Gaming’s addictive features – challenges, rewards and social pressure – may be some of the most powerful weapons ever invented to get people to jump-start, and stick to, healthy lifestyle changes says Susie Ellis
By Susie Ellis | Published in Spa Business 2012 issue 2
Game Changer Credit: Yuri Arcurs / shutterstock.com
In our 2012 SpaFinder Trend Report, we named online wellness gaming one of the most interesting, innovative future spa and wellness industry trends to watch. With more medical experts arguing that gaming’s uniquely engaging core mechanisms – from rewards systems to social dynamics – are effective in getting people to sustain healthy regimes, the online gaming and spa connection is super logical and powerful. While the trend remains largely predictive at this point – because online gaming is hands down the most explosive consumer media form and almost every industry is ‘getting into gaming’ – it will inevitably evolve.
User alignment Let’s start with a few facts: a staggering half a billion people worldwide play online games for at least an hour a day. And they’re not all teenage boys down in the basement zapping villains in games like World of Warcraft. While hardcore gamers are more likely to be male and younger, the massively popular social, casual games category – think games like Farmville, Bejeweled and Angry Birds – is actually dominated by an older more female demographic.
A comprehensive study of US and UK gamers, PopCap Social Gaming Research 2011, shows that the average player of online social games is now a 43-year-old woman – with female social gamers outnumbering males 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Another study, Kabam Social Gamer 2011, reveals that the average first-time social gamer is a 50-plus year-old woman. This online social gaming demographic squares precisely with spa-goers: a demographic that is roughly 70 per cent female and aged around 40-45, according to a series of online surveys by SpaFinder.com. So spa-going and online social/casual gaming consumers are very much aligned.
Fun and serious Gaming is no longer just limited to battling virtual enemies or tending the virtual farm, however. Millions worldwide have already played dozens of spa-focused games, including Sallie Spa, Sara’s Super Spa or Spa Mania. And Clarins just took the spa-themed casual game to a new level with its Spa Life on Facebook, where players manage clients in search of treatments, and where they can redeem points for Clarins products.
But, as noted in our trends report, the big, powerful and truly game-changing gaming and wellness connection lies ahead – and it involves ‘serious games’, a new online, social gaming category. Serious wellness gaming platforms are rapidly developing as medical experts agree that gaming could be the key to changing the world’s health. If countless medical studies show that the old directives from doctor to patient dramatically fail to keep people on track, the ‘gamification’ of getting people to adhere to regimens – whether fitness, diet, stress reduction or even beauty – seems to work far better.
Gamification means putting into play elements like voluntary participation, rules, points, levels of achievement, challenges/goals, rewards and a social feedback system to keep people in the health game. When you add the social gaming layer, research shows people are radically more likely to adhere. Add to the mix new gadgets that make it easier to monitor bio-information – such as uploading vital signs, calories burned and steps taken – and connect the results online, you can see how the online wellness game could get very precise and real.
Wellness game evolution While fitness/health games such as Nintendo’s Wii Fit and Let’s Yoga! have been around for years, wellness gaming concepts are suddenly getting far more interesting and complex. Improving health behaviour is a massive us$2.5 trillion (€1.9tn, £1.5tn) opportunity says digital marketing expert Shuan Quigley in an online blog Can Games Fix American Healthcare? With stakeholders including hospitals and doctors, insurance and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, the medical establishment is getting involved too.
The leader in this movement is the US-based Games for Health project, which brings medical professionals and game developers together to study how cutting-edge games – such as exer-gaming, physical therapy, biofeedback, nutrition and emotional health games – can be an innovative force in improving people’s health and wellness.
World-renowned medical institutions, like the Mayo Clinic in the US, are holding conferences on topics such as Games as Life-Changers. Elsewhere, insurance giant Aetna has partnered with wellness game developer MindBloom to launch Life Game, designed to make it fun, rewarding and social for members to achieve wellbeing goals.
SuperBetter (opposite) is a new game from SuperBetter Labs, a digital serious games company. Its goal is “to turn everyday folks into superheroes for health,” and revolves around a social platform that allows people to recruit their friends, family and physicians as allies in their quest for wellbeing.
