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

An examination of the psychometric properties of the Gameful Experience Questionnaire (GAMEFULQUEST) in an online training environment

Thesis (MCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH SUMMARY: The South African corporate environment has experienced a significant digital, social, and economic upheaval provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations have transformed and digitalized their practices and procedures overnight and adapted their skills and knowledge to function remotely. Some businesses have adapted the training and development of their staff and sought new approaches such as gamified learning technologies to create a more fun, inclusive, and meaningful experience. Measures are required to assess the gameful experience of employees to continuously enable a rich gamified training experience. The GAMEFULQUEST instrument by Högberg et al. (2019) originally designed to measure the gameful experience in a service environment, is recommended. In this study the instrument was subjected to a validation procedure to test its psychometric properties with a view of determining its suitability for a corporate training environment when administered to a South African sample. For this study the research design followed a quantitative research analysis, and a cross-sectional research design was used. The respondents were sourced from a diversified sample group located within SPAR retail company and distributed to these employees nation-wide, utilizing a non-probability convenience sampling. The validation procedure included an examination of construct validity, reliability (i.e. alpha and omega), convergent validity, discriminant validity and predictive validity. Structural Equation Modelling, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and reliability techniques were applied to the GAMEFULQUEST measure in order to test the validities of the measure. The statistical analyses of the instrument found support for validity and reliability of the measure in the chosen sample. In addition, evidence of a predictive relationship between gameful experience and self-directed learning was found. The GAMEFULQUEST instrument can potentially be utilized as a feedback measure. This is achieved through identifying dimensions of a gameful experience that are deemed ineffective in gamified training platforms, which would be subject improvement to ensure a quality learning experience. Additionally, the measure can assist HR practitioners to improve an organization’s online training environment, by further creating a competitive advantage amongst industries that adopt gamification as a design strategy. Lastly, the study contributes to current literature by providing evidence of the validity and reliability of the GAMEFULQUEST measure in a South African sample.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In Suid-Afrika het die korporatiewe omgewing aansienlike digitale, maatskaplike en ekonomiese omwenteling ervaar as gevolg van die Covid-19 pandemie. Organisasies het oornag hulle digitale praktyke en prosedures getransformeer en hulle vaardighede en kennis aangepas om virtueel en oor afstand te funksioneer. Sommige besighede het personeelopleiding en ontwikkeling sodanig aangepas en nuwe benaderings, soos onder andere, speletjie georienteerde ‘gamified1’ leer/studie tegnologie aangewend vir groter ontspanning en betekenisvolle ervarings. Om deurgaans bevredigende ‘gamified’ opleiding te verseker, word metingsinstrumente vir assessering benodig. Die GAMEFULQUEST instrument wat deur Hőgberg et al. (2019) oorspronklik ontwerp is om die ‘gameful’ ervaring in die werk omgewing te meet, word aanbeveel. In die studie was die instrument aan ‘n valideringsprosedure onderwerp om die psigometriese eienskappe te toets met die oog op bepaling van die toets se bruikbaarheid vir ‘n korporatiewe opeleidingsomgewing wanneer dit aangewend word in ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse steekproef. Vir die doeleindes van hierdie studie, was beide kwantitatiewe navorsingsontleding en dwarssnit navorsingsontwerp gebruik. Die respondente was gewerf uit ‘n gediversifiseerde personeelgroep van SPAR as kleinhandel maatskappy en nasionaal versprei, en ‘n nie-waarskynlikheid gerieflikheidsteekproefneming was gebruik. Die validerings prosedure het bestaan uit toetsing van konstruk geldigheid, betroubare alfa en omega, konvergente, asook diskriminerende en voorspellende geldigheid. Om geldigheid van die meetinstrument verder te toets, was strukturele vergelykingsmodellering, bevestigende faktoranalise en tegnieke om betroubaarheid te evalueer. Statistiese analise het die geldigheid en betroubaarheid van die meetinstrument tydens die gekose steekproefneming bevestig. Daarbenewens was gevind dat ‘n voorspellingsgeldigheid bestaan tussen die ‘gameful’ ervaring en selfgerigte-leer/studies. Die GAMEFULQUEST meetinstrument beskik oor die potensiaal om as terugvoer-instrument aangewend te word. Dit word bereik deur die identifisering van dimensies van ‘gameful2’ ervaring en oneffektiewe en onderontwikkelde ‘speletjie elemente in ‘gamified’ opleidingsplatforms wat verbetering benodig om leerervarings te verseker. Bykomend kan die meetinstrument Menslike Hulpbronpraktisyns help om virtuele (aanlyn) opeleidingsomgewings te bevorder en sodoende kompeterende voordeel tussen maatskappye te skep wat ‘gamification’ as ontwerpstrategie aanvaar. Laastens het die studie bygedra to die huidige literatuur deurdat bevestiging voorsien word ten opsigte van die geldigheid en betroubaarheid van die GAMEFULQUEST meetinstrument in ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse steekproefneming.Master

