Design and Instantiation of an Interactive Multidimensional Ontology for Game Design Elements – a Design and Behavioral Approach

While games and play are commonly perceived as leisure tools, focus on the strategic implementation of isolated gameful elements outside of games has risen in recent years under the term gamification. Given their ease of implementation and impact in competitive games, a small set of game design elements, namely points, badges, and leaderboards, initially dominated research and practice. However, these elements reflect only a small group of components that game designers use to achieve positive outcomes in their systems. Current research has shifted towards focusing on the game design process instead of the isolated implementation of single elements under the term gameful design. But the problem of a tendency toward a monocultural selection of prominent design elements persists in-game and gameful design, preventing the method from reaching its full potential. This dissertation addresses this problem by designing and developing a digital, interactive game design element ontology that scholars and practitioners can use to make more informed and inspired decisions in creating gameful solutions to their problems. The first part of this work is concerned with the collation and development of the digital ontology. First, two datasets were collated from game design and gamification literature (game design elements and playing motivations). Next, four explorative studies were conducted to add user-relevant metadata and connect their items into an ontological structure. The first two studies use card sorting to assess game theory frameworks regarding their suitability as foundational categories for the game design element dataset and to gain an overview of different viewpoints from which categorizations can be derived. The second set of studies builds on an explorative method of matching dataset entries via their descriptive keywords to arrive at a connected graph. The first of these studies connects items of the playing motivations dataset with themselves, while the second connects them with an additional dataset of human needs. The first part closes with the documentation of the design and development of the tool Kubun, reporting on the outcome of its evaluation via iterative expert interviews and a field study. The results suggest that the tool serves its preset goals of affording intuitive browsing for dedicated searches and serendipitous findings. While the first part of this work reports on the top-down development process of the ontology and related navigation tool, the second part presents an in-depth research of specific learning-oriented game design elements to complement the overall research goal through a complementary bottom-up approach. Therein, two studies on learning-oriented game design elements are reported regarding their effect on performance, long-term learning outcome, and knowledge transfer. The studies are conducted with a game dedicated to teaching correct waste sorting. The first study focuses on a reward-based game design element in terms of its motivatory effect on perfect play. The second study evaluates two learning-enhancing game design elements, repeat, and look-up, in terms of their contribution to a long-term learning outcome. The comprehensive insights gained through the in-depth research manifest in the design of a module dedicated to reporting research outcomes in the ontology. The dissertation concludes with a discussion on the studies’ varying limitations and an outlook on pathways for future research

Gameful Experience Questionnaire (GAMEFULQUEST): an instrument for measuring the perceived gamefulness of system use

In this paper, we present the development and validation of an instrument for measuring users’ gameful experience while using a service. Either intentionally or unintentionally, systems and services are becoming increasingly gamified and having a gameful experience is progressively important for the user’s overall experience of a service. Gamification refers to the transformation of technology to become more game-like, with the intention of evoking similar positive experiences and motivations that games do (the gameful experience) and affecting user behavior. In this study, we used a mixed-methods approach to develop an instrument for measuring the gameful experience. In a first qualitative study, we developed a model of the gameful experience using data from a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions posed to users of Zombies, Run!, Duolingo, and Nike+ Run Club. In a second study, we developed the instrument and evaluated its dimensionality and psychometric properties using data from users of Zombies, Run! (N = 371). Based on the results of this second study, we further developed the instrument in a third study using data from users of Duolingo (N = 507), in which we repeated the assessment of dimensionality and psychometric properties, this time including confirmation of the model. As a result of this work, we devised GAMEFULQUEST, an instrument that can be used to model and measure an individual user’s gameful experience in systems and services, which can be used for user-adapted gamification and for informing user-modeling research within a gamification context.</p