Sites like the US-based HealthyWage.com allow dieters to bet their money (and profit nicely) if they lose weight. Nike+, FitBit and other GPS- and bio-based fitness tracking apps allow exercisers worldwide to archive their workouts and compete in online network challenges. Skimble, a mobile platform that schedules short workouts into a busy day, shares people’s progress socially on Facebook and Twitter, etc. OptumizeMe lets users dish out and accept physical challenges.
Given their massive healthcare costs, corporations will continue to ramp up games. For instance, more US enterprises are partnering with companies like Keas, which offers employee wellness programmes – getting staff to eat better and exercise – through a live social media and virtual gaming mix.
Spa movement We’re beginning to see some gaming movement in the spa/wellness industry. Mind-body guru Deepak Chopra has launched the meditation game, Leela, that uses 43 interactive exercises, focusing on the body’s seven energy centres, to relieve stress. Chopra spent three years designing Leela, and has explained that it was the addictive nature of video games that attracted him, allowing his philosophies to reach and engage far more people. Meanwhile, US destination spa Canyon Ranch – which already offers the 360 Well-Being iPad apps focused on fitness, meditation and healthy cooking – could easily transform its apps into spa/wellness games by adding layers such as challenges, rewards and a social network.
Online wellness gaming is projected to generate us$2bn (€1.5bn, £1.2bn) in revenues by 2015, according to digital media delivery specialists RealNetworks. The challenge for the spa industry will be to create truly engaging games that creatively connect their clients to the spa’s programming, experts and special community, either by using or customising third-party gaming platforms or designing their own. And while I have mostly focused on online wellness gaming, they don’t have to be online to be powerful: think of the many engaging ways spas could integrate games and gaming mechanisms, rewards and social contests and challenges into their real-world programming. The branded Biggest Loser weight-loss spa resorts in the US, which are based on the social, challenge-focused premise of the popular TV show, launched in 2009 and are now opening their third destination in New York state.
Whether online or off, spas need to realise that they have a strong advantage and opportunity in wellness gaming, because the work they do forges real and powerful connections with – and between – guests. These connections are far more real than what’s offered by most existing generic, online wellness gaming communities.
In our SpaFinder Trends Report we also note that online gaming is part of a wider trend we see percolating in the spa industry: spas extending their connection to customers, to move beyond the sporadic visit model and establish programmes to forge longer-term, more profitable relationships.
Han Wen, Director of internet marketing, Clarins Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game
We recognised the gamification trend in the digital social world and felt the need for Clarins to be where our customers are. Our target audience is women over 25 who are interested in spas and beauty products. We chose Facebook because the platform is huge – it has an estimated 900 million users, half of whom are regular social game players. In addition, social discovery – discovering a game via friends – enables games to grow quickly without a large marketing budget.
As Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game, we thoroughly researched online and social gaming trends as well as PC, console and hand-held games to figure out what makes a game great. We also partnered with FreshPlanet because of its expertise in developing casual games.
We’ve implemented all the standard features of successful social games in Spa Life – including rewards, challenges and leader boards. Our goal from day one was to create a fun and engaging game, so we decided against features that require the player to perform any specific action – such as watching brand advertising or making a purchase – to progress in their game play.
Since the launch in September 2011, we’ve had more than 1.1 million unique players and over 120,000 likes.
Spa Life, on Facebook, is a game where players manage a spa of their own design to attract customers with the best treatments while working with limited resources.
Details: https://apps.facebook.com/spa-life
Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game
Chelsea Howe, Director of design, SuperBetter Labs
SuperBetter could help spas customise their services once a client leaves, says Howe
Game designer Jane McGonigal came up with the idea for SuperBetter when she found herself struggling to recover from severe concussion. It’s about helping players to achieve health and wellness goals – most commonly weight loss, healthier eating, regular exercise, stress reduction and better sleep – in their real lives and not just in a virtual world. It draws on core online gaming mechanisms – social involvement, overcoming obstacles, feedback and tracking progress – to help players achieve their goals. They recruit allies, complete quests (steps to help them achieve goals), battle bad guys (things standing in their way), and activate power ups (boosts to keep them motivated). The game was designed to increase players’ resilience – their ability to stay optimistic, curious and energised in the face of challenges – and McGonigal thinks spa consumers would find this attractive.
