Luis de Marcos Ortega from the University of Alcalá gave a presentation on gamifying applications to motivate users and encourage engagement. He discussed how games can be used as learning tools and outlined elements of gamification like points, badges, and leaderboards. Examples of gamified apps like Foursquare and Nike+ were presented. The presentation covered the gamification process, focusing on understanding player styles and intrinsic motivation. While gamification has potential, it also faces criticism like replacing meaningful engagement with meaningless points systems. Overall, gamification aims to find fun in tasks by involving players and focusing on autonomy, competence and relatedness.

1. Conferencia. ANIEI, CNCIIC 2014. Aguascalientes. Octubre 2014.
Gamifiying Applications:
User Motivation & Engagement
Luis de Marcos Ortega (Univ. of Alcalá)
luis.demarcos@uah.es
http://www.uah.es/pdi/luis_demarcos

2. TOC
1. Univ. of Alcalá
2. Games
3. Videogames
4. Gamification
5. Examples
6. Process
7. Criticism
8. Conclusion
9. References

3. Univ. of Alcalá
• History
– Founded in 1499
– Moved to Madrid in 1836
– Re-established in 1977
• Presentation video
– http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=mQ0oSqja8Aw

4. Univ. of Alcalá
• Polytechnic School
– Computer Science
– Electronics
– Communication
• Computer Science
Department
– 74 teachers (42 full-time)

5. Games
• Definition:
No consensus of what a game is
• Deep philosophical question…

6. Games
• Wittgenstein [on language]
– “For how is the concept of a game
bounded? What still counts as a
game and what no longer does?
Can you give the boundary? No.
You can draw one; for none has
so far been drawn. (But that never
troubled you before when you
used the word ‘game’.)”
Philosophical Investigations,
Aphorism 68

7. Games
• “playing a game is an
attempt to overcome
unnecessary obstacles“
• Elements:
–Objective (prelusory goal)
–Rules (lusory means)
–Lusory attitude
(Suits, 2005)

8. Games
• “Play is not the predominat
feature of childhood but is a
leading factor in development”
• “Strict subordination to rules is
quite impossible, but in play it
does become possible: thus play
creates a zone of proximal
development of the child. In play
a child always behaves beyond
his average age, above his daily
behavior” (Mind in society, 1978)
Lev Vygotsky

9. Games
• Games have had an important role in our evolution
(Koster, 2005)
– "Games are exercises for our brains" (pag. 38)
– "Play developed to teach us about survival" (pag. 196)

10. Games
• Games have the potential to change the world and
can be used to tackle real world problems
(McGonigal, 2011)
www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world

11. Videogames
• Computers provide to games:
–immediate feedback
–multimedia enriched narrative
–connectivity

12. Videogames
• Videogames are
learning tools
(Gee, 2007)
– set of goals and rules
that constraint possible
actions, and a feedback
mechanism that
provides a seamless
sense of progression.

13. Gamification
• Gamification is the use of game design
elements in non-game contexts to engage
users and promote action (Werbach, 2012)
https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification

14. Gamification
• Gamification has a great potential
–Unmotivated users
–Systems not used
–Employees and customers disengaged
• Put fun back!!!

15. Gamification
• Game design elements (Werbach, 2012)
– Dynamics (5): Constraints, emotions, narrative, progression,
relationships
– Mechanics (10): Challenge, chance, competition, cooperation,
feedback, resourse acquisition, rewards, transactions, turns, win
states
– Components (15): Achievements, avatars, badges, boss fights,
collections, combat, content unlocking, gifting, leaderboards, levels,
points, quests, social graph, teams, virtual goods.

16. Gamification
• PBL triad:
–(P)oints
–(B)agdes
–(L)eaderboard

17. Examples
• Foursquare
– Social network of places
– Visits (check-ins)  Badges (social recognition)

18. Examples
• Nike+
– Fuel points + community (challenge friends)
– 11 million users (2013)
– Market share (U.S shoes):
• from 47% (2006) to 61% (2009)

19. Examples
• Starbucks loyality program
– Points (stars) + levels
– Nice integration: Payment App
– 6 million users (2013)
– $3 billion in sales

20. Examples
• Hurrah! & Microsoft CRMGamified
– challenge, competition, rewards (trophies)
– points, badges, leaderboards, achievements
– "generate and inspire key behaviors that drive more
sales, encourage and motivate your employees“

21. Gamification
• Types of gamification (organizational view)
– Internal gamification
– External gamification
– Behavior-change gamification
• Types of gamification (process view)
– Product gamification
– Marketing gamification
– Workplace gamification

22. Gamification
• Other flavours of gamification
–Game-based/gameful design
–Motivational software/design
–Serious games
–Playful design
–Ludification / Ludology
–Fun theory

23. Examples
• American Army
– Serious game
– First-person shooter designed for recruiting
– Most effective marketing tool of AA

24. Examples
• Fold-it
– Serious game
– Real world-problem (protein folding)

25. Examples
• Piano Stairs
–Playful design / Fun theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

26. Process
Gamification is not an insignificant
task: game mechanics on their own
result insufficient (Kapp, 2012)

27. Process
1. Define / know your player style
2. Express the player lifecycle
3. Put positive psychology in your design
4. Motivate players
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4YP-hGZTuA

