Does Gamification Work? — A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification
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This paper reviews peer-reviewed empirical studies on gamification. We create a framework for examining the effects of gamification by drawing from the definitions of gamification and the discussion on motivational affordances. The literature review covers results, independent variables (examined motivational affordances), dependent variables (examined psychological/behavioral outcomes from gamification), the contexts of gamification, and types of studies performed on the gamified systems. The paper examines the state of current research on the topic and points out gaps in existing literature. The review indicates that gamification provides positive effects, however, the effects are greatly dependent on the context in which the gamification is being implemented, as well as on the users using it. The findings of the review provide insight for further studies as well as for the design of gamified systems.
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... Customer brand engagement, in turn, has a positive and significant impact on customer experience [47]. Research by Hamari et al. [57] underscores this by revealing that gamification elements significantly elevate user engagement and interaction, which are critical aspects of brand engagement. Additionally, Xi and Hamari [58] demonstrated that gamification enhances customer involvement and develop positive brand perceptions, highlighting its significance in marketing strategies. ...
... For example, Kumar and Reinartz [66] found that engaging digital environments improves customer loyalty and shopping duration. Similarly, Hamari et al. [57] showed that gamification elements increase user engagement and interaction. Additionally, Sprott, Czellar, and Spangenberg [67] demonstrated that experiential marketing strategies enhance customer involvement and positive brand perceptions. ...
This study explores how gamification impacts customer experience in the retail sector emphasizing the need for businesses to differentiate in competitive markets. Gamification involves using game design elements in non-game contexts and is growing as a method to boost customer engagement and satisfaction. The research presents a unique gamified shopping system using location-based (Beacon technologies) with a custom mobile app. This system engages customers through interactive games and challenges in specific store locations. The app includes features like a suggestion page puzzle scoreboard and a points-based reward system. Study findings show a significant positive correlation between gamification strategies and improved customer experience (CX). Using game elements in non-game contexts enhances consumer behaviors and aligns with Self-Determination Theory principles. The app also integrates eco-friendly features and social interaction elements for an innovative and environmentally friendly approach to enhancing the retail customer experience.
... When integrated with points and leaderboards, badges can serve as a gamification element. Consequently, they have been recognized as one of the top three motivational tools in gamification, alongside points and leaderboards (Gibson et al., 2015;Hamari et al., 2014). The inclusion of visuals, fulfillment conditions, narratives, and challenges linked to badges has been found to enhance students' intrinsic motivation (Funa et al., 2021;Malone, 1981). ...
Several studies have reported positive effects of digital badges on students' academic performance and behavior. A digital badge serves as an indicator of an accomplishment or skill that can be showcased, accessed, and verified online. The researcher investigated how students perceive digital badges as rewards in a biology course through a phenomenological study. Gamified lesson plans and students' portfolios were used to implement gamification and award digital badges. The study involved Filipino Grade 12 STEM students (n = 41) from a single intact class, and interviews were conducted with a subset of 10 students. By analyzing student responses in their portfolios and interviews, four key themes of digital badges were identified: class participation, learning outcomes, time management, and social interaction. The results revealed that these themes were influenced by factors such as competition, a sense of accomplishment, self-improvement, status recognition, and evidence of achievement. It was found that, while digital badges can be beneficial for high-performing students, they may have detrimental effects on low-performing students. The researcher recommended that the identified themes and their underlying drivers be considered when developing digital badges and in future studies on digital badges and gamification.
... Nevertheless, some researchers pointed out that there may be also negative effects related with wrong gamification design (Toda et al., 2018). A review study (Hamari et al., 2014) pointed out that gamification effectiveness highly depended on the context and the profile of students, or that technical resources are required (Dicheva et al., 2015). In addition, it seems that results are also variable, improving global marks but reducing the proficiency in written activities or face-to-face participation (Domínguez et al., 2013). ...
