Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

dilbert.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 78 posts

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#41

Post by cschneid »

janj wrote: post #27

I wonder what the balance is for gyms between active members and non active members. I imagine most successful gyms have a relatively high number of non active members, and if use increased then membership could actually decrease because of crowding issues. I would think the gym's motivation is to increase the number of memberships while keeping actual use low, restricting this kind of investment to expensive special…

On the other hand, nothing sells gym memberships like more success cases, telling their friends how they got fit.

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#42

Post by gaius »

tdoggette wrote: post #40
MtL wrote: post #39

We do not need all these gimmicks. We need people to know what is good for themselves, and start doing something about it. Call me oldfashioned, but I am of the impression that: + No RFID chip in my backpack will make a mountain hike with 50lb weight added any more fun, any more useful, any more easy or anything else. + No RFID chips in the my plates will make my sets of squats or deadlifts any more fun or easy. + No…

Okay, here goes: You're old-fashioned. Things are more fun when they're part of a game. Brushing your teeth or doing your homework was not fun at age 6, but if you got a gold star, it was worth it, just because gold stars had some value to you. But, you say, you don't care about games associated with your everyday life these days. Okay, then. You don't have to play. Don't pretend that your preferences are a model of…

Putting RFID chips in your plates will make lifting more fun if it's tied to a fun, competitive game with teammates cheering you on

What good are gym buddies who can't spot you?

And besides, lifting is satisfying, but it's not "fun" if you're doing it right.

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#43

Post by ryanelkins »

9oliYQjP wrote: post #31
ryanelkins wrote: post #21

It's interesting to see how this idea is being received. My startup (IActionable.com) actually provides a way to make this happen to a degree. We're mostly focusing on game mechanics for websites at the moment but I really like the idea of moving in to other types of areas as well (we have a few other ideas already). Our informal motto is "If you can record it we can reward it". I wonder if this co-op mode would be b…

"I wonder if this co-op mode would be better suited to teams within the same gym" Definitely, this. Make it a cooperative group effort like skipping, not a competitive team sport. See my comment here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1687502

Yeah I like the idea of a group working towards a common goal that everyone is contributing to more than trying to beat someone else. Competition works really well sometimes but perhaps not in this case.

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#44

Post by ryanelkins »

patio11 wrote: post #33
Poiesis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaderboards are an anti pattern in community design because they turn 99% of your customers into losers and losing is not fun. Of course. I've always wondered about that. Do you have a source for this info? I'm not trying to lay on the wikipedia-snark but rather I'd like to see where to read on social media [anti]patterns.

I read about game design. It is sort of like the nicotine patch for the ex-WoW gamer in me. See slides 27 ~ 33: http://www.slideshare.net/amyjokim/putting-the-fun-in-functi...

I actually feel that leaderboards are mostly bad only when there are too many people participating. With a small enough number of participants they can be motivating (although they might be better yet if they were opt-in). There are a subset of people that like to rank themselves and "see how they stack up" against others. As you mentioned, it can also degrade motivation for others which is why an opt-in method might work best for something like this.

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#45

Post by tdoggette »

gaius wrote: post #42
tdoggette wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, here goes: You're old-fashioned. Things are more fun when they're part of a game. Brushing your teeth or doing your homework was not fun at age 6, but if you got a gold star, it was worth it, just because gold stars had some value to you. But, you say, you don't care about games associated with your everyday life these days. Okay, then. You don't have to play. Don't pretend that your preferences are a model of…

Putting RFID chips in your plates will make lifting more fun if it's tied to a fun, competitive game with teammates cheering you on What good are gym buddies who can't spot you? And besides, lifting is satisfying , but it's not "fun" if you're doing it right.

"Doing it right" by whose definition?

Why can't something be satisfying on one level and fun as it relates to other things?

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#46

Post by eru »

Grantmd wrote: post #8
Tangurena wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm, this is an interesting idea. Perhaps instead of making the buff wear off, make things available for the next time you are "in game" as it would be rather risky trying to play the game while walking on a treadmill, bike or eliptical machine.

That's a good alternative. Although I think the game would be easily playable at even a quick walking pace on the treadmill, they could trade each minute on the machine with a minute of the buff next time you login. Or charge up an orb in your inventory that you can use at will.