The game launched on 9 March and had 20,000 users in the first two months. It currently has slightly more female players than male, mostly aged 20-50. Spas can use SuperBetter as an additional resource for clients who are looking to achieve personal health or wellness goals. Operators can also create their own Power Pack to complement their brand, product philosophy and approach to health and wellness. Alternatively, SuperBetter Labs has developed Power Packs that blend in-game content, scientific research and expert advice from leading doctors, psychologists and researchers.
In the past, a customer might leave a spa with recommendations to improve their daily lives. However, games like –ensure that these recommendations won’t get lost or forgotten.
Right now, most people play games in brief spurts throughout the day: online or on their phones. Most spas have few – if any – offerings that are accessible on the go and take less than five minutes. By integrating games into their repertoire – to induce feelings of relaxation, comfort, serenity and confidence, just like spa services do – spas can integrate their programmes into client’s lives even after they leave the building.
In addition, spas could use elements of games – like tracking progress towards a bigger goal or giving clear feedback – to make clients feel like every visit is a step towards a serious and tangible improvement in their lives. Instead of just arriving for a treatments, clients would feel like they’re starting a journey towards a lifestyle that is more mindful, stress free and focused.
Howe has headed up the design of SuperBetter for the past 10 months and has just received the 2012 Rising Star Award from Women in Gaming.
Details: www.superbetterlabs.com
Chelsea Howe
The SuperBetter online wellness game launched in March and in the first two months 20,000 users had registered – most were females aged 20-50
Ian Bogost, video game designer, philosopher, critic and researcher Games for fitness will continue, with programmes such as Nike +, says Bogost, but there’s an emerging trend towards relaxation and meditation games
Role playing is the most compelling component in games – there’s something intrinsically appealing about being someone else whether you’re a space marine or just a farmer. But what makes games different to any other media is having a response to a choice you make and to see that decision matter inside a simulated environment.
There are other gaming elements such as presenting a challenge, socialisation, rewards and status (think scoreboard). And there’s a trend – especially in marketing – to extract these features and apply them to other online and offline services. For example, collecting rewards for using a service or distinguishing loyal customers on a leader board. Yet these elements are secondary systems that only really matter if they’re connected to a primary system (a game) that provides that compelling experience.
There’s a lot of disagreement about the gender dynamics in games too. One argument is that men are motivated by competitive games and women by collaborative or social games. But it’s hard to know how true these claims are as they’re usually the result of small studies and are very generalised. Games on Facebook, for example, are mostly social but are played by men and women alike who are of all ages. Yet there certainly isn’t the same gender disparity there used to be – over half of adult players these days are women.
Exercise games aren’t new, they go back some 25 years and this physical use is going to continue with games such as Nike+. There will also be development in the clinical sector – games produced for medical professionals, such as for training surgeons, or games for patients.
There’s certainly an emerging trend in the relaxation/meditation games arena. Deepak Chopra’s Leela is a good example, while Wild Divine with its whole body relaxation training programmes launched in 2002. There are also new styles of games such as PlayStation 3’s Flower that are less about action and more about contemplation and observation.
If spas tap into gaming, they would need to offer more than just a technical improvement. I could see it working by making a connection between an on-site service and something clients take away that maintains the spa experience in some way.
A professor at The Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, Bogost teaches computational and digital media programmes. He’s written books on video games and is the co-founder of game design firm Persuasive Games.
