EQOL Journal (2019) 11(2):
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Gotta catch'em all: ready, set, (pokemon) GO!
Bjanka Purda 1 ✉ • Draženka Mačak 1
Received: 27th September, 2019 |
DOI: 10.31382/eqol.191204 |
Accepted: 28th October, 2019 |
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© The Author(s) 2019. This article is published with open access. |
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Abstract
Pokemon Go is a virtual reality game that mixes the smart mobile technology with real life exploration. The aim of this research is to investigate whether Pokemon Go app increases the levels of physical activity.
At each level of measurement groups significantly differed in walking distance (p<0.01). The time did not have significant effect on the walking distance. The interaction effect was significant from fourth level to fifth level of measurement (p<005). LSD test revealed that regular trainers significantly differed from both, new and
✉biankapurda94@gmail.com
1University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Novi Sad, Serbia
In the first two weeks, the new trainers group walked 27km, and after the installation of the games, the increase was more than 10 km. It could be concluded that Pokemon Go app has impact on the levels of physical activity, but some period of time is needed for participants to learn how to play the game and enjoy it.
Keywords physical activity • Pokemon Go • mobile game.
Introduction
The lower levels of physical activity have been observed as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes type 2 (Loprinzi & Pariser,2013). Also, the prevalence of obesity grows around the globe, which is associate with lower levels of physical activity (Mitchell, 2011). The need for new strategies for obesity reduction and the levels of physical activity increasing has been recognized (Waters et al., 2011), since numerous limitations in current polices and methodological approaches to obesity prevention exist (Baranowski & Lytle, 2015). Therefore, an urgent need to provide novel strategies to motivate people to go outside and be more physically active (LeBlanc & Chaput, 2017). Pokemon Go is a virtual reality game that mixes the smart mobile technology with real life exploration. It has been renowned that in 2016 the game seized the whole world, since the young and seniors were actively downloading and playing, joining the gaming community (Chong et al.,2018). Gabbiadini et al (2018) revealed positive effect of playing the game on the physical activity levels, changing participants’ behavior from sedentary to active one
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but also suggested that the game did not have reliably effects on people's behavior in general. However, they explained that the increase in physical activity levels is rather induced with the exercise required by the game (Gabbiadini et al., 2018). Hino et al (2019) have also revealed significant differences between those who play the game and those who do not in the number of steps. The group who played the game maintained the number of steps during the winter, unlike
The aim of this research is to investigate whether Pokemon Go app increases the levels of physical activity.
Method
Subjects in new trainers group have downloaded the game which they have never played, so they were familiarized with the app two weeks from the beginning of the experiment, and for that time they did not play the game. In the regular trainer group subjects were regular Pokemon Go players, who played the game for minimum 3 years. They have carried on with playing the game.
Level of physical activity was assessed using Pedometer – Step Counter Free & Calorie Burner that counts daily walking distance in km and steps. Subjects were instructed to provide screenshots of their km recorded. The walking distance was
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recorded in kilometers and was reported after each week (5 measurements) for each group.
Experimental protocol
After the app is installed on phone, smartphone is designed to project actual location where virtual pokemons hide. Each of step is visible and follows on the screen, and the game begins when you start to capture the pokemons. The pokemons will appear in area but you will physically need to reach a place in the environment where the Pokémon has indicated. Likewise, in order to spin Pokestops or fight in the Gyms, you must come at a maximum of 1 meter. The "Raid Pass” and
Results are presented as mean and standard deviation for each group and for each level of measurement. Normality assumption for all data before and after intervention was checked Shapiro- Wilk test. Mixed ANOVA (Roy’s Largest Root) was used to test the hypothesis and effect of time (5 levels), effect of group (3 groups) and their interaction are reported. Post hoc analysis with LSD correction was done for multiple comparisons. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results
Descriptive statistics for depended variable are presented in Table 1. At each level of measurement groups significantly differed in walking distance, F (2,29) =70.524, p<0.01, ES=82.9%. On average regular trainer group walked the most, while new trainer group walked less than trainer group, but more than
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significantly over time, from first to second, p = .925, second to third, p = .092, third to fourth, p = .684, but from fourth to the last week the change of 19.95% was significant, p = .035. In the
