Cyber Buddy is Better than No Buddy: A Test of the Köhler Motivation Effect in Exergames.

Objective: Although exergames are popular, few people take advantage of the potential of group dynamics to

motivate play (and achieve associated health bene?ts). One motivation gain phenomenon has shown promise for

motivating greater effort in partnered exergames: The Koehler effect (working at a task with a more capable partner

where one’s performance is indispensable to the group). This article examines whether a Koehler effect can be

demonstrated in an exergame by exercising with a moderately superior humanoid, software-generated partner.

Materials and Methods: Male and female (n = 120; mean age, 19.41 years) college students completed a series

of plank exercises using ‘‘CyBuddy Exercise,’’ a program developed speci?cally for this study. In a lab in an

academic building, participants completed the exercises individually and, after a rest, were randomly assigned

to complete the same exercises again, but with a ‘‘live’’ human partner (HP) presented virtually, a nearlyhuman-like,

humanoid partner (NHP), a hardly human-like, software-generated partner (HHP), or a no-partner

control condition (IC), with equal numbers in each group (i.e., n = 30). Exercise persistence, perceived exertion,

self-ef?cacy beliefs, enjoyment, and intentions to exercise were recorded and analyzed.

Results: A 4X2 analysis of variance on the (Block 2 – Block 1) difference scores showed that a signi?cant

Koehler motivation gain was observed in all partner conditions (compared with IC), but persistence was signi?cantly

greater with HPs than with either NHP or HHP humanoid partners (P < 0.05). By the conclusion of the

study, there were no signi?cant differences among the partnered conditions in perceived exertion, self-ef?cacy,

enjoyment, or future intentions to exercise.

Conclusions: These results suggest that a software-generated partner can elicit the Koehler motivation gain in

exergames, but not as strongly as a partner who is thought to be human.