Gamifying your Designs Through Self-Determination

By Shakiyla Huggins October 28, 2024

Designing an effective gamified model isn’t just about tossing points, badges, and leaderboards into the mix. True gamification is about crafting experiences that resonate with players’ motivations, engage them meaningfully, and create lasting impact. Here, we’ll explore a high-level overview from four influential researchers whose insights lay the groundwork for designing impactful gamified models.

Why Is Gamification So Challenging to Implement?

Building a gamified model that motivates and engages users while supporting learning goals requires a deep understanding of psychology, behavioral science, and game design. As Morschheuser et al. (2017) point out, effective gamification involves more than just game elements—it’s about affecting behavior in ways that align with both the players’ motivations and the goals of the system.

Despite its potential, gamification design still lacks extensive empirical validation. But researchers and practitioners alike have paved the way with insightful frameworks and guidelines that can help us design more impactful gamified experiences.

Understanding Players, Objectives, and Game Elements

According to Cheong et al. (2014), effective gamification starts with the following three pillars. These foundational elements create a user-centered approach to gamification, allowing designers to build experiences that feel relevant and rewarding.

1. Understanding the Players: Knowing who your audience is and what drives them is the cornerstone of any successful gamified experience. Whether the players are young students, professionals, or a mix of different demographics, the design should consider their unique motivations and preferences.
2. Setting Clear Objectives: Every gamified model should have a defined purpose—what should players ultimately learn or achieve? Setting a clear objective ensures that players understand the value of engaging with the model and that their actions contribute to a broader learning goal.
3. Selecting the Right Game Elements: Not every game element fits every scenario. Selecting mechanics like point systems, badges, or story-driven narratives should align with both the players’ motivations and the learning objectives. By carefully choosing game elements, you can create an experience that resonates with players and keeps them engaged.

The Seven Pillars of Gamification Success

Morschheuser et al. (2017) provide an expanded framework with seven critical requirements that ensure a gamified model’s success. This approach offers practical, adaptable steps that can help designers maintain engagement and motivation throughout the lifespan of a gamified model.

1. User Analysis: This requires a deep understanding of user needs, motivations, and behavioral patterns, as well as the context in which the gamified model will be used.
2. Defining Objectives: Like Cheong et al. (20,14), Morschheuser et al. (2017) emphasizes the need for a clear purpose. Objectives should be meaningful and structured to guide the gamified experience.
3. Early Testing: Introducing and testing gamification elements early in the design phase can help developers gauge player response and make necessary adjustments before full implementation.
4. Knowledge in Game Design and Psychology: Designers should have expertise in both game mechanics and the psychology behind motivation. This knowledge enables the creation of experiences that are not only engaging but also foster positive behavioral changes.
5. Stakeholder Buy-In: Organizations and stakeholders must believe in gamification’s potential. Without their support, sustaining long-term engagement can be challenging.
6. System Integrity: Implement safeguards to prevent gaming the system. If players find ways to “cheat” the model, it can reduce the model’s integrity and diminish the player experience.
7. Continuous Monitoring and Optimization: Gamification is a continuous process. Regular monitoring and data analysis enable designers to make adjustments that keep the experience fresh and aligned with the original objectives.

Addressing Cognitive, Emotional, and Social Needs

Lee and Hammer (2011) approach gamification from a holistic perspective, emphasizing the need to address cognitive, emotional, and social dimensions. Their focus on holistic engagement helps gamified models move beyond simple rewards and create environments where players feel challenged, emotionally supported, and connected to others.

1. Cognitive Engagement: Effective gamified models should challenge players at their skill level, gradually increasing in difficulty. When players encounter challenges that match their abilities, they are more likely to stay engaged and learn.
2. Emotional Support: Gamification should make failure part of the learning process, providing low-stakes feedback and rewards for effort. Recognizing effort over mastery fosters resilience and helps players feel comfortable with experimentation and growth.
3. Social Identity and Belonging: The social aspect of gamification allows players to build a sense of identity and community. By offering avenues for collaboration, players develop connections that make the experience more meaningful and reinforce their engagement.

Engagement, Trajectory, Ubiquity, and Data

Jason Suriano (2017) emphasizes that successful gamified models need the following four essential pillars. This approach blends immersive storytelling, accessibility, and feedback loops to create an experience that supports learning through sustained engagement.

• Engagement: Design hooks that capture players’ imaginations and give them tasks to conquer, keeping them immersed in the experience.
• Trajectory: A narrative or clear progression path helps immerse players in the content and guides them along their learning journey.
• Ubiquity: Gamified models should be accessible anytime and across multiple platforms, allowing players to engage whenever they like and reinforcing learning as a continuous experience.
• Data-Driven Feedback: Gamification should provide data that tracks individual and group progress. By offering insight into performance, players can see their growth, which motivates them to continue.

Gamification: No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

The flexibility of these frameworks allows you to mix and match elements from each researcher to create a model that serves your unique objectives. Perhaps you need Morschheuser’s emphasis on stakeholder buy-in, combined with Suriano’s approach to feedback-driven progress tracking. Or maybe you’re inspired by Lee and Hammer’s focus on emotional resilience but also want Cheong’s guidance on game elements that are directly tied to learning outcomes.

Gamification might sound like a universal approach, but in reality, it’s anything but. While Cheong, Morschheuser, Lee and Hammer, and Suriano each provide unique insights, no single framework will suit every scenario. Each model offers a toolkit of strategies that can be adapted based on the audience, objectives, and specific learning goals. By blending insights from each researcher, we can customize gamified experiences that resonate with diverse needs and contexts.

Conclusion

As we continue exploring gamification, we’ll take a deeper dive into these frameworks and unpack each researcher’s insights to help you build gamified experiences that are not only effective but truly transformative. In the meantime, let’s take a moment to reflect.

In the comment section below, tell us, have you found success with particular gamification elements for certain audiences? For example, if you’re designing a training program for employees, would you prioritize Morschheuser’s emphasis on ongoing monitoring or Lee and Hammer’s approach to social engagement?

Bibliography

1. Cheong, C., Filippou, J., & Cheong, F. (2014). Towards the gamification of learning: Investigating student perceptions of game elements. Journal of Information Systems Education, 25(3).
2. Morschheuser, B., Werder, K., Hamari, J., & Abe, J. (n.d.). How to gamify? A method for designing gamification. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/41308
3. Lee, J., & Hammer, J. (2011). Gamification in Education: What, How, Why Bother? Academic Exchange Quarterly, 15(2), 146.
4. Suriano, J. (2017). Office arcade: Gamification, byte-size learning, and other wins on the way to productive human resources. Austin, Texas: Lioncrest Publishing.