Dynamic Personalization of Gameful Interactive Systems

Gameful design, the process of creating a system with affordances for gameful experiences, can be used to increase user engagement and enjoyment of digital interactive systems. It can also be used to create applications for behaviour change in areas such as health, wellness, education, customer loyalty, and employee management. However, existing research suggests that the qualities of users, such as their personality traits, preferences, or identification with a task, can influence gamification outcomes. It is important to understand how to personalize gameful systems, given how user qualities shape the gameful experience. Current evidence suggests that personalized gameful systems can lead to increased user engagement and be more effective in helping users achieve their goals than generic ones. However, to create these kinds of systems, designers need a specific method to guide them in personalizing the gameful experience to their target audience. To address this need, this thesis proposes a novel method for personalized gameful design divided into three steps: (1) classification of user preferences, (2) classification and selection of gameful design elements, and (3) heuristic evaluation of the design. Regarding the classification of user preferences, this thesis evaluates and validates the Hexad Gamification User Types Scale, which scores a person in six user types: philanthropist, socialiser, free spirit, achiever, player, and disruptor. Results show that the scale’s structural validity is acceptable for gamification studies through reliability analysis and factor analysis. For classification and selection of gameful design elements, this thesis presents a conceptual framework based on participants’ self-reported preferences, which classifies elements in eight groups organized into three categories: individual motivations (immersion and progression), external motivations (risk/reward, customization, and incentives), and social motivations (socialization, altruism, and assistance). And to evaluate the design of gameful applications, this thesis introduces a set of 28 gameful design heuristics, which are based on motivational theories and gameful design methods and enable user experience professionals to conduct a heuristic evaluation of a gameful application. Furthermore, this thesis describes the design, implementation, and pilot evaluation of a software platform for the study of personalized gameful design. It integrates nine gameful design elements built around a main instrumental task, enabling researchers to observe and study the gameful experience of participants. The platform is flexible so the instrumental task can be changed, game elements can be added or removed, and the level and type of personalization or customization can be controlled. This allows researchers to generate different experimental conditions to study a broad range of research questions. Our personalized gameful design method provides practical tools and clear guidelines to help designers effectively build personalized gameful systems

Promoting High School ESL Learners’ Motivation and Engagement Through the Use of Gamified Instructional Design

Judging from what has been said about the lack of motivation or interest and the poor academic performance of ESL students, the need for new effective and efficient teaching methods has become a priority. This research study seeks to explore the impact of implementing a gamified instructional design on ESL students’ motivation and engagement. A convenience sample of 8 grade 10 ESL high school students participated in the study. An online gamified program called Classcraft was selected as the main study platform for its potential to allow the participants to experience gamification elements such as rewards, challenges, points and the sharing of their progress online. A mixed methods approach was used where quantitative and qualitative data were collected, analyzed separately and then merged in discussion and interpretation. The quantitative component of this study consisted of survey questionnaires administered before and after the gamified intervention. The qualitative component, which employed a constructivist grounded theory approach, included a focus group interview and field observations. Results showed that gamification elements design has a very positive impact on the participants leading to a potential increase of their motivation and engagement

Elements of gamification in virtual learning environments: a systematic review

Information technologies have introduced several changes in teaching and learning environments. In this scenario, the gamification technique emerges as a promissing approach, considering the impact on the students’ motivation and appealing to their participation. This paper describes a systematic review addressing gamification in virtual learning environments (VLE), presenting an overview on how gamification has been applied in these scenarios. This review was based on papers published in highly scored journals in the field of computers in education. The papers were selected according to the gamification theme, and the content was analyzed and a state of the art built, according to the retrieved qualitative data. The results seem to reveal that there are significant gains derived from the adoption of gamification in VLE. However, some gains are not unanimous and it depends on how the elements are applied. This paper also suggests a basis for future work aiming at applying gamification in a VLE.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of gamification on achievement, engagement and intrinsic motivation among students of different player traits in science learning

