Search

Gamification's widespread application across industries has demonstrated its usefulness as a user engagement strategy. In the healthcare sector, the impact of lifestyle diseases has seen the need for modifying health-related behaviours. Health Behaviour Change Support Systems (HBCSS) enhanced with gamification features seek to help users achieve their health related goals. Adapting the Technology Acceptance Model, the role of informational feedback as a game mechanic in influencing perceptions, attitudes and continued usage intentions towards the gamified HBCSS is assessed. The results show a strong influence of attitude towards informational feedback afforded on the continued use intentions of the user.

This paper presents a gamification framework for higher education, especially for programming language courses to increase user motivation, pleasure and satisfaction so that learning objectives can be achieved. Although student and lecturer motivation, pleasure, and satisfaction tend to increase compared to conventional techniques, gamification is not a panacea. The success of its application depends on the skill of the lecturer in choosing a game mechanic to give a sense of playing to the learning process in a more interesting way. The technique is done by dividing the class into two parts where one class uses the conventional method and one class uses the gamification method and the results will be evaluated through the assessment results before using the gamification method and after using the gamification method. The framework in this paper adds to the existing framework activities, namely adding in the field of baseline analysis, learning materials and tools used in gamification, where previous papers from three activities have not been discussed in detail. The results obtained turned out that using the gamification technique of student learning outcomes on average 15 to 25 better than using conventional techniques.

Popularity of game creates opportunity to everyone in developing a game that can be used to address any specific problem in many areas. In BINUS University International, for education purposes, game is not only being used as a tool/media to learn something, but it can also be used to develop student understanding on how the game mechanic of the games works. By understanding the mechanic of the games, hopefully it can help them in developing a game designed that can be used to address problems in their environment.

with the increase of mobile device usage around the globe, face-to-face communication has degraded and complete prohibition is not realistic. The degradation is not to be prevented as it happens as a side effect of technology. However, balancing usage of mobile device and quality of face-to-face communication is possible. Thus, by approaching users through developing a party genre mobile game, which is not famous as a mobile game at the time, with local multiplayer focus and introducing the given game to users, it is expected that face-to-face communication can be encouraged, thus resulting in mobile party game to become a media for the encouragement. Sample mini game that is a part of party game is developed with the help of Unity game engine as a testing object in which user response is collected. As application testing take place, and target user response is collected, face-toface encouragement is proven and user response is positive towards the game. Sample game testing has effectively reintroduced the existence of nowadays rare party game in mobile platform along with encouraging face-to-face communication, shown by the enthusiasm and enjoyment that audience testers have experienced. In the end, with mobile party game can help by being a media to encourage face-to-face communication and prevent degradation of such communication, future developments of a complete party game in mobile platform is highly encouraged as overall face-to-face communication quality enhancement may be required in the future in order to mitigate degradation.

Cognitive-physical exercises can reduce the progression of dementia. However, traditional methods often induce problems (e.g., lack of motivation), whereas the success of recent virtual reality (VR) exergames such as Beat Saber may provide a playful, motivational, and immersive alternative. Yet, until now, it remains unclear which game mechanics, concepts, and designs work best for people with dementia, and how to implement exergames for and with this user group. In this paper, we adapted a human-centered design approach to address the specifics of developing VR exergames for people with dementia. This includes semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and contextual inquiries to better analyze the user requirements. Based on our analysis, we present Memory Journalist VR - a novel VR exergame specifically designed for people with dementia in a participatory design process. We report the qualitative evaluation based on the feedback gathered in five focus group sessions. Finally, we discuss the lessons learned, which provide important insights for the design of future VR exergames for people with dementia: (i) creating social gaming activities with a focus on shared aspects, (ii) support of an inverse game flow channel addressing decline and variance in cognitive-physical abilities, and (iii) ensuring a safe VR exergame experience.

Gamification has been recently growing in popularity among researchers investigating Information and Communication Technologies. Scholars have been trying to take advantage of this approach in the field of natural language processing (NLP), developing Games With A Purpose (GWAPs) for corpus annotation that have obtained encouraging results both in annotation quality and overall cost. However, GWAPs implement gamification in different ways and to different degrees. We propose a new framework to investigate the mechanics employed in the gamification process and their magnitude in terms of complexity. This framework is based on an analysis of some of the most important contributions in the field of NLP-related gamified applications and GWAP theory. Its primary purpose is to provide a first step towards classifying mechanics that mimic mainstream video games and may require skills that are not relevant to the annotation task, defined as orthogonal mechanics. In order to test our framework, we develop and evaluate Spacewords, a linguistic space game for synonymy annotation.

Algunos principios de intervencion educativa, como es el aprendizaje ludico, han ido virando hacia propuestas mas enriquecedoras como la gamificacion. Este termino, con auge en el campo educativo, profesional y empresarial, implica el uso de mecanicas propias de juegos en contextos habitualmente no ludicos. En este contexto, el objetivo del trabajo es analizar los efectos positivos que genera la aplicacion de tecnicas de gamificacion en las aulas educativas. El metodo ha sido una revision bibliografica de literatura de 39 articulos publicados en acceso abierto, de enero de 2015 a abril de 2020, en las bases de datos Web of Science (SSCI) y Scopus, mediante el sistema de validacion de pertinencia, inclusion y exclusion, calidad/validez de los estudios y descripcion de datos, segun los criterios de la Universidad de York (PRISMA). En el analisis se han buscado los codigos del discurso y las relaciones entre las variables estudiadas con el fin de conocer la relacion de las dinamicas que interactuan entre las mismas. Como inferencia de los resultados se evidencia el impacto positivo de la gamificacion en el proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje, siendo la motivacion y el rendimiento academico los aspectos mas destacables.