Details: www.bogost.com
Ian Bogost
Insurance firm Aetna used MindBloom to create Life Game to make it fun, rewarding and social for members to achieve wellbeing goals – whether drinking more water or planting a tree
It’s getting easier to monitor bio-information, making wellness gaming more precise Credit: JCREATION / shutterstock.com
Deepak Chopra has launched Leela a meditation game for XBox and Wii Kinect – he wants to use the addictive nature of video games to engage more people
Keas uses social media and virtual gaming to create employee wellness programmes (left); the OptumizeMe app is focused on setting and accepting physical challenges (right)
Online wellness gaming is projected to generate US$2bn in revenues by 2015 Credit: Monkey Business Images / shutterstock.com
Gaming’s addictive features – challenges, rewards and social pressure – may be some of the most powerful weapons ever invented to get people to jump-start, and stick to, healthy lifestyle changes says Susie Ellis
Susie Ellis, SpaFinder Inc
Game ChangerYuri Arcurs / shutterstock.com
Insurance firm Aetna used MindBloom to create Life Game to make it fun, rewarding and social for members to achieve wellbeing goals – whether drinking more water or planting a tree
It’s getting easier to monitor bio-information, making wellness gaming more preciseJCREATION / shutterstock.com
Deepak Chopra has launched Leela a meditation game for XBox and Wii Kinect – he wants to use the addictive nature of video games to engage more people
Keas uses social media and virtual gaming to create employee wellness programmes (left); the OptumizeMe app is focused on setting and accepting physical challenges (right)
Online wellness gaming is projected to generate US$2bn in revenues by 2015Monkey Business Images / shutterstock.com
In our 2012 SpaFinder Trend Report, we named online wellness gaming one of the most interesting, innovative future spa and wellness industry trends to watch. With more medical experts arguing that gaming’s uniquely engaging core mechanisms – from rewards systems to social dynamics – are effective in getting people to sustain healthy regimes, the online gaming and spa connection is super logical and powerful. While the trend remains largely predictive at this point – because online gaming is hands down the most explosive consumer media form and almost every industry is ‘getting into gaming’ – it will inevitably evolve.
User alignment Let’s start with a few facts: a staggering half a billion people worldwide play online games for at least an hour a day. And they’re not all teenage boys down in the basement zapping villains in games like World of Warcraft. While hardcore gamers are more likely to be male and younger, the massively popular social, casual games category – think games like Farmville, Bejeweled and Angry Birds – is actually dominated by an older more female demographic.
A comprehensive study of US and UK gamers, PopCap Social Gaming Research 2011, shows that the average player of online social games is now a 43-year-old woman – with female social gamers outnumbering males 55 per cent to 45 per cent. Another study, Kabam Social Gamer 2011, reveals that the average first-time social gamer is a 50-plus year-old woman. This online social gaming demographic squares precisely with spa-goers: a demographic that is roughly 70 per cent female and aged around 40-45, according to a series of online surveys by SpaFinder.com. So spa-going and online social/casual gaming consumers are very much aligned.
Fun and serious Gaming is no longer just limited to battling virtual enemies or tending the virtual farm, however. Millions worldwide have already played dozens of spa-focused games, including Sallie Spa, Sara’s Super Spa or Spa Mania. And Clarins just took the spa-themed casual game to a new level with its Spa Life on Facebook, where players manage clients in search of treatments, and where they can redeem points for Clarins products.
But, as noted in our trends report, the big, powerful and truly game-changing gaming and wellness connection lies ahead – and it involves ‘serious games’, a new online, social gaming category. Serious wellness gaming platforms are rapidly developing as medical experts agree that gaming could be the key to changing the world’s health. If countless medical studies show that the old directives from doctor to patient dramatically fail to keep people on track, the ‘gamification’ of getting people to adhere to regimens – whether fitness, diet, stress reduction or even beauty – seems to work far better.
Gamification means putting into play elements like voluntary participation, rules, points, levels of achievement, challenges/goals, rewards and a social feedback system to keep people in the health game. When you add the social gaming layer, research shows people are radically more likely to adhere. Add to the mix new gadgets that make it easier to monitor bio-information – such as uploading vital signs, calories burned and steps taken – and connect the results online, you can see how the online wellness game could get very precise and real.
Wellness game evolution While fitness/health games such as Nintendo’s Wii Fit and Let’s Yoga! have been around for years, wellness gaming concepts are suddenly getting far more interesting and complex. Improving health behaviour is a massive us$2.5 trillion (€1.9tn, £1.5tn) opportunity says digital marketing expert Shuan Quigley in an online blog Can Games Fix American Healthcare? With stakeholders including hospitals and doctors, insurance and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, the medical establishment is getting involved too.
The leader in this movement is the US-based Games for Health project, which brings medical professionals and game developers together to study how cutting-edge games – such as exer-gaming, physical therapy, biofeedback, nutrition and emotional health games – can be an innovative force in improving people’s health and wellness.