Exploring Gameful Motivation of Autonomous Learners

In this explorative study, we investigated motives of autonomous learners to participate in an online course, and how these motives are related to gameplay motivations, engagement in the course experience, and learning outcomes. The guiding premise for the study has been the idea that learning and game playing carry phenomenal similarities that could be revealed by scrutinizing motives for participating in a massive open online course that does not involve any intentionally game-like features. The research was conducted by analyzing survey data (N = 705) collected from individuals who had voluntarily participated in an open online course about artificial intelligence and its societal impact. The survey included an explorative Motives for Autonomous Learning (MAL) inventory. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that the MAL inventory consisted of six dimensions out of which four were consistent with factors that earlier research has associated with motives to engage with video games. Of the identified factors, the dimension that most clearly described autonomous and playful predispositions was found to be a main precedent for both experienced gamefulness of the learning experience and positive learning outcomes. In all, the results of this study demonstrated that playfulness and autonomy were both prominent and significant factors across the whole learning process

Does gamification affect flow experience? A systematic literature review

In recent years, studies in different areas have used gamification to improve users' flow experience. However, due to the high variety of the conducted studies and the lack of secondary studies (e.g., systematic literature reviews) in this field, it is difficult to get the state-of-the-art of this research domain. To address this problem, we conducted a systematic literature review to identify i) which gamification design methods have been used in the studies about gamification and Flow Theory, ii) which gamification elements have been used in these studies, iii) which methods have been used to evaluate the users' flow experience in gamified settings, and iv) how gamification affects users' flow experience. The main results show that there is growing interest to this field, as the number of publications is increasing. The most significant interest is in the area of gamification in education. However, there is no unanimity regarding the preferred method of the study or the effects of gamification on users' experience. Our results highlight the importance of conducting new experimental studies investigating how gamification affects the users' flow experience in different gamified settings, applications and domains.Comment: 5th International GamiFIN Conference 2021 (GamiFIN 2021), April 7-10, 2021, Finlan

Gameful self-regulation: A study on how gamified self-tracking features evoke gameful experiences

Gamification has become one of the top engagement technology trends of recent times. It refers to designing and transforming systems, services, and activities to afford gameful experiences as good games do, commonly implemented through the utilization of familiar features from games. However, one of the persistent problems in academia and practice has been the lack of understanding of which systems features are more or less prone to facilitate which dimensions of the gameful experience. We investigate the relationships between user interaction with features related to goal-setting, self-tracking as well as prompts, and gameful experiences (accomplishment, challenge, competition, guidance, immersion, playfulness, and sociability) through a survey (N=201) in a gamified exercise service. Goal-setting and prompt features were positively associated with most dimensions of the gameful experience whereas self-tracking features were negatively associated with immersion and sociability while positively associated with feelings of accomplishment

Immersive Virtual-Reality System for Aircraft Maintenance Education: A Case Study

Aircraft maintenance is a highly relevant procedure in many industries, yet obtaining qualified personnel to carry it out is a difficult task. Training in such techniques is complex and requires access to facilities and materials that are not readily available. Virtual reality can be a tool to improve this situation. This paper presents the whole process of design, development, and evaluation of a virtual environment that allows users to perform some of the main tasks required in aircraft maintenance after landing or for take-off. By following a user-centered design methodology and the Octalysis framework to apply motivation and engagement techniques, a gamified virtual environment was developed that allows the user to practice specific aircraft maintenance techniques. The environment was tested by users of different profiles who answered questionnaires to evaluate the perceived gamification, usability, and the feeling of sickness from the experience. The analysis of the data corroborates the good performance of the VR environment in these fields.Research was supported by the e-DIPLOMA project (project number 101061424), funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them

Wearable gaming technology: A study on the relationships between wearable features and gameful experiences

With the parallel advancement and evolution of psycho-physiological sensors, haptics, and overall wearable computing, wearable devices have become a mainstay in everyday life. While gaming is one of the most intuitively appealing areas for using wearable devices, most gaming concepts relying on wearable devices have had only moderate success. Therefore, further knowledge is needed by game developers for innovating new gaming concepts, by wearable designers to innovate new affordances for gaming in wearables, and by gamers for seeing the possibilities of what wearables can bring to gaming. To address this research problem, we combined vignette and survey studies (N = 289) to investigate which features of wearables (integrability, wearability, modularity, sociability, programmability, bio-adaptability, audiovisuality, and embodied modality) would lead to gameful experiences. Overall, the results indicate that integrability to games, wearability, modularity, and sociability were dimensions of wearables which were most strongly connected with the expectation of a heightened game experience. The findings of the study contribute to the current understanding on the experiential value of gaming wearables, as well as providing practical guidance for gaming wearables designers and marketers.Peer reviewe

