This document discusses using gamification to engage and retain volunteers for cloud computing projects. It describes different types of volunteers and gamers, and how game mechanics like leaderboards and badges could appeal to different personalities. While gamification could increase motivation and productivity, it also risks trivializing tasks or demotivating intrinsic volunteers. Current research on gamification involves fields like psychology, game design, and human-computer interaction.

1. Gamification for Volunteer
Cloud Computing
Alimohammad Shahri1, Mahmood Hosseini1, Fabiano Dalpiaz2, Raian Ali1
1Bournemouth University, UK
2Utrecht University, The Netherlands

2. Overview
• Volunteer cloud computing
• Engagement and retention
• Why gamification?
• Volunteer types
• Gamer types
• Game mechanics
• Volunteer types and gamification
• Gamification concerns
• Current Progress
• Acknowledgment
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3. Volunteer Cloud Computing
• Volunteer cloud computing
– Volunteer computing and cloud computing
– Customer-to-business style
– People provide resources
– Businesses use resources
• Examples
– BOINC
– SETI@home
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4. Why Should I Join?
• Motivation problems
– How to engage people?
– How to retain people?
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5. Gamification
• The use of game design elements in a non-game
context1
• Main goals:
– Motivation
– Engagement
1 Deterding, S., Sicart, M., Nacke, L., O'Hara, K., & Dixon, D. (2011, May). Gamification. using game-design elements in non-gaming contexts. In CHI'11
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2425-2428). ACM.
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6. Why Gamification?
• Entertaining
• Motivating
• Persistent, as long as entertaining
• Everybody is a gamer, or gamer generation1
• Can lead to more collaboration
• Can lead to more productivity
Beck, J. C. (2004). Got game: How the gamer generation is reshaping business forever. Harvard Business Press.
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7. Volunteer Types
• Volunteer types in cloud projects1:
– Super-crunchers
• Engage in processing large project data
• Expect a good return
– Lay public
• Engage in small scale data processing
• Expect contribution to science
– Alpha testers
• Engage in invited test processes
• Expect distinguished recognition
Darch, P., & Carusi, A. (2010). Retaining volunteers in volunteer computing projects. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical,
Physical and Engineering Sciences, 368(1926), 4177-4192.
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8. Bartle’s Player Taxonomy1
• Achievers
– Have goals to achieve
– Usually in the form of accumulating and disposing of large quantities
of high-value treasure
• Explorers
– Try to find as much as possible about the virtual world
– Both in breadth and in depth
• Socialisers
– Use the game’s communicative facilities to converse with fellow
players
– Interested more in other players (sometimes NPCs)
• Killers
– Try to impose their superiority to other players
– Mostly by causing distress, but sometimes also by helping others
Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs.Journal of MUD research, 1(1), 19.
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9. Game Mechanics
• Leader-boards
• Points
• Online forums
• Epic meanings
• Badges
• Statuses
• Avatars
• …
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10. Volunteer Types and
Gamification Elements and Players
Volunteer
Types
Player Types
Example Game
Mechanics
Super-cruncher
Achievers
Socializers
Competitive
Non-collaborative
Points
Leaderboards
Online forums
Lay public
Explorers
Socializers
Collaborative
Non-competitive
Online forums
Epic meanings
Alpha-testers
Killers
Socializers
Uniqueness Seekers
Badges
Avatars
Statuses
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11. Gamification Concerns
• Gamification as trivialisation of tasks
• Gamification as a change to business
management norms
• Gamification as a forced mechanism
• Gamification as undermining the tasks
• Gamification as “one size fits all”
• Gamification as a quality diminisher
• Gamification as clusterisation of users
• Gamification as a demotivator for intrinsically
motivated users
Shahri, A., Hosseini, M., Phalp, K., Taylor, J., & Ali, R. (2014). Gamification: a Syncretic View. Special Issue of the Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
journal on "Mobile and Pervasive Games" [Submitted]
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12. Current Progress
Based on Empirical Study
• Relevant Fields of Study
– User Experience
– Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
– Psychology
– Game Design
– Management and Human Resources
– Behavioural Economics
– Software Engineering
Shahri, A., Hosseini, M., Phalp, K., Taylor, J., & Ali, R. (2014). Gamification: a Syncretic View. Special Issue of the Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
journal on "Mobile and Pervasive Games" [Submitted]
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13. Current Progress
Based on Empirical Study
• Relevant Stakeholders
– Strategy Makers and Management
– Legal Departments
– Security and Privacy Engineers
– End-Users
– Behavioural Economic Experts
– IT Developers
– Researchers
– Domain Experts
Shahri, A., Hosseini, M., Phalp, K., Taylor, J., & Ali, R. (2014). Gamification: a Syncretic View. Special Issue of the Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
journal on "Mobile and Pervasive Games" [Submitted]
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14. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
• The research was supported by an FP7 Marie
Curie CIG grant (the SOCIAD Project) and by
Bournemouth University through the Fusion
Investment Fund (the BBB, BUUU and
VolaComp projects) and the Graduate School
Santander Grant for PGR Development.
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15. Thank You!
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