A Framework of Developing Mobile Gamification to Improve User Engagement of Physical Activity: A Case Study of Location-Based Augmented Reality Mobile Game for Promoting Physical Health

Abstract

This study presents the framework of developing mobile gamification for conducting application on health promotion. The method is composed of four phases adapted from the spiral model: objectives determination for enhancement of positive health; core game flow and mechanics definition; development, test and evaluation; and the next iteration plan. To evaluate the frame-work, we developed Camt comic run application to provide a practical method to select the suitable game elements (leaderboard, score point, map progress bar, inventory and randomness) and validation by Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ): Four weeks with 40 participants were to investigate the outcome of the application which was divided into two stages. Week 1 and Week 2 were the baseline stage collecting behavioral information of participants.  In the second stage – Week 3 and Week 4 – the participants were divided into two groups:  the ones who use our application and those who don’t. The results showed that gamification drove the engagement and motivation of participants who had not reached the standard guideline. The data showed significance mostly in participants who had less physical activity than physical activity guidelines at least 150 min/week and average increase physical activity rate from baseline.