Promoting Short-Term Gains in PhysicalExercise Through Digital Media Creation
Oral Kaplan1 , Goshiro Yamamoto2 , Takafumi Taketomi1 , Yasuhide Yoshitake3 ,Alexander Plopski1 , Christian Sandor1 , and Hirokazu Kato1
1

Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Nara 630-0192, Japan,{oral.kaplan.nv4,takafumi-t,plopski,sandor,kato}@is.naist.jp
2
Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto 606-8507, Japangoshiro@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
3
National Institute of Sports and Science in Kanoya, Kagoshima 891-2311, Japany-yoshi@nifs-k.ac.jp

Abstract. Although regular physical exercise is associated with various
health benefits, low rates of adherence remain as an intricate problem. In
this paper, we propose a new emotional facilitator named productivity
for increasing adherence to regular physical exercise by promoting shortterm gains. We define how it would be utilized in the context of digital
exertion games to encourage physical activity and maintain high levelof intrinsic motivation. We discuss about potential application domainsof productivity and introduce possible target user groups. We believe
inclusion of design ideas disclosed in this paper will lead to more engaging
experiences with higher adherence to physical exercise.
Keywords: Physical exercise adherence, Digital exergames, Exercise
motivation, Emotional facilitators

1Introduction

Physically active lifestyle has been consistently associated with various healthbenefits such as lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases or improved mental
health [1, 2]. Most of these beneficial effects only manifest and persist as a resultof regular physical exercise [3, 4]. Although most information is readily available, poor adherence rates to training programs remain as a frequently reported
problem [5, 12]. As a result, significant decline in gained health benefits and highdrop out rates in administered programs are observed within first six months [5].
Previous research in psychology consistently demonstrated the positive effectsof emotional facilitators on regular practice of physical exercise [6]. These aregrouped into four categories:
1. Perceived competence
2. Perceived social interaction
3. Novelty experience
4. Perceived physical exertion

These facilitators have been frequently employed by information scientists
to design systems that would increase adherence rates to physical exercise [7–9]. Among all, achievement has been commonly utilized in exercise applications
due to its strong connection with long-term goal oriented structure of physicalexercise. For example, fitness trackers typically employ gamification metaphorssuch as filling empty bars to represent current progress; followed by rewards
upon reaching predefined goals. Yet, it is well known that this concept does notproduce satisfactory results in terms of inducing long-lasting improvements inuser behaviour. Usually a significant decline in exercise motivation is observedwhen rewards are removed from the equation. Additionally, since short-term
gains are difficult to observe or quantify, high drop-out rates in up to 50% of
administered programs are observed within first six months [5].
In this paper, we prose a new emotional facilitator named productivity for increasing adherence to regular physical exercise through promotion of short-term
gains in digital exertion games. We define how it would be used to encourage
regular practice of physical exercise and support users in maintaining high levels of intrinsic motivation. We discuss about potential application domains ofproductivity and introduce possible target user groups such as elderly or developmentally challenged. We believe inclusion of ideas disclosed in this paper will
result in engaging digital exertion game designs with higher adherence rates tophysical exercise.

2Productivity in Digital Exertion Games

Derived from to produce, productivity refers to state of generation, creationor enhancement. The fundamental difference between productivity and achievement is about the former being a long-term goal oriented approach whereas thelatter is a short-term process to bring something into existence. Our ultimate
goal with productivity is to make small changes and gains evident in physicalexercise through digital content creation; such as musical compositions or simple
drawings to represent exercise performance. Such content can be used multiple
times to assess, compare or contrast previous performance with current results.
We take construction and management game genres as basis where the creationand maintenance is favoured over final goals and achievements. Such games include SimCity, Sims or RollerCoaster Tycoon franchises.
In order to demonstrate the usage of productivity, we introduce potential application domains and propose possible target user groups depending on knowledge provided by sports professionals.
2.1Music Composition through Physical Exercise

A brief review of literature on digital exertion games reveals two crucial criteriathat must be taken into account while designing games for elderly. First, due
to inevitable age-related decline of cognitive functions such as attention, information processing speed and memory retention, appropriate cognitive challengebecomes highly important [11]. Second, physiological health and fine motor skills
tend to show a significant variance between elderly users [11].
We propose a card matching game known as concentration to address bothelements mentioned above. Simplified version of this game consists of four cards
where one card is the target that needs to be matched with remaining threepossible choices. In order to enhance memory retention, period of time thatcards are shown to players would be adjusted based on individual’s capabilities
and personal exercise needs. This also would allow difficulty level adjustments
to ensure flow for maximum amount of entertainment and pleasure.
Standard scenario starts with a user present and all cards facing down. Whenthe game is initialized, a default sound loop starts to play until the end of game.
Next, topmost card that we call the target is flipped and revealed for a certain
amount of time. After predefined period is finished, the card is flipped backagain. Following this step, the deck of three cards is revealed to user. The cards
are flipped back again after a certain amount of time, similar to the target card.
Finally, the system waits for input from the user for a certain period of time anddeals new cards after it finishes.
For physical exercise, we propose squats and lateral arm raises during card
selection process (Figure 1). Users can select a card by raising one of their arms
until it forms a certain angle with their trunk or execute a squat motion for
selecting the middle card. Through combination of these movements we aim
for a simple yet effective exercise scenario; which is most suitable for elderly ordevelopmentally challenged.

