The following seems an interesting response to two trends: 1) some people's predictions that "funware" -- applications that add a game component to a quotidian, (non-game) exchange -- will hold increasing importance in many markets in the near future; and 2) the fact that exergaming (ddr, etc) often seems the game world's dominant contribution to the fight against obesity.
A friend of mine recently slimmed down on Weight Watchers. She joined two months ago, and in just a couple of weeks, she'd shed 10 pounds. She'd been trying for a year to lose weight, but nothing worked -- until now.Why did Weight Watchers work so well? For a really fascinating reason: because it isn't a normal diet. It's something more. Something fun.
It's an RPG.
The Weight Watchers program is designed precisely like a role-playing dungeon crawler. That's why people love it, stick to it and have success with it. And it points to the way that we could use game design to make life's drudgery more bearable.
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811
Comments (1)
This is really interesting, I never put these together, but I think you are right! We talk about using games to improve to the real world, and here is an example of a real world application that definitely uses a game-like system. I myself used weight watchers years ago to lose 40 lbs.
After reading your post, I remembered an alteration in Weight Watchers that occurred just after I stopped. A little background, the "Points" system of food is based on calories, fat, and fiber. Fiber is actual a points-reducer. However, some people were "gaming the system" and just adding a ton of supplimental fiber to everything they ate in order to bring the points down! So the amount of reduction in points fiber causes now levels off at a certain amount.
Anyways, interesting post!
Posted by Kellee | September 5, 2008 10:06 AM
Posted on September 5, 2008 10:06