World-renowned medical institutions, like the Mayo Clinic in the US, are holding conferences on topics such as Games as Life-Changers. Elsewhere, insurance giant Aetna has partnered with wellness game developer MindBloom to launch Life Game, designed to make it fun, rewarding and social for members to achieve wellbeing goals.
SuperBetter (opposite) is a new game from SuperBetter Labs, a digital serious games company. Its goal is “to turn everyday folks into superheroes for health,” and revolves around a social platform that allows people to recruit their friends, family and physicians as allies in their quest for wellbeing.
Sites like the US-based HealthyWage.com allow dieters to bet their money (and profit nicely) if they lose weight. Nike+, FitBit and other GPS- and bio-based fitness tracking apps allow exercisers worldwide to archive their workouts and compete in online network challenges. Skimble, a mobile platform that schedules short workouts into a busy day, shares people’s progress socially on Facebook and Twitter, etc. OptumizeMe lets users dish out and accept physical challenges.
Given their massive healthcare costs, corporations will continue to ramp up games. For instance, more US enterprises are partnering with companies like Keas, which offers employee wellness programmes – getting staff to eat better and exercise – through a live social media and virtual gaming mix.
Spa movement We’re beginning to see some gaming movement in the spa/wellness industry. Mind-body guru Deepak Chopra has launched the meditation game, Leela, that uses 43 interactive exercises, focusing on the body’s seven energy centres, to relieve stress. Chopra spent three years designing Leela, and has explained that it was the addictive nature of video games that attracted him, allowing his philosophies to reach and engage far more people. Meanwhile, US destination spa Canyon Ranch – which already offers the 360 Well-Being iPad apps focused on fitness, meditation and healthy cooking – could easily transform its apps into spa/wellness games by adding layers such as challenges, rewards and a social network.
Online wellness gaming is projected to generate us$2bn (€1.5bn, £1.2bn) in revenues by 2015, according to digital media delivery specialists RealNetworks. The challenge for the spa industry will be to create truly engaging games that creatively connect their clients to the spa’s programming, experts and special community, either by using or customising third-party gaming platforms or designing their own. And while I have mostly focused on online wellness gaming, they don’t have to be online to be powerful: think of the many engaging ways spas could integrate games and gaming mechanisms, rewards and social contests and challenges into their real-world programming. The branded Biggest Loser weight-loss spa resorts in the US, which are based on the social, challenge-focused premise of the popular TV show, launched in 2009 and are now opening their third destination in New York state.
Whether online or off, spas need to realise that they have a strong advantage and opportunity in wellness gaming, because the work they do forges real and powerful connections with – and between – guests. These connections are far more real than what’s offered by most existing generic, online wellness gaming communities.
In our SpaFinder Trends Report we also note that online gaming is part of a wider trend we see percolating in the spa industry: spas extending their connection to customers, to move beyond the sporadic visit model and establish programmes to forge longer-term, more profitable relationships.
Han Wen, Director of internet marketing, Clarins Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game
We recognised the gamification trend in the digital social world and felt the need for Clarins to be where our customers are. Our target audience is women over 25 who are interested in spas and beauty products. We chose Facebook because the platform is huge – it has an estimated 900 million users, half of whom are regular social game players. In addition, social discovery – discovering a game via friends – enables games to grow quickly without a large marketing budget.
As Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game, we thoroughly researched online and social gaming trends as well as PC, console and hand-held games to figure out what makes a game great. We also partnered with FreshPlanet because of its expertise in developing casual games.
We’ve implemented all the standard features of successful social games in Spa Life – including rewards, challenges and leader boards. Our goal from day one was to create a fun and engaging game, so we decided against features that require the player to perform any specific action – such as watching brand advertising or making a purchase – to progress in their game play.
Since the launch in September 2011, we’ve had more than 1.1 million unique players and over 120,000 likes.
Spa Life, on Facebook, is a game where players manage a spa of their own design to attract customers with the best treatments while working with limited resources.
