Designing a healthy lifestyle platform : Investigating the use of gamification to promote enduring healthy lifestyle choices

Past research has examined whether game mechanics can be used to motivate people to change their behaviour in the short-term. However, it is currently unclear how game mechanics can be used to motivate behaviour that persists long after people have stopped playing a game. This research project will explore how game mechanics, such as narrative and avatar creation, can be hamessed by a game-based health intervention to create meaningful experiences and memories in order to promote long-tenn healthy lifestyle choices. This research will contribute to the scientific community by providing insights into how game mechanics can be used to promote positive long-tenn behaviour outside of game environments, and will also allow the industry partner to develop a more effective healthy lifestyle platform.

Faculty Supervisor:

Neil Randall

Student:

Deltcho Valtchanov

Partner:

Ikkuma Inc.

Discipline:

Psychology

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Waterloo