Abstract Background:  Both the fitness and gamification industry are booming with no signs of slowing down in the near future. Gamified applications are entering the markets, attempting to induce gameful elements into tedious environments to enhance intrinsic motivation. The same goes for the gym sector, as market leaders, such as the Swedish gym chain Nordic Wellness, are increasingly implementing gamification elements into their business models.   Problem: The true effectiveness of gamification on intrinsic motivation remains underdeveloped. Literature highlights the necessity of adapting gamification design towards the end-user, by considering the different effects from the individual game elements and the context. However, the gym context has been completely neglected, even though gamification has become increasingly utilized in this sector.     Purpose: The purpose of this study is to increase the body of knowledge on how extrinsic mechanisms such as gamification can influence intrinsic motivation. This study utilizes the context of a gamified gym application for Nordic Wellness to determine the motivational potential of game elements. Thereby, the research team attempts to add to the body of literature by expanding on the effectiveness of gamification on intrinsic motivation, while also contributing through entering a currently undiscovered domain of gamification in the gym context.   Method: A qualitative approach with fifteen semi-structured interviews has been conducted on young Swedish adults attending the Swedish gym chain Nordic Wellness.   Results: The findings suggest Self-Determination Theory as a valid framework to examine the effects of gamification on intrinsic motivations. Through connecting the identified themes and theory, a framework is proposed for the evaluation on the effectiveness of game elements on intrinsic motivation. From evaluating the discussed game elements through this framework, recommendations are made for a gamified gym application that is argued to positively satisfy the psychological needs and therefore enhance the intrinsic motivations in a gym context.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-02-05T14:33:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1146190 bytes, checksum: 0a43ed25bde19c7667c471fb5d1710ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-05T14:34:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1146190 bytes, checksum: 0a43ed25bde19c7667c471fb5d1710ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The following research is centered on the construction of the female body in contemporary society, from the development of an ethnographic experience in a women’s fitness gym, located in a popular neighborhood in the city of João Pessoa, during the period from December 2012 to December 2013. The objectives of the study are to investigate how the body is built on the practices and discourses of a women’s fitness center, which control mechanisms, and profiles of femininity constituted in everyday fitness facility. Moreover, it is also a main interest of this study to examine the practices of an organized sociability, as to understand the socio anthropological construction of the body in the context of those health centers. The research involves middle-aged adult women attending a women's fitness club and the results are structured into main axes of analysis, namely: the morality of practices around the body, the represented tangible types and the not stated performance identified by body movements. The study revealed that the corporeality is constituted by a broad network of meanings that involves my own body as revealed the survey. Therefore, the femininity stands out and pervades the maternal, the marital, the media and the religious fields, such as the changes that happen during the middle-aged period; a dynamic of permanent construction between subjects and the social environment. / A pesquisa que se segue tem como eixo central a construção do corpo feminino na atual sociedade, a partir do desenvolvimento de uma experiência etnográfica em uma academia de ginástica só para mulheres, localizada em um bairro popular da cidade de João Pessoa, no período entre os meses de dezembro de 2012 a dezembro de 2013. Os objetivos do estudo são investigar de que maneira o corpo é construído nas práticas e nos discursos da academia de ginástica só para mulheres, quais os mecanismos de controle que influenciam tal construção, e os perfis de feminilidade constituídos no cotidiano da academia de ginástica. Além disso, também é de interesse deste estudo examinar as práticas de sociabilidade organizadas, para assim, compreender a construção sócio antropológica do corpo no contexto da academia. A pesquisa envolve mulheres adultas de meia-idade, frequentadoras de uma academia de ginástica feminina e os resultados estão estruturados em três amplos eixos de análise, quais sejam: as práticas de moralidade em torno do corpo, os tipos corpóreos representados e o plano do nãodito identificado pela performance dos movimentos corporais. O estudo revelou que a corporeidade está constituída a partir de uma ampla rede de significações. Destaca-se, portanto, uma feminilidade que permeia os campos maternal, midiático, religioso, matrimonial e as mudanças ocorridas no período da meia-idade feminina, numa dinâmica de construção permanente entre sujeitos e o meio social.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis is based in an ethnografic research developed throughout twelve months with people who participate in two distinct genres of gyms in Santa Maria (RS): Outdoors Gym and Fitness Gym. This work has as its objective to analyze the activities done by people who exercise in both modalities as technologies of the self, from the concept discussed by Michel Foucault. Based on observations in the field, evident differences were found in the way the physical activities are done. Among the practitioners in the Outdoors Gym, the exercises are performed to treat an existing illness or to prevent a future illness, in this genre, physical activities are performed while talking and pleasantry exchanging, without the help of physical education professionals, which highlights sociability as a significant aspect of the use of this gym to these people. On the other hand, in Fitness Gyms, the physical activities are performed aiming to obtain a greater physical conditioning and body muscle, reflecting aesthetics concern. Physical exercise is done through professional body expertise knowledge, in which people do a series of training with the aim to maximize results in the gym. Therefore, research has identified the use of two models of gym, encouraged by different agents, as a way to influence personal behavior. / Esta dissertação fundamenta-se numa pesquisa etnográfica desenvolvida durante dozes meses com pessoas que fazem uso de duas modalidades distintas de academias em Santa Maria (RS): Academia ao Ar Livre e Academia de Ginástica e Musculação. O trabalho tem como objetivo analisar, as atividades exercidas por pessoas que realizam atividades físicas nas duas modalidades de academia como técnicas de si, partindo do conceito discutido por Michel Foucault. Com base nas observações em campo foram constatadas diferenças evidentes nos modos como as atividades físicas são realizadas. Entre as praticantes da Academia ao Ar Livre os exercícios físicos são efetuados para tratar de uma doença existente ou para prevenir uma futura enfermidade, nesta modalidade às atividades físicas são realizadas em meio a conversas e brincadeiras, sem o auxílio de profissionais da educação física, o que ressalta a sociabilidade como um aspecto significativo para o uso da academia para estas pessoas. Por outro lado, na Academia de Ginástica e Musculação as atividades físicas são realizadas visando obter maior condicionamento físico e musculatura corporal, refletindo preocupação com a estética. Os exercícios físicos são realizados através dos conhecimentos de profissionais da expertise do corpo, no qual as pessoas realizam séries de treinos com a finalidade de maximizar os resultados esperados com o uso da academia. Portanto, a pesquisa identificou que a utilização dos dois modelos de academias é incentivada por diferentes agentes, de modo a influenciar nas condutas das pessoas.

3 ABSTRACT Title of project: Visitors of the Nature Park Ladronka and their interest in movement activities Aim of project: The goal of this Thesis is a socio-demographic analysis of the visitors of the Nature Park Ladronka and their motives for movement activities in this location in different season. Methods of project: All necessary data were collected by means of interviews directly in the Park Ladronka during this three weeks 25. - 31. 10. 2011 from 10:00-17:30, 23. - 29. 5. 2011 from 10:00-20:00 and 8. - 14. 8. 2011 from 10:00-20:00. The results were statistically processed using relative and absolute frequency. Results: The total number of respondents is 1,425. They are mostly - 32 % of visitors aged 20-29 - interested in the on-line skating track. The most common means of transport was for 40% of the visitors their car. The preferred sport for men (47 %) is running 42 % and gym 27 %, and for women (53 %) in-line skating 79 %. 14,5 % of visitors aged 20-29 are from housing estate. The park is visited mostly by students 32 % and people working on their computers 24 %. Key words: Natural fitness gym - sport for everyone - health grounds - outdoor activities - fitness trail - urban green - socio- demographic analysis