Procedural content generation (PCG) is a method of content creation entirely or partially done by computers. PCG is popularly employed in game development to produce game content, such as maps and levels. Representative examples of games using PCG are Rogue (1998), which introduced the rogue­like genre, and No Man’s Sky (2016), which generated whole worlds with fauna and flora. PCG may generate final contents, ready to be added to a game, or intermediate contents, which might be polished by human designers or work as an input level sketch to be interpreted by a level translator. In this paper, we survey the current state of procedural dungeon generation (PDG) research, a PCG subarea, applied in the context of games. For each work we selected in this survey, we examined and compared how they created game features, what type of level structure and representation they propose, which content generation strategy they applied, and, finally, we classify them according to the taxonomy of procedural content generation proposed by Togelius et al. (2016). The most relevant findings of our survey are: (1) PDG for 3D levels has been little explored; (2) few works supported levels with barriers, a game mechanic which temporarily blocks the player progression, and; (3) mixed-initiative approaches, i.e., software that helps human designers by making suggestions to the levels being created, are little explored.

While gamification research is multidisciplinary and has grown in popularity during the last decade, it still requires further evidence and direction on which and how much various game mechanics impact on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes in digital and physical servicescape contexts. To shed light on this problem, a novel perspective on sensory marketing and gamification was chosen. This chapter has discussed and analyzed the similarities and differences between sensory marketing and gamification, as well as what theoretical perspectives and practices gamification can borrow from sensory marketing. Six issues have surfaced that require more research on this matter: (1) The interaction effects, (2) Weight and impact, (3) Congruency, (4) Complexity, (5) (sub)Conscious/(non)visible elements, and (6) The causal chain. This chapter explains and discusses these issues and offers future research avenues.

Video game research is an ever-changing and dynamic area where sophisticated methods and algorithms are being developed. Procedural content generation (PCG), which aims to merge user-generated assets with algorithms to automate and improve video game content, has been the core of this sophistication. However, the outcomes are primarily reflected in game aesthetics, not in the game mechanics and gameplay. In this study, we introduce the “game scene as a canvas” concept where simple prototype game development pipelines, that can convert a 2D game-level image into a game development environment with ready-to-use colliders and artistically different styles that enhance the game aesthetics, are introduced. To do so, edge-based and color-based features of the input game level image are extracted using the Canny edge detector, Simple Linear Iterative Clustering, and Felzenszwalb segmentation. The Unity game engine is then used to generate colliders based on the provided edge and color features where the game level is style transferred with spatial control. Results of different neural style transfer algorithms are presented on benchmark games such as Super Mario and Kid Icarus. Results show that this study can become a promising tool to simplify 2D video game development, focusing on game mechanics and aesthetics.

This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of writing narrative-driven digital games to foster a sense of narrative immersion. It does so by focusing on the experience of four expert writers, whose careers have spanned the modern video game era, and whose games have won awards and acclaim and sold in the millions. In their interviews, these game-writing pioneers describe some of the reasons that players play games, and convey their own struggles in writing for this medium. They suggest that those who wish to write high-quality, narrative-driven digital games should be well-versed in how to exploit a range of narrative elements, some of which are unique to games, while others have been present since storytelling began. They also stress the importance of understanding the complex interplay between narrative elements and game mechanics. Their suggestions underpin the development of several recommendations for the would-be digital game writer who seeks to foster a sense of narrative immersion for the player.

Persuasive Technologies (PT) are computational methods, strategies, and design techniques, grounded in social psychology to change user attitudes/behaviours. PTs have been applied in diverse areas, such as eCommerce, health, workplace, vehicles, urban and ambient environments. A kind of PT that has become popular in eLearning is known under the name “Gamification” – introducing game mechanics (such as points, levels, badges, leaderboards) into non-game environments. We implemented three persuasive strategies in an online learning environment supporting a University class to encourage more active engagement of students in their online learning activities. The paper presents a controlled study that shows a positive effect of the persuasive intervention on student engagement, measured by the increase in their online activities. The study results also show that personalizing the persuasive strategies to the receptiveness of individual students amplifies their effect on engagement.

Games have existed since time immemorial and have proved to significantly change people's mentality and attitudes towards countless scenarios. Although games are ‘time wasters', we should acknowledge the one thing that games offer, constant testing, and learning a simple game engages the brain and proves that games are an asset in mental development. Thus, gamification can be used to provide a fun learning environment. In this article, the authors discuss how gamification has been implemented in various applications over the years, people's take on gamification and gamified apps from a survey and interview conducted, and thereafter design a student-oriented gamified study app, Gamesy, that makes use of game elements to improve performance in school and change/improve study habits in a game environment via progressive game design. With this, better performance may be realized in the tertiary education level.

The use of personal finance smartphone apps results in an improvement in various measures used to assess financial knowledge and skills, attitudes and motivations, and financially capable behaviors for those in low-income households. Those provided with smartphone apps demonstrated increased self-confidence in financial decision-making and financial literacy and improved their ability to delay self-gratification and their sense of being able to effect change. Financially capable behavior changes manifested in being better able to keep track of finances and manage unexpected bills. User engagement with finance apps could be improved by targeting users with a specific financial decision-making problem, personalizing the apps through push notifications to encourage ongoing user engagement, and incorporating game mechanics.

Java programming language is rated as the second most active language in the world based on GitHub active repository statistic. Meanwhile, many university students are found lack interest to learn Java. Many researches have shown the positive impact of gamification in many areas of life, include education and learning. The purpose of this study is to design and build an application to learn java programming language with gamification in mind. We use Octalysis Gamification Framework to design the usage of game mechanics in the application. The application was tested on second year students to learn Java for the first half semester and evaluated using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model and get the result of 74.27% agree that the application is well accepted by the students. Index Terms—gamification; java programming language; octalysis gamification framework

Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt digs deep into the question of what it means to be oneself. An upcoming computer game version invites players to take on the role of Peer and thereby raises new questions about identity and identification. By recording dyads of students who play an early version of the game and analysing their interaction during gameplay, we examine how students collaboratively make meaning of the computer game. This study employs a sociocultural and dialogic approach to meaning making. In the analysis, we draw on Gee’s theory on multiple player identities and see the dyads playing together as two real-world selves negotiating on creating one virtual self through a co-authorship of situated meaning in what Gee calls the projective stance. To better understand their cooperation in this undertaking, we also apply Goffman’s term activity frames. The analysis shows how the dyads approach the game in different ways by establishing frames in which they interpret, impersonate or recreate Peer, in order to make meaning of their gameplay.

