Theory-guided, Evidence-based Exergame Design: Augmented Fantasy Sports as Case Study

Arlen Moller, Ph.D.

Illinois Institute of Technology

hx refactored conference Brooklyn, NY

May 14th, 2014

Proliferation of AVGs

Explosive growth of active video games (AVGs)

•  Console based games

•  Wearable trackers

•  Mobile Apps Business has been good!

Tests of efficacy have yielded some disappointing findings…

Console based games e.g. Nintendo Wii & Xbox Kinect

•  Below min. threshold intensity (Scheer et al., 2013)

•  Activity doesn’t generalize (Baranowski et al., 2012)

Mobile apps Conroy et al. (May, 2014) analyzed the 167 most popular fitness apps Only 50% of the apps offered 1 or more evidence based strategies —

- mostly feedback on performance, goal-setting, & social support Conroy’s conclusion: "We're drowning in data points without really capitalizing on them to change behavior more effectively."

Disappointing efficacy findings…

Self-determination theory

•  44+ years of empirical research, 1000+ studies

•  Focused on human motivation – Specifically, sustainability & enjoyment

•  Edward Deci, Richard Ryan, 100s of others

www.selfdeterminationtheory.org

Self-determination theory

Autonomous  Mo*va*on    characterized  by  the    experience  of  voli*on,  and    endorsement  of  one’s  ac*ons.            

Controlled  Mo*va*on  characterized  by  the  experience  of  feeling  coerced  or  manipulated.  

All  Human  Mo*va*on    (Force  +  Direc*on)  

Self-determination theory

Autonomous  Mo*va*on    

 -­‐  enjoyment  (intrinsic)    -­‐  meaningful  /  value  (integrated)  

Controlled  Mo*va*on  –      

-­‐  Chasing  rewards  (external)  -­‐  Avoiding  punishments  -­‐  Chasing  others’  approval  -­‐  Avoiding  shame  (introjected)  

All  Human  Mo*va*on    

**More sustainable; healthier**

How can we increase autonomous motivation for an activity / technology? By supporting 3 basic psychological needs:

1. Autonomy 2. Competence

3. Relatedness

- Feeling a sense of choice & endorsement of what you’re doing

- Feeling a sense of increasing mastery / growth when being challenged

- Feeling a sense of connection with others; supporting & being supported

Psychological need satisfaction in tech-enabled virtual environments

•  Both persistence and enjoyment of video game play was predicted by psychological need satisfaction, regardless of specific content, complexity, or genre of games

(Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006)

•  51% of the variance in video game enjoyment was predicted by psychological need satisfaction (Tamborini et al., 2009)

Key Question for HxR crowd: What would supporting psychological need satisfaction look like in terms of designing technologies to foster healthier behavior?

Specifically, active video games (AVGs)

There  are  no  cookie  cuLer  solu*ons…  but  we  can  s*ll  talk  about  generic  strategies  for  suppor*ng  psych.  needs  

Key Question for HxR crowd: What would supporting psychological need satisfaction look like in terms of designing technologies to foster healthier behavior?

Autonomy Competence Relatedness

Autonomous motivation

(I) Strategies for supporting AUTONOMY with technology

•  Building opportunities for choices, customization

- opportunities vs. obligations

- shallow vs. meaningful choices

(I) Strategies for supporting AUTONOMY with technology

•  Providing rationale helps people own it

•  Providing opportunities for user feedback, value it

•  Tie in core aspects of user’s identity – thematically or with identity reflecting avatars

(2) Competence & health technology

•  Building opportunities for people to feel optimally challenged, and praised/recognize achievements

- individually calibrating challenge (up and down)

- meaningful feedback / reinforcement - virtual badges, points, etc.

(3) Relatedness & health tech

•  Building opportunities for feeling connected to another being: –  Real-world friend / coach –  Virtual-world friend / coach –  A.I. friend / coach –  Pets too!

•  About both giving & receiving care

•  Social-support among most robust ingredients; hi or low tech

Augmented Fantasy Sports: As a Case Study

•  Traditional (sedentary) versions of online fantasy sports are staggeringly popular

•  >34 million players in North American alone •  19% of adult males in the U.S. played in 2010

•  They have proven effective at sustaining engagement

for long periods of time. Why? – Might they support psychological need satisfaction?

Traditional Fantasy Sports: As psych need satisfying

Autonomy – need

abundance of opportunities for choosing to custome rosters linked to a powerful aspect of many people’s identify, i.e., affiliation with their regional sports team

competition with skilled peers is among the best methods of foster optimal challenge perf. feedback is provided daily/weekly/season-levels

Competence – need

Traditional Fantasy Sports: As psych need satisfying

Relatedness – need sat.

Typically, league participants play with people they know, often year-after-year Many report that interaction on message boards is among the most enjoyable aspects of the game

Our “Augmented” Fantasy Sports System

•  Combining traditionally sedentary online fantasy sports

with wearable activity tracking technology

Augmented Fantasy Sports: As psych need satisfying

Autonomy –

Let league members vote on physical activity goal setting rules, e.g., maintain vs. increase, rate, consequences, etc.

Individually-calibrated physical activity goals based on baseline-activity Employed handicapping to foster competition between league members of diff. fitness levels

Competence –

Relatedness – Physical activity data were posted twice weekly to message boards, inciting discussion; limited impact of activity of game

Pilot testing aug fantasy sports Summer 2013, 9 participants (M = 34 years) over 13 weeks Key findings: (1) Physical activity increased significantly

-  Mean steps/day increased significantly from the 1-week baseline period (M=8,678) compared to the 12-week assessment (M=11,364), t(8)=2.63, p < .05.

a >30% increase in PA

Pilot testing Key findings: (2) Participants rated augmented fantasy sports as significantly more enjoyable than traditional, t(8) = 4.43, p < .01

Self-Determination Theory as flexible framework

Take  Home  Message  

The SDT-derived principle of supporting psychological need satisfaction should be applied flexibly to suit the particular health technology you’re working with… and can complement user-centered design.

Thanks for your attention

Let’s discuss!

Arlen Moller, Ph.D. Illinois Institute of Technology amoller@iit.edu @arlenmoller

More on aug. fantasy sports project: http://t.co/NVJjCJCniI

Seeking dev & design partners!

Game Plan

•  Challenges facing designers of active video games (AVGs)

•  A brief overview of self-determination theory –  Psychological need satisfaction & intrinsic motivation –  Broadly, how can this inform health & wellness tech design

•  Finally, a case study to help illustrate