TY - GEN
T1 - Happyinu
T2 - 9th International Conference on Mobile Computing and Ubiquitous Networking, ICMU 2016
AU - Luhanga, Edith Talina
AU - Hippocrate, Akpa Akpro Elder
AU - Suwa, Hirohiko
AU - Arakawa, Yutaka
AU - Yasumoto, Keiichi
PY - 2016/11/10
Y1 - 2016/11/10
N2 - Consistent food tracking is important for weight loss. Many people struggle with forming and maintaining the habit because it is time consuming and generally un-enjoyable. We describe the design and initial field evaluation of HappyInu, a virtual pet-care game that we developed to promote consistent food tracking. HappyInu uses daily notifications to remind users to track, provides photo-based food tracking to make the process simpler and gives virtual and cash rewards for motivation. In our pilot study, users were excited about the game-based approach and they wanted more in-game tasks and rewards to be offered. Intrinsic rewards were more motivating than cash, particularly pleasure (fun) and the need to contribute to something meaningful. However, users played HappyInu on a casual (non-daily) basis, just as they did with other smartphone games. In this paper, we discuss users' perceptions on the role of games for behavior change and the implications on game design.
AB - Consistent food tracking is important for weight loss. Many people struggle with forming and maintaining the habit because it is time consuming and generally un-enjoyable. We describe the design and initial field evaluation of HappyInu, a virtual pet-care game that we developed to promote consistent food tracking. HappyInu uses daily notifications to remind users to track, provides photo-based food tracking to make the process simpler and gives virtual and cash rewards for motivation. In our pilot study, users were excited about the game-based approach and they wanted more in-game tasks and rewards to be offered. Intrinsic rewards were more motivating than cash, particularly pleasure (fun) and the need to contribute to something meaningful. However, users played HappyInu on a casual (non-daily) basis, just as they did with other smartphone games. In this paper, we discuss users' perceptions on the role of games for behavior change and the implications on game design.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85005950216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85005950216&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ICMU.2016.7742088
DO - 10.1109/ICMU.2016.7742088
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85005950216
T3 - 2016 9th International Conference on Mobile Computing and Ubiquitous Networking, ICMU 2016
BT - 2016 9th International Conference on Mobile Computing and Ubiquitous Networking, ICMU 2016
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 4 October 2016 through 6 October 2016
ER -