In contrast to our findings, it has also been shown that
exercising in the presence of others can have a detrimental
impact on the mood or psychological state of individuals who
do not have a dominant competitive personality trait, even
leading to decreased adherence with exercise.38,39 However,
in this study, participants who were lower on competitiveness
maintained their initial level of exercise effort, and thus effort
did not appear to be adversely affected by the introduction
of on-screen competitors. This may indicate that for less
competitive individuals, the virtual reality-enhanced
environment may be flexibly perceived, allowing one to
choose to cognitively discount or reinterpret the social
presence of an avatar since it is not the equal of a real-life
competitor. Future research could explore these nuances;
perhaps focusing on both the participant’s perception of the
avatar (eg, by way of manipulating nonverbal cues),40 as well
as their own sense of presence in the virtual world which has
been found to be salient in avatar-based exergames.