The Turkish Adaptation Study of the Gamification User Types Hexad Scale

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the Gamification User Types Hexad Scale (GUTHS) created based on Marczewski's (2015) user type hexad framework and validated by Tondello et al. (2016) into the Turkish context. The original scale consists of six dimensions, each of which has four items. The dimensionsand the user types that they refer to -are "Free spirit," "Socializer," "Achiever," "Philanthropist," "Player," and "Disruptor." It is the motive of this study that identifying and studying these user types may prove useful for understanding the effects of gamification dynamics and mechanics and assist in designing specific gamification techniques corresponding to each user type. The adaptation of the instrument began with translation, continued with an examination of the linguistic equivalence, and finalized with analyses of validity and reliability. The scale items were initially translated by the researchers. The translation was examined by seven experts with good English proficiency to finalize the Turkish version. To verify the linguistic equivalence, both the Turkish and English versions were then administered to 30 English Language Education (ELE) students. The correlation findings showed a high degree of correlation between the Turkish and English versions. Next, the Turkish version was administered to 452 university students studying at the Faculty of Education, Sakarya University, to check its validity and reliability. The results obtained from a confirmatory factor analysis and the reliability analysis indicate that the Turkish version of the scale is valid and reliable. It is recommended to use the translated scale in research especially on determining the effects of factors related to user types and on designing more affective gamification strategies.

An Analysis of Game Design Elements Used in Digital Game-Based Language Learning

“…Marczewski's game elements and the Hexad scale have been used in several validation studies [145][146][147], including observations in educational settings [148,149]. Although the User Types Hexad plays an important part in the design choices related to the elements, the focus of this paper is the elements themselves.…”

Adaptation of Modified Gamification User Types Scale into Turkish

“…Each factor in the scale is represented by four items. Although Akgün and Topal (2018) removed two items for the first version of the scale, in this study where the revised scale was adapted, no item was excluded.…”

“…Although Akgün and Topal (2018) conducted the adaptation of the scale to Turkish, they used the first version proposed in CHI PLAY'16 conference by Tondello et al (2016). Therefore, they had to remove some items from the scale due to the weak load values and high error rates.…”

The Development of the Online Player Type Scale

“…Because some existing gaming motivation scales developed for specific games such as MMORPGs (Yee, Ducheneaut, & Nelson, 2012). Moreover, some existing gaming motivation scales developed for emotional engagement for satisfaction not by gameplay actions (Demetrovics et al, 2011;Lafrenière, Verner-Filion,, & Vallerand, 2012 Akgün and Topal (2018) comprising player types such as philanthropists, socializers, free spirits, achievers, players, and disruptors, the scale was developed in relation to gamification rather than motivation. Although there is some crossover in player types, the player types in the two scales arguably have different scopes and fields of application.…”

“…To date, there is little in the way of player type scales for MMO games in the Turkish literature (Doğan & Şahin, 2017). The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale developed by Tondello et al (2016) was adapted into Turkish by Akgün and Topal (2018). However, this scale was developed for gamification purposes rather than for MMO-type videogames.…”