Goalkeeper: A Zero-Sum Exergame for Motivating Physical Activity

Abstract

Incentives and peer competition have so far been employed independently for increasing physical activity. In this paper, we introduce Goalkeeper, a mobile application that utilizes deposit contracts for motivating physical activity in group settings. Goalkeeper enables one to set up a physical exercise challenge with a group of peers that deposit a fixed amount of money for participating. If a peer fails to complete the challenge, Goalkeeper redistributes their deposit to those who managed to complete it (i.e., zero-sum game). We evaluated the potential of Goalkeeper in increasing physical activity with a total of 50 participants over the course of 2 months. Our findings suggest that deposit contracts induce a loss-aversion bias, that in combination with peer competition, is effective in increasing exercise motivation. Ultimately, we generate a set of design principles for exergames that utilize deposit contracts for increasing physical activity in group settings.