Motivating students eases their learning process. In this line, gamified activities are presented as an effective strategy but dependent on the context and students’ profile. The procedure to gamify several activities of a master course in engineering is detailed: preliminary analysis, justification of the selection of alternative gamifying strategies, definition of the indicators, including the proposal of a novel mood self-assessment strategy, and discussion of the obtained academic results. The main conclusion is that gamification improve students’ mood. In addition, time trial activities motive students but are detrimental to their marks, whereas the importance of choosing a suitable activity type and placing it in the correct calendar date is essential to its effectiveness.
... The term 'gamification' was first coined in 2008 and has gained relevance since 2010. From its conceptual inception, gamification has succeeded in drawing the attention of academics and practitioners [26]. Researchers often refer to "gamification" as the integration of game elements to a non-gaming context but in real sense the concept of gamification is much more than this infusion. ...
In recent years, there has been a rising interest in using gamification to promote local intangible cultural heritage. Gamification can make cultural heritage more accessible and relatable by transforming traditional practices into interactive digital experiences. Traditional hand-woven fabrics of tribal communities of Northeast India represent their cultural expression and identity. However, industrialization and globalization have negatively affected the inheritance of the traditional weaving practice. Their traditional fabrics also carry a rich legacy of oral narratives, which are underappreciated and at risk of being lost due to lack of adequate documentation. This paper proposes a gamified system model to disseminate the oral cultural expressions associated with tribal fabrics and their textile heritage. It also integrates instructional design approach for creating a gamified learning environment for fostering cultural awareness and education among young generation of the tribal communities. This model may also offer a new approach for digitally archiving indigenous intangible cultural heritage.
... In the initial week of the course, the discussion centered around gamification and game-based learning, exploring their roles in facilitating effective learning experiences. Given that the majority of students were in-service teachers, a deliberate emphasis was placed on gamification, which has demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing student engagement according to studies by Hamari et al. (2014), Oliveira et al. (2023), and Surendeleg et al. (2014). In future course iterations, I will maintain a comparable level of attention to game-based learning (GBL), acknowledging its efficacy in serious game design, as highlighted by Squire (2008). ...
This course investigated game design competencies of graduate students as they engaged in gameplay and learned about game-related concepts, including gamified approaches, game-based learning (GBL), design thinking, maker technologies, and game designs. Students were introduced to the week's topic beforehand and collaborated on design projects during class sessions. Students played a different game each week, focusing mainly on game mechanics. Through the utilization of foundational readings, video tutorials, discussions, assignments, and guidance from the instructor and a guest speaker, students developed a comprehensive understanding of game design principles. This understanding ultimately led them to design both board and video games. No prior programming or game design experience was necessary.
... Gamification has been defined as "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts" [52] (p. 1). Common design elements used include points, badges, and leaderboards [53]. A recent example of gamification applied to the traffic safety domain demonstrated promising results of including gamification in user education for partial and conditional driving automation [54]. ...
Close following to lead vehicles is associated with increased risk of rear-end crashes in road traffic. One way to reduce instances of close following is through increased use of the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) Adaptive Cruise
Control (ACC), which is designed to adjust vehicle speed to maintain a safe time headway. Since the activation of ACC is driver-initiated, there is a need to influence the propensity of drivers to use the function. This research aimed to explore
whether in-vehicle nudging interventions could be effective for this purpose. A field trial was conducted to consecutively assess the effects of two nudges on drivers’ utilization of ACC, compared to baseline usage. Exposing the participants
(n = 49) to the first ambient design nudge resulted in a 46% increase in ACC usage on average. Following the introduction of the second nudge (a competitive leaderboard nudge), the average increase among participants (n = 48) during the
complete treatment period reached 61%. The changes in ACC utilization varied between individual drivers, highlighting the need to monitor behavioral outcomes of nudges and adapt them when needed. In conclusion, this research shows that
utilizing in-vehicle nudging is a promising approach to increase the use of vehicle functions contributing to improved traffic safety.