Software process improvement programs are partly founded on software measurement. However, despite their importance, it has been pointed out in the literature that many students are leaving the academic world without the necessary skills to conduct this kind of process. This can be understood by people’s attitudes to this process which is regarded as time-consuming and difficult to understand—factors that explain the lack of interest in it during a student’s academic life. In light of this, the application of serious games or gamification can show useful alternative ways of meeting this need, because the strategies they involve are well accepted by students and have a motivational and engaging effect on them. The objective of this work is to discover different approaches to the teaching of software measurement and software process improvement through gamification projects and serious games. This involves carrying out a systematic review of the literature, which is aimed at characterizing the state-of-the-art on the use of methods related to gamification and serious games in the abovementioned subjects. We conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify primary studies that address the use, planning, or evaluation of gamification, serious games, their features, and game mechanics in software engineering. We located 137 primary studies, published between 2000 and 2019. Although the use of serious games and gamification in software engineering is not recent, there still remains a large area to be explored, especially in software process improvement and software measurement. The study expands and advances the research on how serious games and gamification proposals can be used for teaching software measurement in the context of software process improvement programs by conducting a systematic review of the literature.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine consumer attitude toward gamification in the context of over-the-top (OTT) media service. The particular focus of this paper is on game mechanics from the mechanics-dynamics-aesthetics framework and its effects on consumer attitude toward both gamification and OTT media service provider brand. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial experiment to examine the three core elements of game mechanics – components, controls and courses on consumer attitude, which was operationalized in eight vignettes with a sample size of 296. Findings It was found that the three elements in game mechanics demonstrated a multiplicative effect. The different combinations of elements in game mechanics would result in eliciting different consumer attitudes toward gamification and brand. Despite one combination that attained a high positive consumer attitude toward gamification in OTT, that same combination was not effective in creating a high positive attitude toward the OTT provider brand. The findings demonstrate the need for OTT providers to be clear of their gamification objectives before selecting the combination of game mechanics. Research limitations/implications This study adds to the body of knowledge on consumer attitude toward gamification, especially in the OTT market where there is still literature is limited. Practical implications OTT providers should determine their objectives for using gamification and design the game mechanics according to the optimal combination of elements – components, controls and courses. Originality/value According to the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine consumer attitude toward gamification and OTT provider based on game mechanics. It provides an understanding on the interaction of elements in game mechanics and shows that different element combinations can be used to meet different goals.

The paper discusses a formal didactic activity in a higher education context, which brought to the design, development, and testing of thirteen Location-Based Mobile Games (LBMGs) for the Bagatti Valsecchi House Museum. The activity involved BSc Design students in developing and testing interactive solutions aimed at reaching out to the "under 35" community of the museum with engaging and entertaining experiences. For this purpose, the stakeholder group of the museum experts was also involved in co-designing the solutions. On the one hand, this study focuses on the beneficial approach of involving Design students in the multiple roles of designer, player/visitor, and target audience. On the other hand, it looks at those aspects that may turn LBMGs into a means for engaging and entertaining museum visitors' experiences. We focus on four LBMGs (out of thirteen) that the museum selected to be tested with their younger community, highlighting those elements that emerged as particularly relevant for enhancing visitors' engagement and motivations. In this regard, three aspects stand out as the most impacting: (i) the benefits of a design approach based on the early involvement of both experts (the museum) and the target audience (students themselves); (ii) an intelligent orchestration of narratives and game mechanics, specifically designed to leverage the fascinating museum space, and (iii) the ability of such games to stimulate social engagement.

We present and explore the fruitfulness of “first-person cinematographic videogames,” a game model we have devised for the promotion of cultural, environmental, and territorial heritage. To support and foster the development of these type of games, we have developed a Web-based user-friendly authoring environment, extensively presented in the article. While employing standard first-person point-and-click game mechanics, the game model's distinctive feature is that the game environment is not based on a digital reconstruction (3D model) of the real-world settings but on cinematographic techniques combining videos and photos of existing places, integrating videoclips of mostly practical effects to obtain the interactivity typical of the first-person point-and-click adventure games. Our goal with such a game model is to mobilise mechanisms of engendering affection for real-world places when they become settings of the game world, arousing in the player forms of affection, attachment, and desire to visit them.

Recently, the market for consoles and mobile games is growing, and therefore to find a game engine that meets the demanding requirements of users is not an easy task. Technology platforms have become clear favorites of many developers. However, the market is volatile, and therefore the question of choosing a game engine will not lose its relevance in the near future and is the first, main, relevant and important subject of choice in this work. The relevance of this article is to write an original algorithm for 2D computer game, taking into account the latest intelligent technologies, which will be different from previous versions by its uniqueness: a new procedural generation, improved artificial intelligence of characters, original game mechanics, which necessitated the creation of a key to unlock levels. To work on this task, the open cross-platform LOVE2D engine and the Lua programming language a powerful, efficient and easy to learn language were substantiated. The reason for choosing the LOVE2D game engine is that its technology is unique in itself. Simple text was used in the development of the game algorithm. A significant number of issues were resolved in unique way from scratch while developing. Original positions of game mechanics are created such as unlocking the end of the level, the infinity of the game and focusing on the maximum "Score", increasing the size of each subsequent level, compared to the previous one, improved artificial intelligence of characters are the main differences from existing approaches used to create previous Super Mario Bros projects. The reason that makes this project more advanced and a little more random than the original game: it's a procedural level generation. Since the game is infinite it's really important to keep levels random and different. The obtained results made it possible to say that the work done is a new step forward in comparison with previous developments of algorithms for this 2D game. The original algorithm and code for 2D computer game, using the capabilities of modern information technologies, can be useful not only for creating mobile games, but also for solving virtual reality, augmented reality, TV presentation, visualization effects of the hologram. The project presented in the paper is made exclusively for the purpose of implementation in the educational process.

