Applying gamification design to a donation-based crowdfunding platform for improving user engagement

Abstract

Recently, donation-based crowdfunding platforms raise funds by individuals to support many charity projects on the internet. These platforms need to be considered as a valuable financial resource. Gamification constitutes one of the techniques that is able to increase motivation and engagement of users. This study developed a gamified platform to encourage users to participate and engage in donation-based crowdfunding campaigns aimed at increasing the potential opportunity for financing charity projects. MDA framework is used as a gamification model to the platform, which stands for Mechanic, Dynamic, Aesthetic. In the first part, our investigation begins with Aesthetics based on the players’ motivations and continues to Dynamics suited for the intended aesthetics, finishing with the underlying Mechanics to produce the intended dynamics and aesthetics. In the evaluation part, the impact of gamification elements is measured by statistical analysis methods. Results indicate that gamification successfully increased user engagement in the donation-based crowdfunding platform.