Wii Fit: I'm the Donkey

Game theory is something that interests me intensely. I'm an interaction designer, so I watch how games are designed, why they succeed or fail. Jane McGonigal has a lot of important things to say about game design.

And the Wii Fit? So far, I'm finding it a very well designed game. It's doing its job to keep me interested, motivating, working away at it.

Game theory basically breaks out this way.

There's you, you're the donkey. I'm the donkey. Any user = donkey.

There are carrots - rewards. These can be anything, small and cheesy works fine. An audio fanfare, ta-dah! A "You Win!" badge graphic or blue ribbon. Putting you into the "top ranked results." Wii Fit uses all these, along with the Android Trainers saying "Way to Go!" or "Great job!"

And there are sticks - punishments, negative reinforcements. Seeing my weight go up = stick. Doing less well compared to my own previous efforts, stick. Wii Fit goes REALLY light on sticks. It's pretty relentlessly cheerful and encouraging, but no more irritating than your typical Weight Watchers leader or personal trainer at a fitness center.

I've been at this TWO full weeks. TWO WEEKS! Without missing a day, no excuses, weighing myself every day. I'm not freaking out about the weight. I'm making progress, feeling stronger. This is fabulous!

Now I get to decide whether I'm killing my Weight Watchers membership....that's 40 bucks a month I could use for other stuff. I'll probably give it a couple more months.

Comments

[gemma]

Please keep posting....I am trying to convince my husband to buy one of these critters....I weigh in every day any way and it does keep me from going way beyond where I could be without that scale but this? seems like a great thing to use. I am so glad to see you're back and doing well. You go girl!!!

[Qotu]

I still love my Wii Fit, and am eyeing the upgrade in the after-xmas sales.

Like Weight Watchers, there's a tracking feature - the Wii Fit keeps track of how often I use it, so there's an added element of accountability.

I'd love to hear your experiences with the upgrade - please share!

[NCAA Football 11 Rosters]

Wii Fit is a total fun and very motivational.. It really encourages you to be fit. It even gives you a Wii Fit age (mine was 46 by then!) and it improves as you work it out. Very nice..