Just make sure that you can't make other people walk for you. (Or do make sure that you can?)

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#47

Post by MtL »

tdoggette wrote: post #40
MtL wrote: post #39

We do not need all these gimmicks. We need people to know what is good for themselves, and start doing something about it. Call me oldfashioned, but I am of the impression that: + No RFID chip in my backpack will make a mountain hike with 50lb weight added any more fun, any more useful, any more easy or anything else. + No RFID chips in the my plates will make my sets of squats or deadlifts any more fun or easy. + No…

Okay, here goes: You're old-fashioned. Things are more fun when they're part of a game. Brushing your teeth or doing your homework was not fun at age 6, but if you got a gold star, it was worth it, just because gold stars had some value to you. But, you say, you don't care about games associated with your everyday life these days. Okay, then. You don't have to play. Don't pretend that your preferences are a model of…

You make a valid point, that the use of this fancy-schmancy technology is optional. The reason I am still worried, and the reason why I hold on tight to my old-fashioned principles, is that most gyms nowadays are very poor for serious training;

There is a ton of machines that are of no use to people that want to use the gym to actually make progress, to stay healthy and get strong/fast/lean/whatever-floats-your-boat. All these machines take up the space of the barbells, dumbbells and racks, and they steal the attention away from those things as well. The end result is that the average people in a gym in 2010 are in worse shape than the average people in a gym in 1970. I hope this trend is not allowed to continue.

PS: Let me tell you a fun, competitive game that require little modern technology (just some creativity and a barbell and a rack); bring your friends to spot you in the gym, and have a competition in the squat rack ("who does the most reps with 225lb in one set?").

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#48

Post by eru »

MtL wrote: post #39

We do not need all these gimmicks. We need people to know what is good for themselves, and start doing something about it. Call me oldfashioned, but I am of the impression that: + No RFID chip in my backpack will make a mountain hike with 50lb weight added any more fun, any more useful, any more easy or anything else. + No RFID chips in the my plates will make my sets of squats or deadlifts any more fun or easy. + No…

I agree. I also do old-fashioned stuff at the gym.

But I can see how hooking up a X-Box Kinect (a camera with some fancy software) to automatically give you feedback on your technique for squats could be a nice thing.

Most people don't go low enough on the squat, so a neutral third party would be nice. Especially if you do not have a knowledgeable training buddy. (You can't trust most employees' knowledge in gyms about proper weight lifting technique.) Also I would like to have my heart rate graphed during the lifts.

And the chip in the fridge could just give you the nudge to do what you like to do anyway, but would be too lazy at the moment to do.

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#49

Post by eru »

MtL wrote: post #47
tdoggette wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, here goes: You're old-fashioned. Things are more fun when they're part of a game. Brushing your teeth or doing your homework was not fun at age 6, but if you got a gold star, it was worth it, just because gold stars had some value to you. But, you say, you don't care about games associated with your everyday life these days. Okay, then. You don't have to play. Don't pretend that your preferences are a model of…

You make a valid point, that the use of this fancy-schmancy technology is optional. The reason I am still worried, and the reason why I hold on tight to my old-fashioned principles, is that most gyms nowadays are very poor for serious training; There is a ton of machines that are of no use to people that want to use the gym to actually make progress, to stay healthy and get strong/fast/lean/whatever-floats-your-boat.…

You can also just track your progress in a journal. That's motivation enough for me. (And be sure to take a photograph of yourself every once in a while.)

Re: Scott Adams: Your Next Gym

#50

Post by eru »

gaius wrote: post #42
tdoggette wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, here goes: You're old-fashioned. Things are more fun when they're part of a game. Brushing your teeth or doing your homework was not fun at age 6, but if you got a gold star, it was worth it, just because gold stars had some value to you. But, you say, you don't care about games associated with your everyday life these days. Okay, then. You don't have to play. Don't pretend that your preferences are a model of…

Putting RFID chips in your plates will make lifting more fun if it's tied to a fun, competitive game with teammates cheering you on What good are gym buddies who can't spot you? And besides, lifting is satisfying , but it's not "fun" if you're doing it right.

I found power cleans to be at least as much fun as running.
Post reply on HN