An interdisciplinary perspective on gamification: Mechanics, psychological mediators and outcomes

Abstract

As gamification literature has matured, the gap between how different domains apply the theory has widened. This has positioned gamification as being more dependent on context, rather than being an independent theory per se. To address this notion, three concepts are identified as being central for how a gamificator, the one responsible for gamifying, gamifies a process. These are mechanics, mental mediators and desired outcomes. Following this logic, a review was conducted using 77 (n) articles across seven disciplines, namely health and wellness, crowdsourcing, sustainability, computer science, software development, business, and tourism. The findings highlighted potentially causal and correlational relationships between several concepts when gamifying a situation, context, service or/and process. This research presents an alternative and uniform perspective on the broad gamification research to better understand how gamification functions and can be employed to impact various outcomes. Furthermore, this research contributes to this rather eclectic domain, presenting a more categorized view in showing domain-specific mechanics and how these can be employed for empirical testing. Lastly, the conceptual model can be modified, employed and adjusted to investigate various effects of gamification on outcomes.

An experimental study on the effects of gamified cooperation and competition on English vocabulary learning

“…Gamification research has been criticized for yielding context-dependent results rather than a generalizable theory (Helmefalk, 2019). Unfortunately, gamification research has mostly focused on the effects of game mechanics on particular outcomes (eg, motivation and behaviour) while dismissing the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between these mechanics and outcomes (Sailer, Hense, Mayr, & Mandl, 2017).…”

Recommendations for Implementing Gamification for Mental Health and Wellbeing

“…When considering gamified technologies at face value, there is a tension between being easy to use via good user experience design, and being sufficiently challenging to be motivating via good game design ( Deterding, 2015 ). Furthermore, while immersion and similar flow-inducing techniques have been cited as advantages of gamification ( Baranowski et al, 2008 ; Helmefalk, 2019 ), the somewhat opposite approach of encouraging mindful, active self-reflection may also be conducive toward achieving mental health goals, for example, through learning and understanding complex situations ( Tyack and Wyeth, 2017 ). Similarly, Cheng et al (2018) found that participants perceived activities that required more active participation (e.g., creating, and physically typing, a message to a loved one) more helpful and meaningful than activities requiring less participation and effort.…”

“…In their systematic review on gamified apps and technologies for mental health and wellbeing, Cheng et al (2019) provide a taxonomy of gamification elements that mental health technology developers may find a helpful frame of reference. Similarly, Helmefalk (2019) lists a number of psychological mediators synthesized from gamification articles across seven disciplines, and proposes that “gamificators,” or people who gamify, consider mechanics, psychological mediators, and desired outcomes (M-PM-O) when creating a gamified technology. Additionally, Ašeriškis and Damaševičius (2014) list a number of common “gamification patterns,” or design patterns commonly found in gamified systems, that can be used as reference when designing resource systems (such as for points) within gamified apps.…”

“…Designers should not refer solely to digital game elements, but also draw inspiration from more fundamental characteristics of games, such as the four types of play that underlie the game form ( Caillois, 1958/2001 ), or procedural rhetoric (see the section “Reflections on How Gamified Systems Communicate Through Procedural Rhetoric”). Multiple researchers have proposed methods of implementing gameful design that would suit different needs ( Deterding, 2015 ; Mora et al, 2017 ; Morschheuser et al, 2017 ; Floryan et al, 2019 ), as well as elements and psychological mediators to consider when designing ( Cheng et al, 2019 ; Helmefalk, 2019 ). Gamification should interact with the other components of the technology to create a coherent system ( Deterding, 2015 ) that supports users’ individual differences and preferences via passive and active tailoring as well as (optional) social connection between users via social mechanics.…”

Gamification and SQL

“…Lastly, gamification involves the identification, extraction, and application of individual game elements or limited, meaningful combinations of those elements [28]. A growing interest has been observed in applying gamification into diverse domains, such as health, education, human resource productivity, users' data collection, and customer participation, among others [12] [14] [20] [21]. It is believed that gamification can influence users to improve their motivation, to trigger behavioral changes, and to promote better collaboration [14].…”