research-article

Beyond designing for motivation: the importance of context in gamification

Authors:

Craig W. Thompson,

Nicholas GrahamAuthors Info & Claims

CHI PLAY '14: Proceedings of the first ACM SIGCHI annual symposium on Computer-human interaction in play

Pages 217 - 226

https://doi.org/10.1145/2658537.2658683

Published: 19 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Most design advice for the development of successful gamification systems has focused on how best to engage the end user while imbuing the system with playfulness. This paper argues that it is also critical for designers to focus on the broad context of the system's deployment, including the identification of stakeholder requirements, requirements from the hosting organization, deep understanding of the diversity of the target population, understanding of limits in the agency of the target users, and constraints arising from the post-deployment environment. To illustrate the importance of such contextual and stakeholder analysis, the paper presents issues and associated solutions that were discovered through the creation of a children's nutrition and fitness education gamification system. The problems identified through a broad analysis of context significantly altered the design of the system and led to the realization that the initially conceptualized project would have been unusable. The paper concludes with concrete lessons for designers.

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Cited By

Mazarakis ABräuer PDorsch I(2025)Evaluation of gamification as a tool for open access publishing among researchers: insights from a conjoint analysisScientometrics10.1007/s11192-024-05226-6130:2(1253-1280)Online publication date: 11-Jan-2025
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05226-6
Tyack AMekler E(2024)Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned ParadigmsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/367323031:3(1-74)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3673230
Guerra-Santin OXu LBoess S(2024)An interdisciplinary model for behaviour in residential buildings: Bridging social sciences and engineering approachesEnergy Research & Social Science10.1016/j.erss.2024.103746118(103746)Online publication date: Dec-2024
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Index Terms

Beyond designing for motivation: the importance of context in gamification
1. Applied computing
  1. Computers in other domains
    1. Personal computers and PC applications
2. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI PLAY '14: Proceedings of the first ACM SIGCHI annual symposium on Computer-human interaction in play

October 2014

492 pages

ISBN:9781450330145

DOI:10.1145/2658537

General Chair:
Lennart E. Nacke
University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Canada
,
Program Chair:
T.C. Nicholas Graham
Queen's University, Canada

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 19 October 2014

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CHI PLAY '14

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SIGCHI

CHI PLAY '14: The annual symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

October 19 - 21, 2014

Ontario, Toronto, Canada

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CHI PLAY '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 30 of 104 submissions, 29%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 421 of 1,386 submissions, 30%

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Cited By

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-05226-6
Tyack AMekler E(2024)Self-Determination Theory and HCI Games Research: Unfulfilled Promises and Unquestioned ParadigmsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/367323031:3(1-74)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3673230
Guerra-Santin OXu LBoess S(2024)An interdisciplinary model for behaviour in residential buildings: Bridging social sciences and engineering approachesEnergy Research & Social Science10.1016/j.erss.2024.103746118(103746)Online publication date: Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103746
Ofosu-Ampong K(2024)Digitizing Development: Enablers and Inhibitors of Mobile App-Based Population Census AdoptionRethinking ICT Adoption Theories in the Developing World10.1007/978-3-031-57880-9_4(71-93)Online publication date: 4-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57880-9_4
Naalbandnejad RAghaei N(2023)Health promotion through physical activity applications using gamificationJournal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse10.1080/15332640.2023.2267000(1-17)Online publication date: 14-Oct-2023
https://doi.org/10.1080/15332640.2023.2267000
Altuwayrib SWin KFreeman M(2023)Gamified Medication Adherence Applications for Chronic Health Conditions: Scoping ReviewPersuasive Technology10.1007/978-3-031-30933-5_20(307-321)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
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Mazarakis ABräuer P(2022)Gamification is Working, but Which One Exactly? Results from an Experiment with Four Game Design ElementsInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2022.204190939:3(612-627)Online publication date: 6-Apr-2022
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Bräuer PMazarakis A(2022)“Alexa, can we design gamification without a screen?” - Implementing cooperative and competitive audio-gamification for intelligent virtual assistantsComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2022.107362135:COnline publication date: 1-Oct-2022
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Schmidt REmmerich KSchmidt B(2022)Applied Games – In Search of a New DefinitionEntertainment Computing - ICEC 201510.1007/978-3-319-24589-8_8(100-111)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2022
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Park SMin KKim S(2021)Differences in Learning Motivation among Bartle’s Player Types and Measures for the Delivery of Sustainable Gameful ExperiencesSustainability10.3390/su1316912113:16(9121)Online publication date: 14-Aug-2021
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