Using Gamification to encourage healthy lifestyle

I came across a very interesting application of gamification over the summer. At the company I was interning “Next Jump”, they had their own gym and wanted to ensure that it was used regularly by the employees. To do this they used the technique of gamification. They divided all the employees into teams. Each team was responsible for making sure that their team mates worked out atleast twice a week. The team which had the most percentage of “check ins” at the Gym was awarded with reward point which could be used to buy actual goods at the company’s retail website. I found the idea quite interesting and it seemed to be quite effective. I did however wonder if it would have been just as effective if the monetary gain factor was taken out of the equation and the only thing to be won was bragging rights.