Details: https://apps.facebook.com/spa-life
Clarins was the first in the beauty industry to create a completely branded social game
Chelsea Howe, Director of design, SuperBetter Labs
SuperBetter could help spas customise their services once a client leaves, says Howe
Game designer Jane McGonigal came up with the idea for SuperBetter when she found herself struggling to recover from severe concussion. It’s about helping players to achieve health and wellness goals – most commonly weight loss, healthier eating, regular exercise, stress reduction and better sleep – in their real lives and not just in a virtual world. It draws on core online gaming mechanisms – social involvement, overcoming obstacles, feedback and tracking progress – to help players achieve their goals. They recruit allies, complete quests (steps to help them achieve goals), battle bad guys (things standing in their way), and activate power ups (boosts to keep them motivated). The game was designed to increase players’ resilience – their ability to stay optimistic, curious and energised in the face of challenges – and McGonigal thinks spa consumers would find this attractive.
The game launched on 9 March and had 20,000 users in the first two months. It currently has slightly more female players than male, mostly aged 20-50. Spas can use SuperBetter as an additional resource for clients who are looking to achieve personal health or wellness goals. Operators can also create their own Power Pack to complement their brand, product philosophy and approach to health and wellness. Alternatively, SuperBetter Labs has developed Power Packs that blend in-game content, scientific research and expert advice from leading doctors, psychologists and researchers.
In the past, a customer might leave a spa with recommendations to improve their daily lives. However, games like –ensure that these recommendations won’t get lost or forgotten.
Right now, most people play games in brief spurts throughout the day: online or on their phones. Most spas have few – if any – offerings that are accessible on the go and take less than five minutes. By integrating games into their repertoire – to induce feelings of relaxation, comfort, serenity and confidence, just like spa services do – spas can integrate their programmes into client’s lives even after they leave the building.
In addition, spas could use elements of games – like tracking progress towards a bigger goal or giving clear feedback – to make clients feel like every visit is a step towards a serious and tangible improvement in their lives. Instead of just arriving for a treatments, clients would feel like they’re starting a journey towards a lifestyle that is more mindful, stress free and focused.
Howe has headed up the design of SuperBetter for the past 10 months and has just received the 2012 Rising Star Award from Women in Gaming.
Details: www.superbetterlabs.com
Chelsea Howe
The SuperBetter online wellness game launched in March and in the first two months 20,000 users had registered – most were females aged 20-50
Ian Bogost, video game designer, philosopher, critic and researcher Games for fitness will continue, with programmes such as Nike +, says Bogost, but there’s an emerging trend towards relaxation and meditation games
Role playing is the most compelling component in games – there’s something intrinsically appealing about being someone else whether you’re a space marine or just a farmer. But what makes games different to any other media is having a response to a choice you make and to see that decision matter inside a simulated environment.
There are other gaming elements such as presenting a challenge, socialisation, rewards and status (think scoreboard). And there’s a trend – especially in marketing – to extract these features and apply them to other online and offline services. For example, collecting rewards for using a service or distinguishing loyal customers on a leader board. Yet these elements are secondary systems that only really matter if they’re connected to a primary system (a game) that provides that compelling experience.
There’s a lot of disagreement about the gender dynamics in games too. One argument is that men are motivated by competitive games and women by collaborative or social games. But it’s hard to know how true these claims are as they’re usually the result of small studies and are very generalised. Games on Facebook, for example, are mostly social but are played by men and women alike who are of all ages. Yet there certainly isn’t the same gender disparity there used to be – over half of adult players these days are women.
Exercise games aren’t new, they go back some 25 years and this physical use is going to continue with games such as Nike+. There will also be development in the clinical sector – games produced for medical professionals, such as for training surgeons, or games for patients.
There’s certainly an emerging trend in the relaxation/meditation games arena. Deepak Chopra’s Leela is a good example, while Wild Divine with its whole body relaxation training programmes launched in 2002. There are also new styles of games such as PlayStation 3’s Flower that are less about action and more about contemplation and observation.
If spas tap into gaming, they would need to offer more than just a technical improvement. I could see it working by making a connection between an on-site service and something clients take away that maintains the spa experience in some way.
A professor at The Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, Bogost teaches computational and digital media programmes. He’s written books on video games and is the co-founder of game design firm Persuasive Games.
