The new wave of wearables brings along new possibilities for gamifying the stepping stones of healthy life. There is an increasing amount of watches and tech bracelets and “jewelry” on the market that will tell you how many calories you should still burn today and give you alternatives for how to do it. The reward-system is often barely gamified and is based on setting clear achievements for calorie consumption.
Nike Fuelband is a good example: it sets goals for the daily amount of movement – and it can be connected with a smartphone app to keep better track of the records. The combination makes it possible to create gamelike competitions with your friends as well: who has been moving most during the coffee break for example.
If you do not own a Nike Fuelband but merely a smartphone, you still have plenty of health-applications to choose from. Most of the gamification elements used are basically the goal-setting and social elements build to motivate the user, but there are some more fun examples, such as the already-a-classic, “Zombies, run”.
It would be great to see even deeper gamification used with these new kinds of devices, though: more playful goals and achievements. It could be fun for example to build a virtual tamagotchi that is affected by your own life habits and physical condition – one is often blind to the difference that a healthy lifestyle can have on themselves.