The infusion of educational technology on students depends not only on the purpose of learning but also on individual needs. This is vital in tackling issues of boredom and disengagement among students when it comes to learning Science. Therefore, gamification, use of game elements in non-gaming context has been adopted to help alleviate the issues. The research examined type of player traits, effects of gamification on engagement, intrinsic motivation and achievement levels, how game elements affect users as well as identify effects of player motivation as a mediating variable. Next, a model of gamification based learning and assessment was developed. A quasi-experimental research was carried out for 8 weeks. 28 students were in the experimental group and 26 students were in the control group. To reduce threats to the research, a dedicated system login, similar educator’s teaching experience and schools with sufficient IT equipment were used. The experimental group was exposed to gamification online via Zondle platform and the traditional classroom used offline via infusion of game elements. Both groups were tested for intrinsic motivation levels using Intrinsic Motivation questionnaire, and the pre-and post-tests were used to identify their achievement levels. The experimental group were tested for player traits using Player Motivation questionnaires and their participation level was based on Zondle Platform usage. The player traits showed that 68% of the experimental group retained their player motivation types and the highest player trait was immersion. Meanwhile, the engagement levels of the experimental students using the gamified platform peaked for Topic 6 at 36.21 times login in comparison to the lowest which was Topic 7 with 5.2 times login. Intrinsic motivation levels of the experimental group showed that their levels of interest, effort, perceived choice and usefulness construct had significant changes at the end of the research. The analysis of achievement levels, showed that pre-and post-test scores of the control group were strong and positively correlated (r=0.630,p<0.001) and the experimental group’s results were moderate and positively correlated (r=0.496,p< 0.007). There was a significant difference between pre-and post-test scores of the experimental group (t=8.040, p<0.000). As an indication of how game elements were affected, it was found that initially there was no preference. However, at the end of the research, the students favoured gamified leader board especially as it motivates them to be better academically and competitive. Meanwhile, badges were preferred offline as students prefer physically acquiring them, for online gamified learning, points and leader board were preferred. The mediating analyses in this research have paved the way to create a model for gamification based learning and assessment for future educators and researchers

Facilitating intrinsic motivation in tertiary education through gameful design

Modern education systems tend to focus on the use of external pressures to motivate students to learn. Intrinsic motivation - motivation to do something because it is enjoyable in and of itself – by contrast, is more valuable in these environments as it has multiple benefits, such as better conceptual understanding and more sustained learning behaviour. The primary way to facilitate intrinsic motivation is to meet the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Games are inherently effective at satisfying these needs and have in recent years begun to be used in non-game contexts, like education, in order to attempt to improve motivation. This is commonly known as gamification, although gameful design is the more beneficial counterpart thereof since it is directly based on a deep understanding of what makes games good motivators. This study addresses the question of how gameful design can be used to facilitate intrinsic motivation in a tertiary education setting. This is done through an examination of existing literature in order to inform the design of a gameful intervention, which is the focus of this research. This intervention includes a new website, additional exercises on course content as well as changes to lectures. The intervention (in the form of a pilot study and a final implementation) is used in a first year undergraduate module in the Multimedia degree at the University of Pretoria. When the intervention has been used by the students for a full semester, data are collected in the form of questionnaires, focus groups, Google Analytics, website database logs and observation. The results indicate that the gameful intervention meets the three basic psychological needs of those students who interacted with it. As a result of this, students are more intrinsically motivated to interact with the intervention and therefore spend more time engaging with the course content. This study contributes a list of guidelines for educators wishing to use gameful design in their own modules. It also provides the details of the design of the intervention in order to aid the understanding of how gameful design can be used to facilitate intrinsic motivation. This approach to “gamifying” education is rare in the existing literature and can therefore be considered a valuable contribution.Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2018.Information ScienceMISUnrestricte

Understanding personal and contextual factors to increase motivation in gamified systems

Gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has been shown to help people reaching their goals, affect people's behavior and enhance the users' experience within interactive systems. However, past research has shown that gamification is not always successful. In fact, literature reviews revealed that almost half of the interventions were only partially successful or even unsuccessful. Therefore, understanding the factors that have an influence on psychological measures and behavioral outcomes of gamified systems is much in need. In this thesis, we contribute to this by considering the context in which gamified systems are applied and by understanding personal factors of users interacting with the system. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, a major theory on human motivation, we investigate gamification and its effects on motivation and behavior in behavior change contexts, provide insights on contextual factors, contribute knowledge on the effect of personal factors on both the perception and effectiveness of gamification elements and lay out ways of utilizing this knowledge to implement personalized gamified systems. Our contribution is manifold: We show that gamification affects motivation through need satisfaction and by evoking positive affective experiences, ultimately leading to changes in people's behavior. Moreover, we show that age, the intention to change behavior, and Hexad user types play an important role in explaining interpersonal differences in the perception of gamification elements and that tailoring gamified systems based on these personal factors has beneficial effects on both psychological and behavioral outcomes. Lastly, we show that Hexad user types can be partially predicted by smartphone data and interaction behavior in gamified systems and that they can be assessed in a gameful way, allowing to utilize our findings in gamification practice. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework to increase motivation in gamified systems, which builds upon our findings and outlines the importance of considering both contextual and personal factors. Based on these contributions, this thesis advances the field of gamification by contributing knowledge to the open questions of how and why gamification works and which factors play a role in this regard.Gamification, die Nutzung von Spielelementen in spielfremden Kontexten, kann nachweislich Menschen helfen, ihre Ziele zu erreichen, das Verhalten von Menschen zu beeinflussen und die Erfahrung der User in interaktiven Systemen zu verbessern. Allerdings hat die bisherige Forschung gezeigt, dass Gamification nicht immer erfolgreich ist. So haben Literaturübersichten ergeben, dass fast die Hälfte der Interventionen nur teilweise erfolgreich oder sogar erfolglos waren. Daher besteht ein großer Bedarf, die Faktoren zu verstehen, die einen Einfluss auf psychologische Maße sowie auf das Verhalten von Usern in gamifizierten Systemen haben. In dieser Arbeit tragen wir dazu bei, indem wir den Kontext, in dem gamifizierte Systeme eingesetzt werden, betrachten und persönliche Faktoren von Usern, die mit dem System interagieren, verstehen. Geleitet von der Selbstbestimmungstheorie, einer der wichtigsten Theorien zur menschlichen Motivation, untersuchen wir Gamification und dessen Auswirkungen auf Motivation und Verhalten in Kontexten zur Verhaltensänderung. Wir liefern Erkenntnisse über kontextuelle Faktoren, tragen Wissen über den Einfluss persönlicher Faktoren auf die Wahrnehmung und Effektivität von Gamification-Elementen bei und bieten Möglichkeiten, dieses Wissen für die Implementierung personalisierter gamifizierter Systeme zu nutzen. Unser Beitrag ist mannigfaltig: Wir zeigen, dass Gamification die Motivation durch Bedürfnisbefriedigung und durch das Hervorrufen positiver affektiver Erfahrungen beeinflusst, was letztlich zu Verhaltensänderungen führen kann. Darüber hinaus zeigen wir, dass das Alter, die Absicht, das Verhalten zu ändern, und Hexad-Usertypen eine wichtige Rolle bei der Erklärung von interpersonellen Unterschieden in der Wahrnehmung von Gamification-Elementen spielen. Ebenso zeigen unsere Resultate dass die Anpassung von gamifizierten Systemen auf Basis dieser persönlichen Faktoren positive Auswirkungen auf psychologische und verhaltensbezogene Ergebnisse hat. Letztlich zeigen wir, dass Hexad-Usertypen teilweise durch Smartphone-Daten und Interaktionsverhalten in gamifizierten Systemen vorhergesagt werden können und dass sie auf spielerische Art und Weise erhoben werden können. Dies ermöglicht, unsere Erkenntnisse in der Gamification-Praxis zu nutzen. Auf Basis dieser Ergebnisse schlagen wir ein konzeptuelles Framework zur Steigerung der Motivation in gamifizierten Systemen vor, das die Wichtigkeit der Berücksichtigung sowohl kontextueller als auch persönlicher Faktoren hervorhebt. Diese Erkenntnisse bereichern das Forschungsfeld Gamification, indem sie Wissen zu den offenen Fragen, wie und warum Gamification funktioniert und welche Faktoren in diesem Zusammenhang eine Rolle spielen, beitragen

Does gamification work for boys and girls?: An exploratory study with a virtual learning environment

SIGAPP ACM Special Interest Group on Applied ComputingThe development and use of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) has increased considerably over the past decades. Following that trend, many research findings have shown the benefits of using VLE during the learning process. Nevertheless, there are important problems that hinder their use requiring further investigation. Among them, one of the main problems is the inappropriate use of these systems by students. The boredom, lack of interest, monotony, lack of motivation, among other factors, ultimately causes students to behave inappropriately and lead them to a lower performance. In this context, the proposed study investigates whether it is possible to reduce undesirable behaviors and increase performance of students through the use of game mechanics (i.e. gamification). We develop a VLE, E-Game, that can turn on/off several game mechanics, such as points, badges, levels and so on. A case study was conducted with two groups of students to investigate their behavior during their interaction with E-Game with and without gamification. The results indicate that the gamification implemented by E-Game contributed to improve student performance in the case of boys. Yet, improvement was not observed in the case of girls. Furthermore, it was not possible to conclude whether the use of gamification helps to prevent inappropriate student behavior, and therefore, further studies and experiments are needed