To Three or not to Three

Abstract

While many popular casual games use three-star systems, which give players up to three stars based on their performance in a level, this technique has seen limited application in human computation games (HCGs). This gives rise to the question of what impact, if any, a three-star system will have on the behavior of players in HCGs. In this work, we examined the impact of a three-star system implemented in the protein folding HCG Foldit. We compared the basic game’s introductory levels with two versions using a three-star system, where players were rewarded with more stars for completing levels in fewer moves. In one version, players could continue playing levels for as many moves as they liked, and in the other, players were forced to reset the level if they used more moves than required to achieve at least one star on the level. We observed that the three-star system encouraged players to use fewer moves, take more time per move, and replay completed levels more often. We did not observe an impact on retention. This indicates that three-star systems may be useful for re-enforcing concepts introduced by HCG levels, or as a flexible means to encourage desired behaviors.

When online citizen science meets teaching: Storyfication of a science discovery game to teach, learn, and contribute to genomic research

“…The performance of participants per puzzle is rated using a three‐star scoring system which provides additional motivation to complete tasks at a higher level of accuracy and reinforce the acquisition of the concepts introduced in the SDG 36 . The number of stars attributed to the players is determined by its similarity to the highest score obtained so far.…”

“…The performance of participants per puzzle is rated using a three-star scoring system which provides additional motivation to complete tasks at a higher level of accuracy and reinforce the acquisition of the concepts introduced in the SDG. 36 The number of stars attributed to the players is determined by its similarity to the highest score obtained so far. A higher-than-ever score receives three stars, whereas a score equal to the baseline (i.e., the "Par" score that is obtained as the score of the alignment computed by automated methods) receives one star.…”

When Online Citizen Science meets Teaching: Storyfication of a science discovery game to teach, learn, contribute to genomic research

“…The performance of the participants on each puzzle is rated using a three-star scoring scheme. This system aims to provide additional motivation to complete the tasks at higher level of accuracy and reinforce the acquisition of the concepts introduced in the SDG [24]. The number of stars attributed to the players is determined by the score returned to our servers.…”

Gamification Enhances Learning Experience of STEM Courses

“…There are several previous studies focusing on gamification. Gaston and Cooper's work mentions the commonly used star-based rewarding system in human computation games and its effects on user experience [10]. The author focused on a protein folding game and compared two versions with a three-star system -one with unlimited moves and the other with a reset mechanism enforcing limited number of moves.…”