... There is a broad consensus in defining gamification in educational environments as a series of practices that seek to adapt elements of video game design to other areas of daily life [Deterding 2011;Hamari et al. 2014;Sailer et al. 2017] the focus on badges is because it is an element that has gained relevance as a subject of study in recent years, due in part to its widespread presence in many studies, but above all due to initiatives such as Mozilla Open Badges or Khan Academy, which positions them as an alternative credential system to be used in the educational or work environment. Gibson et al. (2015) define badges as the representation of an achievement obtained in a digital, visual format and available online, containing metadata that helps to contextualize its meaning, the process, or the activity by which it was obtained. ...
A Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação é uma área dinâmica, oferecendo oportunidades desafiadoras para os profissionais que tem disposição para projetar, analisar e implementar o desenvolvimento tecnológico e a melhoria da qualidade de vida da sociedade. De fato, pela qualidade, produtividade e inovação, essa área impulsiona o progresso em diversos setores: desde dispositivos nanométricos até infraestruturas complexas.
Em amplo espectro, no livro, são apresentadas diversas fundamentações teórico-práticos nos resultados obtidos pelos vários autores e coautores na elaboração de cada capítulo. Além disso, a Atena Editora oferece a divulgação técnico-científica com excelência, essencial para garantir o destaque entre as melhores editoras do Brasil.
Fabrício Moraes de Almeida, Dr.
Ciências Exatas, Computação e Engenharia.
Ethically, what happens when our social, political, and commercial activities transfer to the virtual environment? In such an environment self‐presentations and interpersonal engagement are subject to digital filters, new forms of anonymity are enabled, and the nature of accountability and trust must be reimagined. The Internet presents us with a dual‐use problem – in which the same technology can be used for harm and for good – as well as a problem in which online and offline practices intersect, thereby creating novel ethical difficulties. The incremental evolution of the new online normativity means that agents online easily lose sight of what is morally at stake in how they act there, as well as how they may be targeted. These considerations provide the framework used in this entry for analyzing many of the most recent ethical problems and issues. These include (a) persuasive technologies, such as microtargeting, e‐nudges, digital choice architecture, and gamification; (b) cyberhate, including such categories as trolling or flaming; (c) online scams, including phishing, lottery scams, or romance scams; (d) virtuality, which raises a dilemma for deciding what is harmful, as well as questions concerning the genuineness of online relationships and identity; (e) information control and flow, with issues for Internet freedom versus censorship, surveillance, cybersecurity, and cyberwar; and (f) digital attacks on democracy, especially algorithmic manipulation of data feeds.
Research dealing with various aspects of* the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985,
1987) is reviewed, and some unresolved issues are discussed. In broad terms, the theory is
found to be well supported by empirical evidence. Intentions to perform behaviors of different
kinds can be predicted with high accuracy from attitudes toward the behavior, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control; and these intentions, together with perceptions of
behavioral control, account for considerable variance in actual behavior. Attitudes, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control are shown to be related to appropriate sets of salient
behavioral, normative, and control beliefs about the behavior, but the exact nature of these
relations is still uncertain. Expectancy value formulations are found to be only partly
successful in dealing with these relations. Optimal rescaling of expectancy and value
measures is offered as a means of dealing with measurement limitations. Finally, inclusion of
past behavior in the prediction equation is shown to provide a means of testing the theory*s
sufficiency, another issue that remains unresolved. The limited available evidence concerning
this question shows that the theory is predicting behavior quite well in comparison to the
ceiling imposed by behavioral reliability.
