A dedicated marketplace and social proof that video games are addicting, amassing more than 103 billion dollars till now in 2020. This includes revenue from the worldwide PC gaming market and the mobile gaming market globally. It seems like the art of gamification is being injected into numerous other applications and the fraction of engagement will rise to an unprecedented level.
Now, the fitness industry has also joined this bandwagon and soon gamification will be a natural integration tool for the fitness industry. Talking about gaming experiences in the fitness industry, new Technologies Are Taking the Fitness World by Storm. Creating fantasy workout environments using virtual reality and creating digital competitive opportunities never before possible has made workouts more fun, engaging and motivational, and fitness equipment is serving it up.
Now, let’s come down to what it means to gamify workouts? Gamifying your workouts means choosing gaming apps that allow you to play games during exercise. In the whole experience, you might compete against yourself or other competitors. Or you just achieve the goals set by you or a team you are a part of.
So how this gaming world can be integrated with Mobile apps or how exactly fitness can be gamified in mobile apps?
There are plenty of game components that can be used for the benefit of fitness enthusiasts. We’ll illustrate some examples of applications that implement visual storytelling, challenge and reward systems, and other tools to gamify exercises and make them fun.
Storytelling
People tend to understand visual information better than verbal. They always stay motivated and hooked on stories. It has always been learned that story-rich gamified fitness apps are a great source of app engagement for the users. For instance, games like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery. It is an exploratory action adventure with an emphasis on audiovisual style. One can play by cooperating with friends via Twitter, experience a game world that is affected by moon phases.
One can integrate multiple missions and maintain a balance between the task’s seriousness and give a boost to its entertainment level.
Challenges
Peer pressure always motivates to go the extra mile. This social feature has already been included in the best-gamified fitness apps. It is a well-known fact that people tend to enjoy training with their friends more than alone. So apps like Fitbit have fitness programs that introduce game-like challenges to address this human need and create a strong community experience.
For instance, Nike+ Run Club also added custom challenges in 2019. Through it, users can create their own challenges and also invite friends to join with them. Some companies like inKin provide software for group competitions based on data from pedometers.
Rewards
The human brain tends to react for instant gratification. With every little action appreciated and rewarded, users feel confident and motivated to be more engaged. Now, this idea has got much traction from the fitness world. Taking a cue from this idea, developers integrate this while designing various challenges or making ranks or hierarchies within an app.
Apart from offering rewards, some fitness apps own virtual marketplaces, which is a core feature of gamification. Awards can be real-world prizes, virtual badges, or coins.
Social Shares
This is the most common feature any fitness app has. It encourages users to record and share their activities on multiple social networks. Like Nike+ sends a cheering sound every time when someone likes a Facebook post of a shared activity. Some fitness apps have the ability to use maps of completed runs and cycles in creative ways.
Witness next-level gamification by connecting your fitness equipment with your smart Device
Now, you must be acquainted with the techniques used in mobile apps to gamify fitness. So it is time to delve into how next-gen fitness machines are contributing to this whole ecosystem.
The game-changer technology that works in this functioning are IoT(Internet of Things) and Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). It is a system of interrelated computing devices, digital machines, and objects that has the ability to transfer data to each other in real-time, with minimum human intervention.
So, basically in this system, your fitness machine is assigned with an IP (Internet Protocol) address and it is connected with your fitness app on your smart device.
Once the connection is established, an avatar representing you in the virtual world follows the same activity as you, whether it is running, cycling, cross-functions, and more. Now, the app will fetch the fitness stats like Step count, Burned Calories, Heart Beat, Speed, and more which depend upon the functionality of the app.
Amazingly, there is no dependency on any workout equipment for IoT to work. Whether it is your Spin Bike, Treadmill, Rowing machine, or Elliptical trainer for that matter. Every machine with an assigned IP address can work flawlessly within the IoT ecosystem and you can control it with your smart device.
Voice Control in IoT-enabled Gaming Ecosystem
Treadmill Control Commands – Your fitness machine now works with Voice Control. You can control your equipment by giving voice commands like, ‘Increase speed’, ‘Start Treadmill’, ‘Decrease Speed’, etc.
Diet Related Commands – You can ask Alexa for your diet plan with voice commands, such as, ‘Alexa, what should I eat for lunch’, ‘What should I eat for dinner’, etc.
Body Vitals Related Commands – You can track your water intake, blood pressure, and other vital parameters through Alexa by voice commands.
A Road to Conclusion
Facing the growing people’s awareness of the health value, the appearance of modern high-technology gym equipment the fitness market is definitely on the pick of its development and progress. The rise in technology provides the industry with such useful solutions as wearables, sensors, connected gym equipment powered by IoT, AI, and blockchain, which definitely attracts more people interested in their life quality. All these devices make the process of training more interesting providing better guidance and control and giving the feedback for faster goals achieved.
