player games, a Fitocracy user can issue a Duel to any other user to take place on a date of their choosing. If that user accepts, the duelists compete head-to-head until the end of the duel. There are ten duel-types including “Most Points Earned,” “Heaviest Bench Press” and “Most Distance Run.” The duel system also allows other users to join ‘teams’ and cheer on their chosen player.

Figure 3: Duel Screen

The other form of competition is Group Challenges, which are competitions for a larger group of users. Group administrators and creators can issue a challenge with a set goal, for example, the most points earned in a weekend, or who can run the greatest distance, and everyone in that group who chooses to then competes for their

8 position on the podium. It keeps the group members motivated and allows them to flex their competitive muscles (literally). Social Aspects Of course the pursuit of points in a void is not much of a motivator, and since gym- going is often enhanced by a buddy or spotter, there is a vital social component to Fitocracy. Users are encouraged to follow others to see what they are doing and can comment on each other’s activity or give ‘props’, the equivalent of Facebook’s ‘Like’. That feedback is amplified by the ability to broadcast user results via social media. Posting their stats to Facebook and Twitter lets users do more than boast. It allows others in their life to encourage the users or even join Fitocracy and work toward their own fitness goal. This feedback can have a major impact on users, and increase their engagement in their fitness program. The effect that feedback has on attempts to change behaviour has been well established. A study in the American Journal of Health Behavior from 2001 showed that personalized feedback increased the effectiveness of everything from smoking-cessation programs to interventions for problem drinkers to exercise programs. Feedback is important and powerful - it works. Beyond interaction between individual users, Fitocracy also offers users the opportunity to create groups based upon shared interests or goals, such as an NYC group, new mothers group, or a zombie apocalypse survival group. Members of these groups can post discussions and have conversations or even competitions amongst themselves. The recently added Duels between players allow more competitive users to challenge friends and themselves to reach ever higher levels of fitness. Fitocracy has created a community with over 500,000 users1. Members spend over 5 million minutes on the site each month2, improving their own fitness, and providing encour- agement and advice to other users. Tracking Your Progress If you don't track what you’ve done, you don't improve. Tracking provides objective information about your progress. “There’s incredible power in knowing how you’re doing,” said Stefan Olander, Nike’s VP of digital sport, at South by Southwest. “It’s inherently, incredibly motivational.” Keeping track of our lives is nothing new. Athletes have long kept training logs to quantify and analyze their workouts. In the past, that required two steps. First, there was the recording of the information, then the actual effort to modify behaviour. In study after study, this extra work turned out to be a huge burden.

1. Jareen Imam, “Want to get fit? Pull out your phone”, CNN http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/tech/ social-media/tech-fitness-irpt/index.html?iref=allsearch (Accessed 18 July, 2012) 2. Lauren Drell, “13 Ways to Get in Shape With Digital Fitness Tools”, Mashable http://mashable.com/ 2011/10/18/apps-gadgets-fitness/#297256-Fitocracy (Accessed 18 July, 2012)

9 Nobody wants to carry a notepad and pencil around the gym with them if they can avoid it. This is one of the reasons Fitocracy boasts both web and iOS mobile apps, which are streamlined and simple to use. Selecting individual exercises using either method is simple, and custom routines can be saved to make regular workouts a breeze to set up. A great deal of thought was also put into how to display the personal data gathered in an intuitive and clear format for users. For instance, when tracking strength exercises, Fitocracy chose to display each set with a bar whose height represented the weight used and whose width represented the number of repetitions. By hovering over the bar, additional details are displayed as text. This makes it easy for a user to look at previous workouts and see their progress with a glance.

Figure 4: Fitocracy Exercise Data Graph

10 Section IV: User Testimonials

Despite being thought up in 2010, and only opened to the public on March 29th of 2012, Fitocracy can already boast being part of dramatic transformations. Fitocracy regularly posts some of the more inspirational users on their blog, and on the site next to the Leaderboard. Just like Fitocracy’s founders, each have a made an incredible transformation, partly due to Fitocracy and its “I’m the exact same community. The Founders person I was when I Fitocracy founders Dick Talens and Brian was a fat kid. Except, Wang were both gamers who spent more time in front of the computer than thinking about instead of leveling up fitness. By the end of high school, Talens weighed 230 pounds, and Wang describes himself as my character, I’m skinny and weak. While they still enjoy computer games, both men transitioned from a gaming leveling up myself.” addiction to a fitness addiction while at university, where they met. After graduating, - Dick Talens, they began to see the parallels between fitness Fitocracy Co-Founder and gaming, which led to the creation of Fitocracy.1

