I agree with this. I did running a few years ago, but stopped because it got too boring and I didn't notice any improvement. However, I recently got into Pokemon Go, which has an egg hatching concept. It rewards you with Pokemon with better stats, but you need to walk/run/bike 5km in order to get it to hatch. This has given me new motivation to run again.

Back when I cycled in a group Strava had a similar effect, you could see how many miles your friends had gotten in and would want to beat it (same with the mini time trials (strava segments) but they got dangerous with people doing stupid things to 'win'.

These days I ride alone and the only number I care about is my total for last week.

You can also gamify exercise with your friends by playing soccer, or basketball, or Ultimate. It has the added benefit of being fun.

I don't really compete with anyone, but I am using google fit since two months ago.

I was swimming and going to the gym since a couple of years ago before that, but I feel more motivated now just for getting the stats.

It's silly, but not unlike trying to get green squares on GitHub.

From a different point of view you are actually competing, but with yourself :-)

Garmin uses the phrase "Beat Yesterday" in their fitness tracker advertisements. Every day try to get a little faster.

Sign up for an actual "game" like a local 5km running race. If you want to place well in the race that's good motivation to get out and train every week.