28. Process
1. Define / know your player style
– Forget about users…
think in terms of players!!!
– Different players means different…
• Skills
• Needs
• Expectations
• Motivations
– Know your player styles and address them

29. Process
• Player styles (Bartle, 1996)
World
Interact
Players
Act

30. Process
2. Express the player lifecycle
– Newbies need to learn the basics
– Regulars need fresh content / activities / challenges
– Experts need exclusity, recognition, impact

31. Process
3. Put positive psychology in your design
– In your activity loops
– PERMA model
• (P)ositive Emotion
• (E)ngagement
• (R)elationships
• (M)eaning
• (A)ccomplisments

32. Process
4. Motivate your players
– Focus on intrinsic rewards
– Provide a sense of autonomy, mastery and
purpose
– Design your flow
• Theoretical background (psychology)
– Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000)
– Flow (Csíkszentmihályi, 1990)

33. Theory
• Motivators:
– Extrinsic motivation – from outside sources,
usually rewards
– Intrinsic motivation – from within an individual,
self-determined
• Beware of extrinsic motivators / rewards
– Reward may become the only reason
– Potentially demotivating effect

34. Theory
• Self-determination theory
– continuum between extrinsic motivation

35. Theory
• Self-determination theory
– Motivational affordances

36. Theory
• Flow

37. • Social Gamification of Learning
– Competition + cooperation
Example
37

38. Example
• Social Gamification of Learning
– Elements
• Achievements (social or task-related)  Autonomy
• Peer-review Competence + Relatedness
• Personal profile  Autonomy (+Relatedness)
• Dashboard + social network Relatedness
• Virtual shop  Autonomy
– Addressing all player types
– Elgg social networking engine + gamification
features

39. • Social Gamification of Learning
Example

40. • Results: Learning performance
Example
40

41. • Results: Social graph
Example

42. Criticism
“Gamification is bullshit. I'm not being flip or
glib or provocative. I'm speaking
philosophically. More specifically, gamification
is marketing bullshit, invented by consultants
as a means to capture the wild, coveted beast
that is videogames and to domesticate it for
use in the grey, hopeless wasteland of big
business, where bullshit already reigns
anyway.” (Ian Bogost)
http://www.bogost.com/blog/gamification_is_bullshit.shtml

43. Criticism
• Cow clicker
–“deconstructive satire of social games […]
gamification, educational apps, and
alternate reality games” (wikipedia)
–Pointsification…
http://bogost.com/writing/blog/cow_clicker_1/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_Clicker

44. Criticism
“Gamification is an inadvertent con. It tricks
people into believing that there’s a simple way
to imbue their thing (bank, gym, job,
government, genital health outreach program,
etc) with the psychological, emotional and
social power of a great game.”
Can’t play, won’t play
Margaret robertson
http://www.hideandseek.net/2010/10/06/cant-play-wont-play/

45. Caveats
Sight (2012)
– A short futuristic film by Eran May-raz and Daniel Lazo.
http://vimeo.com/46304267

46. Caveats
“Amusement is the extension of work in
late capitalism. It is sought out by him
who wants to scape the mechanised
process of work only to become fit for it
anew”
Dialectics of Enlightenment
Theodor W. Adorno.

47. Conclusions
• Engagement is a differentiator
• Gamification is not an easy task
• Recommendations:
– Involve players
– Focus on meaning, autonomy & relatedness
– Play test: test, test, test, & then… test again
– Don’t forget the fun!!!

48. Conclusions
“at its core gamification is
about finding the fun in the
things that you have to do”
(Werbach, 2012)

49. References
• CSÍKSZENTMIHÁLYI, M. 1990. Flow: The psychology of optimal experience, New York,
HarperCollins.
• GEE, J. P. 2007. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy,
New York, Palgrave Macmillan.
• KAPP, K. M. 2012. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods
and Strategies for Training and Education, San Francisco, Pfeiffer.
• KOSTER, R. 2005. A Theory of Fun for Game Design, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA,
Paraglyph Press.
• McGONIGAL, J. 2011. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can
Change the World, New York, Penguin Books.
• RYAN, R. M. & DECI, E. L. 2000. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions
and New Directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67.
• SUITS, B. 2005. The Grasshopper: Life, Games & Utopia, Toronto, Broadview Press.
• WERBACH, K. & HUNTER, D. 2012. For the win: How game thinking can revolutionize
your business, Philadelphia, Wharton Digital Press.

50. Other Resources
• Kevin Werbach course on Gamification
– https://www.coursera.org/course/gamification
• Sebastian Deterding: Meaningful Play: Getting
Gamification Right
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZGCPap7GkY
• Amy Jo Kim: Smart Gamification
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4YP-hGZTuA

51. Thank you & Questions

52. Conferencia. ANIEI, CNCIIC 2014. Aguascalientes. Octubre 2014.
Luis de Marcos Ortega (Univ. of Alcalá)
luis.demarcos@uah.es
http://www.uah.es/pdi/luis_demarcos
Gamifiying Applications:
User Motivation & Engagement