Motivational Impacts and Sustainability Analysis of a Wearable-based Gamified Exercise and Fitness System

Recent years have been hailed by many as the era of the wearables. Meanwhile, gamification in the area of health and fitness has rapidly emerged as a popular field of research. This paper reports the early results of a long-term (70-day) study of using wearable activity trackers and gamification to promote exercise and being more active. The research is being conducted to investigate the motivational effects of using sensor- based games to promote daily exercise, as well as how different methods of releasing the application and its updated features may affect user's enthusiasm and the game's life-cycle. From the data we have collected so far, we can see the gradual emergence of clear pattern based on our periodically updated application. The initial results seem to support the notion of using gradual addition of features or changes as means of sustaining the participants' interest and usage.