=.233, third to fourth, p = .432, and fourth to fifth week, p = .238. Also, the average walking distance did not change significantly over time, from first to second, p = .883, second to third, p = .876, third to fourth, p = .104, and fourth to fifth week, p = .444. However, time x group interaction was significant, F
Table 1. Mixed ANOVA
(4,27)=3.010, p=0.036, ES=30.8%. The interaction effect was significant from fourth level to fifth level of measurement, F (2,29) =3.840, p=0.033, ES=20.9%. LSD test revealed that regular trainers significantly differed from both, new and non- trainers, having the most walked distance. New trainers and
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Trainers |
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New trainers |
Time* |
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(N=11) |
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(N=11) |
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(N=10) |
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group |
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Km |
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per |
Mean±SD |
(%) |
Mean±SD |
(%) |
Mean±SD |
(%) |
p value |
week |
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1 |
(km) |
71.09±10.37 |
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20.34±10.82 |
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27.72±8.70 |
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2 |
(km) |
71.40±23.20 |
0.43% |
15.27±8.85 |
26.93±12.48 |
0.651 |
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3 |
(km) |
61.98±13.82 |
16.21±9.58 |
6.18% |
28.17±17.98 |
4.60% |
0.260 |
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4 |
(km) |
59.42±15.16 |
14.68±10.15 |
36.37±17.61 |
29.11% |
0.207 |
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5 |
(km) |
71.27±17.02 |
19.95% |
17.51±15.20 |
19.28% |
33.20±15.51 |
0.033 |
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Legend: |
(%) - percentage of change compared to the previous week; |
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Figure 1. Physical activity (total distance walked in km) from pre- to
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EQOL Journal (2019) 11(2):
Discussion
The aim of the study was to investigate whether the game Pokemon Go has an impact on physical activity in people. At the beginning of the study groups differed significantly in the levels of physical activity, what was maintained till the end of the experiment, where the regular Pokemon Go trainers were the most physically active group, while
Experimental group, which included subjects that became Pokemon Go trainers, was less active that regular trainers in first to five weeks, but more than
In regard to the
Pokémon Go substantially increased physical activity among players for up to 1 week after they started playing the game (Ni et al., 2018). In 2 different studies, (He at al., 2017) enjoyment in Pokémon Go playing was the primary predictor of
physical activity. Although personality characteristics did not predict the total distance that players walked when playing Pokémon Go, agreeableness, perseverance, and premeditation predicted their play after 6 months (Lalot et al., 2017).
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It could be concluded that Pokemon Go app has impact on the levels of physical activity, but some period of time is needed for participants to learn how to play the game and enjoy it. Also, it has been observed that playing Pokemon Go enhances social interactions, but this was beyond the scope of this study.
We would like to point out the limitation of the study that is the lack of standardization of Pedometer
–Step Counter Free & Calorie Burner application.
Also, wide range of subjects’ age and small sample size could be acknowledged as the limitation of the study as well. Finally, the daily unorganized and organized physical activity was not assessed but could be tracked in the future studies in order to report clearer effects of playing Pokemon Go app.
References
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Loprinzi, P. D., & Pariser, G. (2013). Cardiorespiratory Fitness Levels and its Correlates Among Adult with
EQOL Journal (2019) 11(2):
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Ma, B., Ng, S., Schwanen, T., Zacharias, J., Zhou, M., Kawachi, I., et al. (2018). Pokemon GO and Physical Activity in Asia: Multilevel Study. Journal of Medical Interner Research , 20 (6), e217.
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How to cite this article:
Pokemon Go use and gaming intensity on physical
activity. Games Health Journal , 10.1089/g4h.2017.0181.
Waters, E., de
Xian, Y., Xu, H., Xu, H., Liang, L., Hernandez, A., Wang, T., et al. (2017). An Initial Evaluation of the Impact of Pokemon GO on Physical Activity. Journal of th American Heart Association , 6 (5), e005341.
APA:
MLA:
Chicago:
Purda, B., & Mačak, D. (2019). Gotta catch'em all: ready, set, (pokemon) GO! Exercise and Quality of Life, 11(2),
Purda, Bjanka and Draženka Mačak. "Gotta catch'em all: ready, set, (pokemon) GO!" Exercise and Quality of Life 11.2 (2019):
Purda, Bjanka, and Draženka Mačak. "Gotta catch'em all: ready, set, (pokemon) GO!" Exercise and Quality of Life 11, no. 2 (2019):
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