Encouraging Gameful Experience in Digital Game-Based Learning: A Double-Mediation Model of Perceived Instructional Support, Group Engagement, and Flow

In the current digitalization era, digital game-based learning (DGBL) is used in education to engage and motivate students. Gameful experience (GE) is a crucial precondition to determine the effectiveness of these games. However, previous research focused solely on the effects of games on inter alia student engagement, and empirical research regarding GE is lacking. This study investigates the factors that encourage students’ GE. Grounded in the theory of experience, a double-mediation model is developed that considers the direct relationship between instructional support and students’ GE and examines how group engagement and flow mediate this relationship. Data from 336 students participating in a team-based business simulation game revealed that group engagement and flow sequentially double-mediated the positive relationship between instruc-tional support and GE. Thus, to encourage students’ GE, educators and education institutions should provide appropriate instructional support that promotes group engagement as well as flow among students

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire on Motivation for Cooperative Playful Learning Strategies

Playful learning strategies, such as educational gamification, game-based learning, and escape rooms are increasingly being incorporated into the university education system. In this study, it aims to develop and validate an instrument to analyze motivation regarding the use of playful learning strategies in university students. A total of 450 university students aged between 18 and 55 (Mean = 22.72; Standard Deviation = 5.01) were part of the sample, with whom playful strategies were implemented during the 2019/2020 school year. The results obtained in the confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the questionnaire on motivation for playful learning strategies has adequate psychometric properties to assess the motivation and perception of student learning in the implementation of ludic strategies in the classroom in the Spanish university context

Os efeitos da gamificação na motivação dos alunos do Ensino Secundário e Superior: revisão sistemática

Cientes da necessidade de motivar os alunos para a aprendizagem, os professores investem nas mais variadas estratégias e técnicas, onde os jogos, por se revelarem apelativos e estimulantes, são um exemplo disso, surgindo assim a gamificação na educação. A gamificação refere-se à utilização do design dos jogos com o intuito de proporcionar aos utilizadores sentimentos semelhantes aos vivenciados num jogo (i.e., concentração, diversão, competição). Uma aplicação gamificada não é, contudo, um jogo em si, mas sim uma aplicação que utiliza elementos dos jogos (i.e., pontos, tabelas classificativas, níveis, distintivos, entre outros). Esta é uma técnica recente e, apesar de se encontrar associada ao aumento da motivação e do rendimento escolar, investigações acerca da gamificação educativa ainda são escassas e encontram-se, por vezes, dispersas entre áreas, como a educação e a tecnologia. Considerando o estado da literatura, neste estudo, procedemos a uma revisão sistemática de modo a identificar os efeitos da gamificação na motivação para a aprendizagem, independentemente do modelo concetual motivacional utilizado. Foram identificados 220 artigos, de acordo com palavras-chave previamente designadas, sendo que 23 cumpriram os critérios de inclusão e os restantes 197 foram removidos. Os resultados da revisão sistemática sugerem efeitos positivos da gamificação na motivação dos alunos, principalmente quando aplicada num curto período de tempo, embora apontem para uma regulação de cariz externo e orientada para o desempenho. No entanto, a relação positiva da gamificação na motivação reduz quando os alunos são expostos a técnicas gamificadas mais a longo prazo. A influência de um efeito da novidade e das características individuais dos alunos no decréscimo motivacional são outra especificidade salientada nos estudos. A gamificação pode ser um recurso impulsionador da motivação dos estudantes, contudo a sua aplicação em contexto educativo deve ser ajustada às necessidades dos alunos.Students have different interests and learning styles. Also, they are familiar with technology nowadays, sometimes, even more than teachers are. Having this in mind, teachers are changing their teaching methods. Considering games influence in today’s student´s generation, teachers are introducing more game-like strategies, one of those methods is gamification. Gamification is the use of game elements in non-gaming contexts to foster a state of gameful experience and evoke the gaming engagement in user of gamified services (eg., points; rankings; badges; avatar; quests). Gamification is not a full-fledged game, instead a gamified resource uses gaming characteristics to engage and motivate students without being a game itself. Gamification is still in its early days, and it is common to find an association between gamification and motivation in gamification research field. Some studies state that gamification increases student´s motivation. However, studies are still growing and the effects of gamification in student´s motivation are unclear. Concerning the uncertainty of gamification research, we conducted a systematic review to verify gamification effects in student´s motivation. 220 articles were found in the research, but only 23 studies were selected based on selection criteria. The results suggest a positive influence of gamification strategies in student´s motivation, especially when applied in short-time periods, even if it´s an extrinsic and performance-oriented motivation. There is, however, evidence that in a long-term period student´s motivation can decrease. Other important factors are the novelty effect and student´s characteristics, as those features can also influence student´s motivation. Gamification can be motivational, however gamified designs must be appealing and focus on student´s needs