TAPPING INTO THE CORE DRIVERS OF HUMAN MOTIVATION, CREATING BETTER ATHLETES.

 Written by : Shobana G

Over the past 5 years, being an adrenaline junkie and someone who loves everything about fitness and sports, I found myself slowly evolving into the person I have always desired to be, in aspects that are beyond the four walls of the gym. This is what involvement in sports and fitness can do to an individual. For me, it has helped build desired habits, character, values and a mindset that enabled me to pull through different situations in everyday life.

Now, let’s dive into my experience with a gamified intervention that got me highly engaged in my involvement in the gym as an athlete and how it played a significant part in keeping me motivated to perform better over time. 

When I signed up at a Crossfit gym slighter over 2 years ago, I was introduced to a mobile application called Wodify, a fitness and gym management software that is designed to help gyms grow. Not only that, this function is made compulsory to all gym members and athletes to book workout sessions, keeping ourselves updated with notices from the coaches, tracking fitness performance and many more. 

Based on my experience interacting with Wodify as a user, I have discovered that the adaptation of gamification in the functions and features of this app has generated an ability to trigger the core drivers of human motivation, as stated in the Octalysis framework which was developed by Yu-Kai Chou. The Octalysis framework talks about the 8 core drivers of human motivation namely, Meaning, Accomplishment, Empowerment, Ownership, Social Influence, Scarcity, Unpredictability and Avoidance [1]. The following gamified features of this app which will be discussed on revolves mainly around four of the core drivers which are Accomplishment, Unpredictability, Scarcity, and Social Influence.

GUIDING DEVELOPMENT & PROGRESS WITH PERFORMANCE CHARTS

Images on the left show the tracked performance of a specific exercise known as the “Chainsaw Row” 

Development and Accomplishment is the internal drive of making progress, developing skills, and eventually overcoming challenges [1]. In most types of fitness activity, we perform so many different exercises and it is almost impossible to keep track of performance in every exercise by remembering them. Manually writing notes and numbers down can be time-consuming and the process of generating a performance chart from manually written notes is a cumbersome process. The best way to make tracking easier is to automate it [2]. Performance charts and other visual forms of measurement on gamified mobile apps show how an athlete performed in comparison with their previous results besides providing individual records. To have good control over certain things, tracking or keeping a record is important, just like how we have credit card statements to control financial expenditures. Gamification creates a sense of control among users, allowing them to decide which milestone to complete next. Likewise, performance tracking in fitness is crucial in ensuring development as it enables one to identify their strengths and weaknesses. On top of that, one of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress [2].

BUILDING A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT THROUGH BADGES & LEADERBOARDS 

Images above show a “Results” page that displays badges awarded to the user (athlete) and a leaderboard displaying the results of the users in the female category.

Badges are a visual representation of the athletes’ achievements, in this case, a form a reward obtained when an athlete hits a “Personal Record (PR)” or in simpler terms can lift the heaviest weight in comparison to all the past lifts. A leader-board displays athlete rankings that defines which athlete performs best in the “Workout of the Day (WOD)”. Unlike performance charts that show the performance of one user within a certain period, a leader-board shows the performance of other athletes. Both badges and leaderboards are forms of extrinsic motivation which also creates a sense of accomplishment among athletes. This in return motivates every athlete to work harder and push boundaries to perform better in every training session. On top of that, it fosters competition among the athletes, the healthy kind. Leaderboards that display achievements of other athletes encourage individuals to accomplish more and compare their results with others, triggering the social influence core driver which will be discussed later on in this write-up.

A NEW DAY, A NEW SET OF CHALLENGES - CREATING UNPREDICTABILITY & CURIOSITY 

The image above shows a description of the Workout of the Day (WOD), programmed by a coach. 

This feature on this app provides a view on what athletes would expect during the training session on a certain day. As the WODis only released past midnight every day, it creates unpredictability and curiosity in individuals who are anxiously waiting to know the“challenges and obstacles” they are about to face. Generally, this is a harmless core drive of wanting to find out what will happen next. If you don’t know what’s going to happen, your brain is engaged and you think about it often [1]. Speaking from my own experience and interaction with this app, there are days when I stay up till the clock strikes 00:00 merely to take a look at the WODor the latest would be one of the first things I do in within the first 30 minutes of starting my day in the morning. In my perspective, having this core drive triggered helps one prepare themselves mentally and physically before facing a certain challenge or task, which is indeed the desired habit to have as a fitness athlete.

CREATING A SENSE OF URGENCY WITH SCARCITY 

Images above show the Class Schedule feature which requires reservation and signing-in.

Moving on, let’s look into this feature of Wodify which allows you to book or “Reserve” your training sessions beforehand. Scarcity in an individual arises when there is something that a person needs but a certain need has a limiting factor to it. For example, all members of the gym can attend the workout or training sessions ONLY if there’s a reservation done and for every session, there’s a capacity limitation attached to it, besides a reservation cut-off time of two hours before the session. Those who fail to reserve their desired time slots will be denied participation. To avoid facing such situation, members are encouraged to reserve slots a day or two in advance. Scarcity creates a sense of urgency, which indeed is an applauded value or habit in a good athlete as it shows their commitment towards the sport and the desire to get better by committing to training sessions. In the words of Professor Todd May, when there is always time for everything, there is no urgency for anything. A life without limits would lose the beauty of its moments, and it would become boring [3].

BUILDING THE COMMUNITY THROUGH SOCIAL INFLUENCE

The image above shows the interaction among the gym members based on the achievement of one person.

Last but not least, this intervention has also tapped into the social influence drive as it allows peers to interact on the platform at the end of the workout session, especially once athletes have keyed in their weights, scores, timings, etc. This includes actions like posting a comment or “Like” the results of an athlete. Acknowledgement, “Likes”, positive comments or compliments from peers can be very empowering and motivating after a long hard day, what more if these positive comments come from your coach! This not only empowers the person on the receiving end but also the person who is executing the action. When you see a friend that is amazing at some skill or owns an extraordinary capability, you become driven to reach the same level [1]. Not only that, these types of interactions make up the building blocks of a strongly-knit fitness community. 

To sum up, although gamification in mobile apps are often adapted by brands mainly as an effort to increase user engagement as a marketing tool, I believe that gamification has a greater positive impact towards the fitness and sports industry in terms of building motivation and a sense of discipline which at the end of the day forms desirable habits that makes a good athlete.