Od czasu pojawienia się pierwszych automatów do grania w Pong (1972) gry wideo uległy ogromnej ewolucji – od mało skomplikowanych produkcji opartych na prostych mechanizmach po wysokobudżetowe i skomplikowane rozgrywki. Wraz z technicznym rozwojem gier ich twórcy zaczęli także większą wagę przywiązywać do warstwy narracyjnej, przez co, badając recepcję graczy, zaczęto używać terminu „immersja”, zaczerpniętego z nauk psychologicznych i literaturoznawczych. Narracja w grach nie jest już tą samą narracją znaną z innych, tradycyjnych mediów. Tu odbiorca, wykorzystując skonstruowaną przez twórców mechanikę danej gry i dokonując (linearnych bądź alinearnych) wyborów, tworzy de facto własną opowieść. Bez jego zaangażowania w rozgrywkę niemożliwe jest pełne poznanie danej historii. Immersyjne elementy można zauważyć w wielu grach zaprojektowanych dla jednego użytkownika (gry typu single player), które w sposobienarracji coraz bardziej przypominają konstrukcje stricte filmowe, czego przykładem jest seria gier The Last of Us stworzona przez studio Naughty Dog. Akcja serii toczy się w postapokaliptycznych Stanach Zjednoczonych. Osobowość bohaterów, dialogi, złożoność wykreowanego świata oraz pewne, opisane w tym opracowaniu zabiegi fabularne spowodowały, że seria wzbudza silne emocje. Świadczą o tym oceny krytyków – The Last of Us i jej kontynuacja były wielokrotnie nominowane do tytułu gry roku, a ich średnia ocen według GameRankings i Metacritic plasuje je w czołówce najlepiej ocenianych gier wideo w historii. W artykule autor analizuje fabułę oraz najważniejsze elementy mechaniki serii, by pokazać drogę, jaką przeszły gry wideo od początku swojego istnienia do współczesnych form narracji. Odpowiada także na pytanie, co ostatecznie spowodowało, że seria The Last of Us stała się jedną z najlepiej sprzedających się nowych marek w dziejach konsoli PlayStation.

Serious games (SG) have been criticized for their lack of creativity. The ABCDE methodology, that aligns creativity models with the use of brainstorming tools is presented to promote the convergent-divergent thinking and foster creativity. It can be added to the conceptual stage of game design focusing on the creation of game mechanics. The ABCDE methodology was built in four research cycles that involved analysis, proposition, application (selection, workshop) and evaluation. Evaluation using the Creative Product Analysis Matrix tool compared the creativity perceptions of game mechanics generated with and without using ABCDE. The results show benefits in terms of time spent and people involved while using the ABCDE methodology for a given game project that achieved the same high level of creativity when comparted to another methodology. We conclude that ABCDE has potential to generate creative game mechanics and can be inserted as part of other game design methodologies, not just for SG.

This study quantitatively measures the variation in language derived from a targeted set of digital game mechanics. Mechanics refer to the design elements of a game that make up the overall gameplay experience, determining player actions and the degree of language interaction. A corpus was compiled by extracting the language files from two popular commercial games, Fallout 4 and Skyrim, using modification software. The extracted language files were organized into three register categories following the register analysis framework detailed in Biber and Conrad (2019). The three categories include one spoken (dialogue trees) and two written registers (quest objectives and quest stages), which are common mechanics in many modern commercial games. Comparing results from three discriminant analyses, the findings indicate that statistical models cannot distinguish between the two games’ linguistic environments at the level of the game; however, when considering the linguistic environments at the level of game mechanics, the model has high precision in accurately identifying the texts’ game mechanic register categories. The results provide empirical evidence that digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) research designs could benefit from targeting specific design aspects and game mechanics rather than generalizing results at the level of genre or game title.

Digital learning games are designed to foster both student learning and enjoyment. Given this goal, an interesting research topic is whether game mechanics that promote learning and those that promote enjoyment have different effects on students’ experience and learning performance. We explored these questions in Decimal Point, a digital learning game that teaches decimal numbers and operations to 5th and 6th graders, through a classroom study with 159 students and two versions of the game. One version encouraged playing and learning through an open learner model (OLM, N = 55), while one encouraged playing for enjoyment through an analogous open enjoyment model (OEM, N = 54). We compared these versions to a control version that is neutral with respect to learning and enjoyment (N = 50). While students learned in all three conditions, our results indicated no significant condition differences in learning outcomes, enjoyment, or engagement. However, the learning-oriented group engaged more in re-practicing, while the enjoyment-oriented group demonstrated more exploration of different mini-games. Further analyses of students’ interactions with the open learner and enjoyment models revealed that students who followed the learner model demonstrated better in-game learning and test performance, while following the enjoyment model did not impact learning outcomes. These findings indicate that emphasizing learning or enjoyment can lead to distinctive game play behaviors, and that open learner models can be helpful in a learning game context. In turn, our analyses have led to preliminary ideas about how to use AI to provide recommendations that are more aligned with students’ dynamic learning and enjoyment states and preferences.

