Phone row: a smartphone game designed to persuade people to engage in moderate-intensity physical activity

Few people reach the recommended levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (MIPA). This study examines whether persuasive technology, in the form of a smartphone game, can help people engage more in MIPA. A smartphone boat racing game was developed that requires users to make rowing movements and therefore engage in MIPA to play it successfully. With these rowing movements, users can control the movement of a virtual boat across a virtual track on an external screen. Users were fond of the concept of the game. However, a sub-optimal implementation resulted in users not wanting to replay the game and thus not developing a habit involving performance of MIPA. The implementation of the concept was inadequate for testing the hypothesis that a smartphone game can help people engage more in MIPA.