Run The Story Game App

Run The Story Game App icon on a smartphone home screen. Made with Adobe CS by the author. Iphone's mock-up by Mockupnest.

What is Run The Story Game App?

The app generates stories in text and image format as you move (while running or walking). The stories are linked to street names, places you visit, and identified locations (restaurants, statues, historical sites, natural elements, etc.).

After the effort, the app displays the creation generated. You can continue the creation on your next run to find out what happens next, create an illustration of the text, or even an audio. You can also continue someone else’s story, whether known or unknown, and thus create collaborative stories.

The story evolves each time you go out for a run or a walk, gradually composing an illustrated book based on the real world around you. After a vote by participants, the city features the best stories in a publication, a website, and an event. In addition to the generated content, the app allows you to view data related to your effort, such as calories burned, distance covered, and information related to the route taken, like the number of streets or places visited, the route map, and so on. The game encourages you to take new routes by offering specific paths related to your level of engagement and the content you want to produce: to generate an image, you need to run at least 3 km; to write half a page, you need to run at least 5 km, and so on.

Run The Story Game App - Initial screen. Made in Adobe CS by the author.

How the app will motivate you to become fitter and healthier.

The motivation comes from the fact that the reward is immediate and mysterious. It generates curiosity and a sense of connection with the places you explore.

The app provides you with a high level of autonomy by allowing you to choose your running routes and the type of stories you want to create, fostering a sense of control and personal relevance. This creative freedom is further enhanced by the ability to generate text, images, and audio, enabling you to continue your own or others’ stories, which strengthens their creative autonomy.

To support competence, the app sets progressive challenges, such as running specific distances to generate images, offering goals that are both achievable and challenging. This approach helps you experience a sense of accomplishment. Additionally, the app provides feedback on key metrics like calories burned and distance covered, allowing users to track their progress and improve their skills over time.

The app also fosters relatedness by encouraging collaborative storytelling, where you can continue stories started by others. This feature builds a sense of community and shared purpose. Moreover, by featuring the best stories in publications, websites, and events, the app creates a platform for social interaction and recognition, offering you validation and a sense of belonging.

Run The Story Game App - RunStories Home screen. Made in Adobe CS by the author.

Transition from initial engagement to intrinsic motivation.

Initial engagement with the app is driven by curiosity and novelty, as you are attracted to its unique promise of generating stories through running. Early achievements, such as completing a short run to create a story segment, offer immediate rewards and instant gratification. The app emphasizes the uniqueness of your story, highlighting how it contributes to a collective narrative. Additionally, special events or challenges are designed to further enrich the larger community stories, fostering a sense of shared experience and collaboration.

Building a routine is supported by consistent feedback, where regular updates on progress and achievements allow you to see tangible results, reinforcing your commitment to the app. You can track your activities while simultaneously discovering the evolving story. Additionally, daily or weekly community challenges encourage you to make running a habit, while also contributing to a global narrative, fostering a sense of shared routine and purpose within the community.

Developing Competence

As you become more proficient in running and story creation, you should experience a sense of mastery. Initially, the app generates only text-based content, but after 3-4 runs or covering a certain distance, you unlock the ability to generate images and sounds, enhancing your creative experience and add a motivation factor. The story also incorporates real-world elements like street names, retailers, and points of interest, allowing you to learn more about your running environment. This connection to your surroundings helps you stay motivated and contributes to your personal culture.

Personalization is a key feature, as it allows you to choose your routes and story themes, giving you a sense of control and ownership over your experience. Additionally, you can set your own targets, ensuring that the app’s activities align with your individual interests and values, further enhancing your engagement and satisfaction.

Creating Relatedness

Community interaction is fostered through collaborative storytelling and social sharing, helping you build a sense of belonging. Positive feedback from the community, along with recognition of achievements, further enhances your motivation. Integrating social features such as sharing stories on social media, running in groups, or competing in challenges strengthens these connections. Additionally, a community feed where you can comment on and like each other’s stories creates a dynamic space for support and recognition, enhancing the overall experience.

Conclusion

Over time, you will find enjoyment and satisfaction in running and creating stories, independent of external rewards. The app’s activities become aligned with your values and identity, making running or walking a natural and enjoyable part of your life, linked to curiosity and the joy of creation. After each run, what remains is a piece of the story, allowing you to connect your experiences with the narrative, much like storing memories. The app guides you through these stages, helping you transition from initial curiosity to a motivating routine. You will take pleasure in being creative and receiving feedback, with the generated content based on your runs providing an outlet for creative expression.

Would you play to RunTheStory?

Footnotes:

List of references

Behaviour, S. a. I. D. O., Aarts, L., Barbosa, S., Lampe, C., Appert, C., Shamma, D. A., Drucker, S., Williamson, J., & Yatani, K. (2022). Motivation through gamification: A Self-Determination Theory perspective for the design of an adaptive reward system. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/425962

Bovermann, K., & Bastiaens, T. J. (2020). Towards a motivational design? Connecting gamification user types and online learning activities. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41039-019-0121-4 

Brühlmann, F. (2013, January 1). Gamification from the perspective of Self-Determination Theory and Flow. Florian Brühlmann. https://bruehlmann.io/publication/bruehlmann-gamification-2013/

Rutledge, C., Walsh, C. M., Swinger, N., Auerbach, M., Castro, D., Dewan, M., Khattab, M., Rake, A., Harwayne-Gidansky, I., Raymond, T. T., Maa, T., Chang, T. P., & Quality Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (QCPR) leaderboard investigators of the International Network for Simulation-based Pediatric Innovation, Research, and Education (INSPIRE). (2018). Gamification in Action: Theoretical and practical considerations for medical educators. In Academic Medicine (Vol. 93, Issue 7, pp. 1014–1020) [Article]. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002183