Este artigo apresenta o processo de desenvolvimento e testagem de um protótipo de uma narrativa gamificada, que visa apoiar a aprendizagem de leitura de alunos com dislexia. Motivação, engajamento e aprendizagem foram os domínios medidos a partir das perspectivas dos participantes coletados por meio de escalas e entrevistas abertas. Os dados das entrevistas foram registrados em áudio após a testagem do recurso e, posteriormente, transcritos e analisados por meio da técnica análise de conteúdo. Quanto as escalas, estas foram aplicadas após a testagem. São apresentados o processo de design, destacando o framework e os princípios e estratégias de game utilizados. Os resultados principais mostram indicadores da contribuição dos elementos de jogo aplicados ao recurso para os domínios avaliados., Este artículo presenta el proceso de desarrollo y prueba de un prototipo de narrativa gamificada que tiene como objetivo apoyar el aprendizaje de la lectura de estudiantes con dislexia. La motivación, el compromiso y el aprendizaje fueron los dominios medidos desde las perspectivas de los participantes recogidas a través de escalas y entrevistas abiertas. Los datos de la entrevista fueron grabados en audio después de la prueba del recurso y, posteriormente, transcritos y analizados mediante la técnica de análisis de contenido. En cuanto a las escalas, estas se aplicaron después de la prueba. Son presentados el proceso de diseño, destacando el marco, y los principios y estrategias del juego utilizados. Los principales resultados muestran indicadores de la contribución de los elementos del juego aplicados al recurso para los dominios evaluados., This paper presents the development and testing process of a gamified storytelling tool aimed to support students with dyslexia. Motivation, engagement and learning were the domains measured from the students and teachers’ perspectives, considering their feedback gathered with scales and opened interviews. Interviews were registered in audio after testing of the prototype, transcribed and analysed using the content analysis technique, and scales were also applied after testing. The design process of the gamified prototype is presented, highlighting its framework, design principles and game strategies. The main findings show that the game design elements applied to the prototype contributed to the motivation and engagement of the students and also provide indications of learning outcomes.

Persistence is an important part of student success—both in and out of school. To enhance persistence, we first need to assess it accurately. Digital games can be used as vehicles for measuring and enhancing persistence. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of (a) game-level characteristics (i.e., game mechanics and conceptual difficulty), and (b) student-related characteristics (e.g., students’ incoming knowledge and gender) on persistence in a game called Physics Playground. The participants in this study were 137, eighth and ninth-grade students from a K-12 school in Florida. We used a Hierarchical Linear Modeling Approach (HLM) to analyze the data. The major findings are (1) the degree of difficulty relating to both the physics concepts and game mechanics of each game problem are significant predictors of persistence, with the former being more effective than the latter in predicting students’ persistence, and (2) the number of gold and silver trophies students attained in the game were the only significant student-level predictors of persistence. We conclude by discussing the findings, the implications, limitations, and future research related to this study.

Despite investigating digital gaming for commercial purposes, less scholarly attention exists on digital gaming for societal purposes such as sustainability (“serious games”). The current study investigates whether a serious game can enhance sustainability marketing outcomes, including knowledge, value-in-behavior, and behavioral intentions longitudinally (pre-gameplay to post-gameplay). Further, the study seeks to understand the influence of reward-based and meaningful game mechanics on these sustainability marketing outcomes. We recruited 387 participants for a week-long field study using a serious game which encourages household energy conservation. The findings show that the serious game significantly increased sustainability knowledge, value-in-behavior, and sustainable behavioral intention after one week. Reward-based game mechanics (badges and trophies) significantly influenced sustainability knowledge and indirectly influenced value-in-behavior via sustainability knowledge, whereas reward-based (points) and meaningful (educational messages) game mechanics had little impact. The results empirically support the conceptual model theorization—underpinned by a “do–learn–feel” behavioral learning approach—which possessed superior fit to a “do–feel–learn” rival model. This study provides novel insights regarding eliciting value-in-behavior longitudinally within serious games. Our multidimensional approach to assessing reward-based game mechanics extends prior studies and suggests that higher-tier rewards are more influential than lower-tiered rewards to achieve sustainability marketing outcomes. We further demonstrate that reward-based game mechanics outperform meaningful game mechanics at influencing desired outcomes, challenging existing gaming literature.

This study evaluates the effect of game mechanics by employing serious games and gamification for improving learning outcomes. This is done by considering the performances of the students in terms ...

This paper presents a framework for adapting game elements to the player’s affective state and the integration of the framework in a virtual reality environment for moral development. These game elements include gestural and facial expressions of avatars during dialogues with the player, background music, the score, game mechanics, aesthetics and learning. The framework BARGAIN (Behavioral Affective Rule-based Games Adaptation Interface) is an authoring tool for affective game design providing a visual interface based on finite state machine (FSM) technique to represent the affective rules as state transitions graph dependent on the player emotional state assessed using facial expression recognition system based on electroencephalography (EEG) data. We conducted a user study (n = 29) examining the effects of the resulting affective virtual reality game on players’ experience using the Game experience Questionnaire (GEQ) (IJsselsteijn et al. in The game experience questionnaire, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven, 2013). The results show significant correlation between the GEQ dimensions and the player's facial expressions during his interaction with the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) within the VR game. These findings highlight that adapting games to user's emotions enhance the players’ experience.

This paper is in response to a manuscript entitled “Designing and integrating purposeful learning in game play: a systematic review” (1). Ke’s excellent review in this supplement highlights the ongoing need to apply more pedagogical rigor based on sound educational principles in the design and assessment of games. Ke calls for more robust implementation research about how to better apply learning integration in digital games to drive more meaningful learning effectiveness. The article demonstrates the rich methods and opportunities that researchers have used to map out better approaches to measuring and improving the complex arena of learning by game mechanics and game world design. Nearly all children and teens and many adults play video games daily and so it is important to understand how games can help improve learning outcomes. Further research is needed on the design and research of learning integration using continuous design improvement methods in advancing testable theories of game-based learning-play improvement. Maximizing learning effectiveness requires the gameplay to make sense to the learner and act as a catalyst for gradually growing insights and learning accountability by the learner.

