How Multidisciplinary is Gamification Research?

Abstract

Gamification has been repeatedly framed as an emerging multidisciplinary research field. However, it is unclear how multidisciplinary the field actually is. To answer this question, this paper presents initial results of a broader scoping review of gamification research published between 2010 and 2016. Close to 2,000 peer-reviewed English-language journal and conference papers were identified across 11 databases and categorized by discipline. Results indicate an explosive growth of literature peaking in 2015. Early on, Information and Computing Science dominated the field, to be overtaken by the sum of other disciplines in 2013, education, economics and tourism in specific. This indicates that gamification was initially a field within computer science and HCI and has only recently become truly multi-disciplinary.

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

“…Nacke and Deterding [25] emphasize that gamification has grown from a novel research topic into a thriving multidisciplinary field and this is evident in the excessive number of domains that investigate the effects of gamification. According to O'Donnell et al [24], the most common domains that apply gamification to examine outcomes are health and wellness, crowdsourcing, sustainability, computer science, software development, marketing (services, servicescapes, customer engagement) and tourism [28,29]. Interestingly, gamification is highly multidisciplinary [23], which reflects the variations of disciplines that have applied it as a theory.…”

“…Gamification as a subject is still in its infancy but is starting to mature [25]. According to O'Donnell et al [24] preliminary scoping review 739 (n) articles and 1245 (n) conferences exist in gamification, within several different domains. This paper reviewed studies that were of particular interest for the discourse of gamification literature [28,29].…”

“…To illustrate, gifting can be seen as a part of socialization, but also as a mechanism for rewarding. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to contrast and strategically implement mechanics when they are multifaceted [24]. To facilitate understanding, some denominators (table 2) were developed which show that mechanics can be categorized in an interdisciplinary context.…”

“Who cares about fireworks?” – A Study on Digital Coaching, Gamification and Exercise Motivation

“…In line with the statement of [40], "Understanding contextual factors is critical for successful gamification, but this has been overlooked so far in the research on gamified health interventions", there still persists a gap for which mechanics are actually congruent to health-related contexts.…”

“…Gamification has gained large traction in research, and has matured a lot in recent years [38]. According to [40], gamification has grown from a niche topic to encompassing an array of interdisciplinary domains, such as crowdsourcing, sustainability, health and wellness, computer science, software development, marketing and tourism [e.g. 37,63].…”