Brian Wang/xenowang Dick Talens/dicktalens

1. Jacque Wilson, “Why gamers are a great fit at the gym”, CNN http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/ health/video-gamers-bodybuilders-fitocracy/index.html (Accessed 5July, 2012)

11 Michael Perry/ThePerry Michael Perry said that he was heavy all of his life before joining Fitocracy. He spent much of his time playing World of Warcraft, which he indirectly credits with the skills he needed for success. "I think that translates really well to exercise and bodybuilding because you have to have that level of knowledge, (and) you have to have that commitment. "1

Uziel “I was always a fat kid growing up,” says Uziel. After graduating college and getting a desk job, he became even more sedentary. “In a few short years, I had ballooned up to being incredibly fat”. After his wife announced that she was pregnant, Uziel knew he had to change. Through exercise and an improved diet, Uziel dropped from 410 lbs to 225 lbs. “If you had told me . . . I’d be a dad to two kids, back in school while working full-time, and enjoying life, I would have thought you were mocking me.”2

Vainglory Weighing 220 lbs by 12 years old, Vainglory reached a weight of 538 lbs by 28. Suffering from agoraphobia, he didn’t work and became a shut-in. “In the last year and a half, I’ve lost 254 pounds to this point and I’ve grown to love fitness and nutrition. I’ve found something I’m good at other than video games, finally.” Vainglory now works as a Health and Wellness Advocate, and hopes to help kids like him get out of the cyclical trap of self-loathing and obesity.3

1. Jacque Wilson, “Why gamers are a great fit at the gym”, CNN http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/ health/video-gamers-bodybuilders-fitocracy/index.html (Accessed 5 July, 2012) 2. Lokkju, “Fitocracy Member Spotlight: Uziel”, Fitocracy Blog http://blog.fitocracy.com/post/ 12797863490/fitocracy-member-spotlight-uziel (Accessed 9 July, 2012) 3. Jesse Stilwell, “About My Transformation”, Food is for Fuel http://www.foodisforfuel.com/about-my- transformation/(Accessed 9 July, 2012)

12 Kristen Waldkirch/kdub10s Kristen was introduced to Fitocracy by her son at the age of 51. Since then, she’s lost 25 lbs, plays tennis three times a week, and runs 10 miles every week. “I've NEVER been this fit or this trim in my life. I'm wearing sizes I didn't even wear in high school.” Kristen sees Fitocracy’s social network as a powerful tool. “I truly think that our childhood obesity epidemic could be cured by apps like Fitocracy. It meets today's kids . . . speaks their language and creates a social media platform where they can be inspired and supported by others.”1 brickfrenzy “I love that the quest system gives people the opportunity to try out new and varied exercises, the tracking system enables me to keep tabs on personal bests of all manner of different exercises, and the community is so friendly and helpful.”2 warren jp “I feed off the casually competitive environment that Fitocracy fosters. I want to work out every day and, of course, there are some days that I need extra motivation to start. For me, the challenges provide sufficient motivation to ensure that I don’t skip a workout.”2

SectionV: Summary “We want a fitter Gamification consists of the application of nation, and we're not elements of game design to non-game processes. The use of game mechanics, such as points, levels going to stop until it and badges, to fulfill needs and desires, like those for reward, status, and achievement, lead to increased user engagement and motivation, By happens.” applying these game elements to the realm of - Jared Cocken, personal fitness, users can improve their health, better engage with the tasks, and be more Fitocracy CPO motivated to continue the process.

1. Kristen Waldkirch, “Middle-Aged Mom Gets Hi-Tech Fit”, CNN http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC- 796779 (Accessed 13 July 2012) 2. James Floyd Kelly, “Real Life Leveling Via Fitocracy: Update”, Wired http://www.wired.com/geekdad/ 2012/02/fitocracy-update/ (Accessed 15 July 2012)

13 Section VI: About Fitocracy

Fitocracy turns fitness into a game to help users improve their fitness while having more fun at the same time. Users earn points, levels, and achievements for their fitness activities and can also share their progress with their friends. Throughout the game, users can complete special challenges, unlock bonus features, and compete with their friends in order to get them to the next level.

To learn more visit http://www.fitocracy.com