WearLove: Affective Communication via Wearable Device with Gamification

Abstract

In this paper, we present WearLove, a wrist-worn device and mobile application for enhancing affective communication between users. It enables two users to send a heart symbol to each other's wristband monitors by touching the sensor on the band. Given that the gamification causes the user motivation, we add the gamification elements to the app. The more they express their love to each other via the wristband, the bigger a tree will be grown in the app. By using WearLove, we would like to figure out it can actually enhance the affective communication between users. Add to this, we also investigate the gamification elements in the app can evoke the user motivation for affective communication. To address these questions, three group interviews were conducted during one hour for each couple. (N = 6, 3 couples) Results indicated that WearLove may evoke user motivation for affective communication. Key findings and limitations are going to be discussed in the paper.