This paper investigates different ways in which players have been categorized in game research literature in order to distinguish relevant customer segments for designing and marketing of game's value offerings. This paper adopts segmentation and marketing theory as its bases of analysis. The goal is to synthesize the results of various studies and to find the prevailing concepts, combine them, and draw implications to further studies and segmentation of the player base. The research process for this study proceeded from large literature search, to author-centric (Webster & Watson 2002) identification and categorization of previous works based on the established factors of segmentation (demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables) in marketing theory. The previous works on player typologies were further analyzed using concept-centric approach and synthesized according to common and repeating factors in the previous studies. The results indicate that player typologies in previous literature can be synthesized into seven key dimensions: Skill, Achievement, Exploration, Sociability, Killer, Immersion and In-game demographics. The paper highlights for further studies the self-fulfilling and self-validating nature of the current player typologies because their relatively high use in game design practices as well as discusses the role of game design in segmentation of players.
This paper investigates different ways in which players have been typified in past research literature in order to distinguish relevant typologies for further research as well as for designing and marketing of games. The goal is to synthesize the results of various studies and to find the prevailing concepts, compare them, and draw implications to further studies. The research process for this study proceeded from a literature search, to author-centric (Webster & Watson 2002) identification and categorization of previous works based on the established larger factors such as demographic, psychographic and behavioral variables. The previous works on player typologies were further analyzed using concept-centric approach and synthesized according to common and repeating factors in the previous studies. The results indicate that player types in previous literature can be synthesized into seven primary dimensions: Intensity, Achievement, Exploration, Sociability, Domination, Immersion and In-game demographics.
This paper describes an experiment in which a single questionnaire was fielded in four different styles of presentation: Text Only, Decoratively Visual, Functionally Visual and Gamified. Respondents were randomly assigned to only one presentation version. To understand the effect of presentation style on survey experience and data quality, we compared response distributions, respondent behaviour (such as time to complete), and self-reports regarding the survey experience and level of engagement across the four experimental presentations. While the functionally visual and gamified treatments produced higher satisfaction scores from respondents, we found no real differences in respondent engagement measures. We also found few differences in response patterns.
Selling virtual goods for real money is an increasingly popular revenue model for massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs), social networking sites (SNSs) and other online hangouts. In this paper, we argue that the marketing of virtual goods currently falls short of what it could be. Game developers have long created compelling game designs, but having to market virtual goods to players is a relatively new situation to them. Professional marketers, on the other hand, tend to overlook the internal design of games and hangouts and focus on marketing the services as a whole. To begin bridging the gap, we propose that the design patterns and game mechanics commonly used in games and online hangouts should be viewed as a set of marketing techniques designed to sell virtual goods. Based on a review of a number of MMOs, we describe some of the most common patterns and game mechanics and show how their effects can be explained in terms of analogous techniques from marketing science. The results provide a new perspective to game design with interesting implications to developers. Moreover, they also suggest a radically new perspective to marketers of ordinary goods and services: viewing marketing as a form of game design.
An increasingly common feature of online communities and social media sites is a mechanism for rewarding user achievements based on a system of badges. Badges are given to users for particular contributions to a site, such as performing a certain number of actions of a given type. They have been employed in many domains, including news sites like the Huffington Post, educational sites like Khan Academy, and knowledge-creation sites like Wikipedia and Stack Overflow. At the most basic level, badges serve as a summary of a user's key accomplishments; however, experience with these sites also shows that users will put in non-trivial amounts of work to achieve particular badges, and as such, badges can act as powerful incentives. Thus far, however, the incentive structures created by badges have not been well understood, making it difficult to deploy badges with an eye toward the incentives they are likely to create.
In this paper, we study how badges can influence and steer user behavior on a site---leading both to increased participation and to changes in the mix of activities a user pursues on the site. We introduce a formal model for reasoning about user behavior in the presence of badges, and in particular for analyzing the ways in which badges can steer users to change their behavior. To evaluate the main predictions of our model, we study the use of badges and their effects on the widely used Stack Overflow question-answering site, and find evidence that their badges steer behavior in ways closely consistent with the predictions of our model. Finally, we investigate the problem of how to optimally place badges in order to induce particular user behaviors. Several robust design principles emerge from our framework that could potentially aid in the design of incentives for a broad range of sites.