The article deals with the peculiarities of gaming slang in the English language. Its goal is to describe gaming slang, to determine the ways of its formation, and to form the bases for the classifications of gaming slang. It also aims to analyze the problem of translating English gaming slang into Ukrainian, as the issue of gaming slang is not well-studied in linguistics. The connections of gaming slang with Internet, computer and more general youth slang are considered, mentioning their interrelations. The linguistic processes that are used in the formation of English gaming slang are determined, including the employment of metaphor and metonymy, the use of acronyms, abbreviations, clippings and portmanteau words. The following classifications are offered: classification by game genre, by number of players, and by topic of slang units. Every game genre brings its own features into the slang, and so does the number of players, since gaming slang is more actively used in multiplayer games. The authors suggest that the classification by topic should be developed for each genre separately, since the genre influences the gaming process and therefore generates special thematic categories of slang, such as words for the game mechanics, characters etc. The authors mention that English gaming slang is a significant translation problem, since this kind of slang is underdeveloped in the Ukrainian language.

Gamification is the art of making non-game context more engaging and fun, with the help of game mechanics. Production and Logistics are good examples of non-game context, which could benefit a lot from increased engagement. Gamification already manifested its potential in many other branches (e.g. education, health, marketing, social networks and work) and for that reason, it can be claimed that this potential also applies in the domain of industrial shopfloor. However, the question for specific game elements for these environments is still unanswered. Therefore, we developed a gamification configurator to support production managers in the selection of suitable game elements for their specific environment, considering different manifestations of human motivation. To do so, we require a specific framework for gamification in production and logistics. As a result, the gamification framework Octalysis in Production and Logistics is the basis for the creation of a corresponding gamification configurator. The resulting configurator is a starting point to identify, select and implement specific game elements in production and logistics. This article aims to bring new insights into the area of gamification in production and logistics from a conceptual point of view. Furthermore, the developed gamification configurator enables the selection of specific game elements for production and logistics. Other domains like health, marketing or entertainment already benefit from the concept of gamification, e.g. by increasing user motivation or customer engagement.

This article explores how Chinese games are localized for Southeast Asia (SEA) markets. Based on the synthesized insights from practitioners and gamers, we identify gaps between localization in theory and in practice. The post-gold model is popular with Chinese game companies that usually do not consider localizing a game until it has attained domestic success. They tend to opt for full localization rather than “deep localization” (Bernal-Merino 2011) because adapting visuals and game mechanics is considered “icing on the cake”. Additionally, in our data, gamers seem to prefer foreignization over domestication, while practitioners combine both strategies to create a defamiliarizing gaming experience. Finally, the language diversity in SEA and the lingua franca status of English call for a nuanced understanding of locale. Hence, we suggest to differentiate three types of locales (presumed, practiced, and preferred) as a possible analytical framework to further theorize game localization from multiple perspectives of stakeholders.

Gamification is the use of game thinking, approaches and elements in a context different from the games. It is an important tool to know because it will almost certainly have a big role in the future of education.Using game mechanics develops motivation and learning in all circumstances. The main aim of gamification in education is to let students participate, contribute and cooperate with each other. The technique of gamification in education is to give students practical commands and feedback, and this is done via game mechanics added to online platforms, which will lead to achieve its aims and objectives. This study analyses pros and cons of using gamification in education as a motivational tool. The main data collection method involved a questionnaire conducted with a sample of academic professors; second questionnaire administered to students who applied gamification in their syllabus in order to investigate the effect of gamification on students’ motivation in learning.The paper recommends that successful and sustainable gamification can convert students into fans and make learning a joy. In addition, a gamified application must offer a valuable experience; otherwise students are not going to use it.

Educational games can provide players with rich learning and socializing experiences through different interac-tion paradigms, such as board games, card games, and, more recently, hybrid (physical-digital) games. However, the process of making, maintaining, and evolving an educational analog game is not a trivial task. Balancing the game mechanics and dynamics to provide a pleasant and educational gaming experience can be very difficult to achieve. Furthermore, adding a digital component in the gameplay can disturb the experience of the game and learning ob-jectives, and this kind of insertion should be evaluated. This work then aims to report the process of developing and evaluating a mobile application for helping the gameplay of a card game that focuses on on teaching software testing concepts. Our primary concern during the development of the application was whether its insertion would compromise the learning process or the social experience of the card game. The developed application has the fol-lowing functionalities: point counter, dice scrolling, timer, and a summary of the rules. We designed and developed a first version of the application. Then, we evaluated the impact of its insertion on gameplay by applying the game assisted with the application with students from Computer Science and Computer Engineering courses and, after the end of the game, the participants answered questionnaires about the players’ experience and their impressions about the application. Based on the results, we perceived that the use of the application provided benefits to the players’ experience, although the evaluation highlighted some opportunities for improvement. Thus, we evolve the mobile application based on the comments gathered in this evaluation. This new version has improvements on user’s interface, aiming to provide a better user experience, and new functionalities. Furthermore, we assessed the second version and compared both versions of the mobile app in order to collect evidence regarding improvements in the game experience.

The article examines the possibility of using elements of gamification in personnel management processes, such as: selecting candidates, ensuring the process of adaptation of new employees, managing training and development of employees. The introduction and use of gamification in the automation of these processes is proposed in order to increase the indicators of motivation, retention and involvement of personnel. Practical examples of the application of this tool in innovative companies are given. The mechanics of collaboration (cooperation), promotion, progress, appointments, and competition are analyzed the point of view of their effective application in corporate personnel management systems. It is proposed to use a competency-based approach to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities that a particular employee lacks and the efforts of managers of any company should be directed to the development and acquisition of which. A model of finite automaton is described, the development of which is crucial to formalize the processesunder consideration, analyze them, search for problem situations, modify, design information systems for monitoring and managing personnel training. Game mechanics are considered from the event approach point of view, the development of a certain game mechanics reaction in case of a certain event. In this case, the process of passing the training course can be represented as a finite deterministic automaton. The main task of developing the game mechanics reaction is to encourage the user to perform actions that will bring his current state closer to the final one. It is concluded that the use of gamification reduces the amount of routine actions necessary for the implementation of training, adaptation and development of personnel, make them more transparent and understandable for both employees and the company, minimize the time to implement these processes and, as a result, reduce their cost.

