Discussion on:

Fitocracy turns working out into a game

Pro:
Gives gamer or competitive types motivation.
Allows users to track progress.
Provides a place to learn new routines.

Con:
Since when do gamers need motivation? Will this really motivate those fat/skinny geeks to exercise?
People can track their progress on anything including simple notebooks.
How good is the teaching part of the system going to be? Especially the free part?

One thing that concerns me is the risk of overtraining and injury. It is easy to injure yourself if you're not familiar with a new exercise. "I just need 10 points to beat Mr. X!"

OTOH, you don't want people to be too cautious either.

Some geeks really would just enter workouts they haven't done just to get through the levels.

Have you seen how mind numbingly banal some of the popular online games are? The players of those will find reward enough in "unlocking" new exercises, and will probably pay for the privalidge.

If my Wii can't get me off the sofa by calling me obese (it means "fat" my daughter tells me) and giving me someone to talk me through the execises and setting the targets to any level I choose, I am naturally not going to be enthusiastic about a gaming workout site. But good luck to all those out there who will sign up for this. I hope it gets you to a happier place.

The market has room in it for something like this. With gaming consoles offering fitness applications I think there is a place on the web for something similar. Any Geek truly interested in getting into better shape will likely find the service useful. Those that aren't interested will never visit the site.

I've just bought myself the PS3 move gun and Killzone (FPS) game. My wife has laughed at how sweaty I've become after a hour of the game. I like it, I get tired, my back hurts my legs are tired and thus I stop playing (have enough other stuff to do, I have kids). Anyhow, I wish they'd drive it up a notch where you were forced to squat, lie down, stand to reflect the position of you character in the game. Have levels force you to achieve a certain level of fitness before continuing on to the next in the context of the game, now that's motivation. By the way, I cycle 40km's a day and still was one wet mess after a half hour of the game. Maybe I'm getting old.