Exploring virtual rewards in real life: A gimmick or a motivational tool for promoting physical activity?

Yuvin Ha, Maria Karyda, Andrés Lucero

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
274 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Leading companies in the wearables market have introduced different virtual reward systems to their products and services to increase user engagement and enhance playfulness. While existing studies report mixed views on the effectiveness of virtual rewards offered by activity trackers, we still have a limited understanding of people's lived experiences with virtual reward systems. A four-month diary-based autoethnography reflecting on the use of three popular activity trackers (i.e.,Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Google Fit) and their associated virtual reward systems, plus an online survey with 113 current users of the same activity trackers were conducted. Results provide rich insights into how users interact with virtual rewards in real-life, and how these impact people's engagement in physical exercise. A set of considerations to design user-centric virtual reward systems that provide more meaningful experiences to activity-tracker users are derived.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference
PublisherACM
Pages1847-1858
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781450369749
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2020
MoE publication typeA4 Conference publication
EventACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: More than Human Centred Design - Eindhoven, Netherlands
Duration: 6 Jul 202010 Jul 2020
https://dis.acm.org/2020/

Publication series

NameDIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

Conference

ConferenceACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
Abbreviated titleDIS
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityEindhoven
Period06/07/202010/07/2020
Internet address

Keywords

  • Activity tracker
  • Autoethnography
  • Digitalbadge
  • Physical activity
  • Points
  • User experience
  • Virtual reward

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