Fig. 1. Physical gestures are employed for card selection.

Productivity comes into action after each selection process has been completed. Proposed system includes various short sound loops for forming musicalcompositions to represent physical exercise performance. Successful task execution leads to introduction of additional music loops into the system which builds
up to a more complete musical piece. Consecutive selection of correct card results in a complete song, corresponding to adequate performance which is thedesirable outcome in most scenarios. Since song length is usually as short as
ten to fifteen seconds, we additionally expect performance comparison between

different sets of exercise to be carried out effortlessly by simply listening to bothcompositions.

2.2

Drawing through Physical Exercise

Another scenario that we propose replaces the art medium from music to drawings. Similar as above, simple full body gestures would be used to administer
adequate exercise routines. Productivity could be employed through sketchingor revealing certain portions of a drawing with each successful task execution.
Ultimately, this would lead to a drawing that would be used for performancecomparison, building motivation or and sharing among friends or loved ones.

3Discussion

Short-term Goals
Our main focus in this paper is about promoting short-term gains during physicalexercise to maintain a high-level of intrinsic motivation. Commercially available
products such as smart watches or activity trackers place their main focus onend goals to ensure physically active users. Such approach fails at building asufficient level of intrinsic motivation which in turn leads to commitment issues
and high drop out rates.
Although our idea of productivity to promote short-term gains solely revolves
around digital content creation, other forms of media, material or concepts would
also be suitable for application. Ultimately, we believe as long as people findmeaning and become aware of their progress, intrinsic motivation could be built
in short-term to promote regular physical exercise.

Long-term Goals
Even though our focus is on short-term goals, the importance of long-term goals
is also undeniable. We propose productivity to promote short-term gains in regular physical exercise, but designers could promote long-term goals through intelligent designs too. For example, day-by-day musical composition creation could
mean less when each piece of music is unrelated. On the other hand, combining each musical composition created on a daily basis could form a longer andmeaningful song to represent long-term performance of users.
Additionally, a band or orchestra approach could be utilized to boost longterm intrinsic motivation through productivity and perceived social interaction.
Promoting collective creation would lead to a higher sense of belongingness andimproved adherence rates to physical exercise classrooms.

Reaching UsersIt is obvious that different user groups have different preferences when it comesto physical exercise. The approach we introduce in this paper must be tailoredto each user group according to their specific needs. Although we only talked
about two user groups, it could easily be extended to others such as professional
athletes, people involved in recreational sports or children. These groups canfurther be divided into sub-groups depending on age, profession or social background. We believe receiving the support of industrial design professionals would
be an appropriate action for achieving our future goals in this subject.
A Variety of Sports
Although current scenario focuses on a small set of target user groups, we believe
our approach can be applied to a variety of sports. For example, professional
cycling is a repetitive sport where athletes pedal five to six thousand times in anour. This data can be simplified into a shorter digital content and can be used byathletes to perform brief performance assessments on their own data. A one hourlong session can be shortened into a few seconds long sonic waves to represent
their performance; such as high pitch representing the common occurrence of an
unwanted movement.

4Future WorkIn this paper, we do not strictly relate our idea with a specific user group. Since
we believe different users might have different needs, it is apparent that our idea
requires formal testing with different users. As our first and most important
future work, we are planning to have long-term experiments; preferably withelderly participants.
Considering our approach depends on content creation, providing necessarytools and materials is utmost importance. It is obvious to us that the creatable
content would have a great impact on both intrinsic motivation development
and adherence rate. We aim to investigate this branch of our approach in thenear future too.
Pilot tests we did with multiple participants also confirmed the importanceof perceived social interaction especially in elderly groups. Few participants mentioned that it is not just more enjoyable but also easier to engage in gameplay
when multiple users are present. We believe this might be caused by social structure of Japan where group work is more favoured over individual work. Nevertheless, we plan to address this issue in the near future with addition of multiplayer
modes to our next generation design concepts. Currently we are hoping to build
on top of our music based approach and bring multiple individuals together toexercise in a band or orchestra context. Through each participant controlling an
individual instrument, groups of people can create digital content in a collectivemanner.

5Conclusion

In this paper, we proposed an emotional facilitator named productivity for increasing adherence to physical exercise through digital exertion games. We introduced its place in categorization schema of emotional facilitators in physicalexercise and demonstrated how it can be utilized in the context of digital exertion
games. Future directions that we are interested in include qualitative and quantitative user studies and introduction of additional design concepts to support
multiple game modes and various target user groups. We believe our efforts willcontribute to advances in building intrinsic motivation and increasing adherence
rates to regular physical exercise.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the MIC/SCOPE #162107006.

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