La littérature consacrée aux études du jeu est ponctuée de renvois à de multiples concepts formels qui semblent démontrer un grand intérêt pour des questions de formalisation et de terminologie, à la fois dans le domaine de la conception et dans celui de l’analyse du jeu vidéo. L’ampleur de cette thématique rend d’ailleurs difficile la comparaison de ces travaux, tant les questions abordées et les solutions proposées se révèlent diverses et variées. L’objectif de cet article consiste donc tout d’abord à faire remonter les points d’intersection entre les différentes approches conceptuelles existantes, avant de suggérer une contribution nouvelle, construite sur cet héritage théorique. Basé sur les notions de ludème et de séquence, ce modèle répond à l’ambition de proposer des outils conceptuels, à la fois pour la création et l’analyse du jeu vidéo. Whether they address game design or analysis, works in the field of game studies often suggest or refer to various abstract design concepts that seem to demonstrate a strong interest for formal and terminological considerations. The breadth of this topic makes it difficult to compare and draw meaningful connections between such works, due to the wide variety of the proposed approaches. As such, the aim of this article will be to highlight some of the intersecting points of the different questions and solutions that have been raised until now, and to offer a brief overview of these contributions, before eventually suggesting a framework built on this theoretical tradition. The model we put forward is based on the notions of ludemes and sequences, and is driven by the desire to provide conceptual tools for game design and analysis.

This article reports on applied research and the aspiration to find ways to increase sustainable behavior through the application of game mechanics and playful solutions. One of the main questions investigated through the research activities was what would motivate people to adopt more sustainable behavior and sustainable consumption. To create a better understanding of the problem, researchers and students looked into the awareness and different perceptions of sustainability in a variety of cultural settings, with special focus on waste separation, energy, and water consumption. In addition to documenting the details about current sustainable behavior, additional questions included how and where people find out about sustainability concepts, and how these concepts are currently being taught.

In 2019, the Harry Potter-themed augmented reality (AR) game Wizards Unite was released, one which employed the same game mechanics as Pokémon Go. In order to explore the similarities and differences in players’ perceptions, motivations to play, and missing functions in Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go, we conducted a web-based survey which targeted active players of Wizards Unite 14 weeks after its release. The results are compared to a survey applying the same methodology and questions directed at active players of Pokémon Go. An important reason why many players started playing Wizards Unite was that they were already Harry Potter fans. For Wizards Unite players the motivation stemming from public attention was lower compared to that for Pokémon Go players. The main motivating factors drawing players to these games include fun, curiosity, and being physically active. The AR function was not mentioned as a motivating factor for either game. The aspect of players being able to collect and complete the game was more of a motivation for playing Pokémon Go. Although the game mechanisms are similar, we identified specific differences in the motivational factors of the two games. The main difference is the misfit between the general game story with hunting and collecting within the Harry Potter universe. Nevertheless, the theme of the game and its background story can be important long-term motivating factors of Wizards Unite. The findings in this paper provide insights into how one can create AR games that meet players’ needs.

The evolutionary trajectory of digital journalism has been fuelled by the convergence of visual storytelling unique to documentary filmmaking with the graphics and procedural rhetoric of digital games. The reciprocal influences between gaming and documentary forms coalesce in this new highly engaging interactive journalism. This research demonstrates how game mechanics, design and logics combine with cinematic storytelling conventions in documentary games published since 2014. As forms of civic engagement more intimate and immersive than traditional print and broadcast journalism, documentary games leverage alternative depictions of violence for social critique. Case studies examine products of independent developers including the documentary games We Are Chicago by Culture Shock Games and iNK Stories’ 1979 Revolution: Black Friday along with its related vérité virtual reality experience, Blindfold. These cases represent major advances in the activist depiction of oppressed populations in narrative documentary journalism. All these projects feature atypical video game protagonists anathema to those of mainstream games.

The concept of «game mechanics» is analyzed. A conceptual model of an automated interactive software environment using gamification elements is presented. Destructive strategies generated by various game mechanics are considered. Some ways to deal with destructive strategies are listed. The article describes the experience of using gamification elements in the software environment for teaching students of secondary vocational education to solve physical problems. On the basis of experimental work, the effectiveness of using game mechanics to form a stable internal motivation of students to systematically solve problems is shown. This article may be useful for developers of electronic learning tools

A Ficção Interativa é uma forma de experiência digital que confere ao jogador/interator poder de agenciamento (agency) por meio das suas decisões, com consequências diretas sobre a configuração narrativa da obra. Esta forma de medialidade veio trazer novos desafios e subverter noções tradicionais de representação narrativa (moldadas sobretudo a partir do campo da ficção impressa), na medida em que a estrutura não-linear abre caminho a percursos diferentes de ação, dependendo do desempenho e das escolhas do interator. Neste contexto, compreende-se que a natureza confi gurável da personagem, quer como entidade ficcional com determinadas propriedades diegéticas, quer como peça fundamental da mecânica do jogo, constitua objeto de crescente atenção por parte da comunidade académica e dos agentes envolvidos no desenvolvimento de videojogos e de Ficção Interativa. O processo de construção da personagem, independentemente do seu estatuto específico (PC: personagem jogável; NPC: personagem não-jogável), assume aqui uma especificidade própria e levanta problemas que habitualmente não surgem com outros produtos literários e culturais, mesmo do contexto contemporâneo. Mais do que prolongar o aceso debate em torno do grau de adequação deste meio para narrar histórias que levou à formação de duas abordagens teóricas distintas – a ludológica e a narratológica –, importa desenvolver um método holístico capaz de congregar diversos ângulos de análise, reconhecendo que os videojogos tendem a desenvolver modelos narrativos complexos, mas que não podem subsistir sem uma estrutura consistente e um sistema de regras. De modo particular, os projetos recentes de Ficção Interativa com recurso a dispositivos de Inteligência Artificial que permitem selecionar, com base em procedimentos computacionais, eventos de modo coerente segundo o tipo de intervenção do interator e tirar o máximo partido da tensão narrativa levantam novas questões no que respeita à ontologia da personagem, ao seu potencial de manifestação de efeitos estéticos e à sua capacidade de gerar envolvimento emocional.

