Gamification to encourage increase on healthier physical activity in younger users

This research is the first part of a greater project with the aim to encourage increase in physical activity in different groups of population. The main goal of this part of the project was to develop a cross-platform mobile application that would use gamification elements and to focus on younger group of population. Because of the targeted group, the design of the application was based around an approach, usually used to make profit in popular video games through microtransactions, which provides the user with virtual avatar that can be customised through virtual collectibles. This approach has proofed to work efficiently for many developers as it can generate significant profit from video games that are available for free. The application rewards the user with in-app currency for a physical activity by completing different goals or going to a different facility such as gym. The in-app currency can be then exchanged for the virtual collectibles or for a tangible real reward such as voucher for a swimming lesson. As this research is a part of a greater project, many different stakeholders were involved through the development. The application was developed and tested closely working with the stakeholders, especially the targeted group of younger population, considering everyone’s requirements.