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effect of an educational tablet app based on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences with game mechanics and multiple-media features on young children’s ...

We present the first systematic review of the use of gamification in educational peer review activities. The goal of this work is to understand how gamification has been used to engage students in peer review activities and to summarize the empirical evidence for its effectiveness. Our main contribution is the presentation of a general model of the peer review process that captures the students’ activities and an examination of the specific actions within this model that have been gamified in the current literature. We also summarize the commonly used game mechanics and the context and year level of courses in which prior research has been conducted, along with the reported effects on student behavior. We find that artifact assessment and artifact creation are the two most commonly gamified actions with respect to our peer review model and that the quantity and quality of both the artifacts and the generated feedback are the most popular reward criteria. In addition, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are the discipline areas in which gamified peer review activities are most often reported. In general, while the existing peer review literature reports mostly positive effects of gamification on student engagement, the range of student actions which have been incentivized remains narrow. Key activities, such as student reflection on the feedback received, have been largely unexplored with respect to gamification and thus present useful avenues for future work.

Purpose The objective of this study was to review most of the existing free m-Health applications (Apps) that use the gamification approach to manage diabetes type 1 in both App and Google Play stores. Methods Free mobile health applications "apps" that were related to diabetes mellitus have been identified in both App and Google Play stores. In order to cover all the mentioned applications, the following keywords, "game for type 1 diabetes" and "gamification for type 1 diabetes" were used in English and Arabic languages. All applications that were collected in the inclusion process were carefully analyzed, and the game name, game description, game features, game mechanics, game themes, and operating systems were recorded. Results A total of eight gamified applications related to type 1 diabetes were identified. Seven of these applications were in English language and only one application was in Arabic language. The applications were categorized into three main categories based on the theme of the application. The categories were taking care of a character, quizzes, and the storytelling theme. Moreover, there was no application that included the social networking feature. Conclusion This study highlighted the most important features of the free mobile health applications "apps" for diabetes type 1 available in Google Play and App stores that can contribute to enhance the self-management of the diabetes condition by patients in Saudi Arabia. The identified applications have important characteristics that can be used in the future for the care and self-control of type 1 diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia.

The use of games to convey the news involves wrestling with two different narrative logics: the professional culture of journalism, based on the verification of information and the standards of objectivity and truthfulness, and the culture of games, characterized by the creation of imaginary worlds, the persuasive potential of entertainment and the mechanics of the gaming experience. This article examines a sample of eight newsgame designs and the mechanisms through which they transmit information on issues related to political activity. We designed a qualitative analysis tool to examine the journalistic and gaming quality of the newsgames by analysing 28 parameters in four categories: formal parameters, content parameters, quality of use and architecture and design. Our results show that the use of playful elements is compatible with the fulfilment of journalistic quality standards and the choice of mechanics and dynamics determines how the user perceives and interacts with the information. However, the balance between both aspects does not guarantee that a newsgame provides the narrative resources to understand the information autonomously. Thus, newsgames are a genre with great journalistic potential when using the correct choice of mechanics and dynamics that allows communicating information according to news standards.

Existing systems for online civic engagement and public consultation need a better architecture if they are to realize the aspirations of deliberative democracy. To improve the design of such systems, we develop an empirical model of online civic engagement that connects common game mechanics to four key democratic processes and outcomes—inclusion, deliberative engagement, sound and influential public input, and long-term civic impacts. We then link game mechanics and deliberation with theories of motivation to show how these mechanics can leverage people’s drives to fulfill basic needs, forge social connections, and gain status. To illustrate our model in more concrete terms, we show how game mechanics could motivate both participants and policymakers in an online participatory budgeting system. We conclude by describing a multi-stage experimental approach to testing this model within an existing system of online participatory budgeting.

Evaluation is an essential part of any software development process as it helps compare intended with actual outcomes and identify possible improvements. To do this, it is important to understand how users interact with the product. As interactions with the interdisciplinary product category of Serious Games can be multifaceted, pure text-logging of gameplay actions is not always sufficient to cover all aspects needed to satisfy researchers’ needs, for instance how the user feels or what s/he thinks while carrying out a certain action. For this reason, studies evaluating serious games are increasingly applying multimodal methods in recent years. This makes it important to establish theoretical foundations considering the changing research landscape. This paper presents a theoretical framework for multimodal Serious Games evaluation based on a review of relevant research.

The paper analyses video games in the context of new media and considers their artistic potential from the perspective of Game Studies. Using to Be or Not to Be, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet as an example, the paper presents a theoretical examination of the game's structural, textual and narrative features and ludic elements, so as to elucidate the principles of adaptation and transformation of a literary text into a new digital form, as well as the advantages and the disadvantages of such processes. Trust in the narrative, along with adequate game mechanics and the player's perception have proven to be crucial for accomplishing intention of the game. At the same time, the analysis serves as a basis for interpretive framework that would lead to affirming the aesthetic potential of video games and thus give rise to uncovering the artistic potential of other algorithmic structures.