Exploring Design Guidelines of Using User-Centered Design in Gamification Development: A Delphi Study

Abstract

ABSTRACTGamification has become an increasingly important trend in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI) design. Applying the idea of user-centered design (UCD) in gamification is drawing more and more attention as the gamification design theoretical frameworks referencing UCD have been proposed. However, questions like “How should a gamification project be developed with specific UCD methods?” and “What design guidelines could be applied in the practice of using UCD in gamification project?” remain unanswered. We hereby conducted a Delphi study to explore design guidelines for using UCD in gamification development with knowledge from practice. The Delphi panel recruited for this study included 20 experienced gamification designers, who produced 28 initial guideline items in the pre-Delphi round. After three rounds of addition, modification, and deletion, 35 design guidelines were ultimately identified. Among these, 31 were found process-oriented and in line with the classic UCD processes and the rest four were about collecting feedback from the design user participants. The author discovered that some of the design guidelines showed consistency with existing theoretical frameworks or design principles about gamification and UCD, and meanwhile, some appeared to be different from the known gamification design knowledge. The research results extended and complemented current gamification design field by providing maneuverable guides and a better overall understanding of how to conduct a gamification project with UCD for gamification researchers and practitioners. In addition, by using the Delphi method in the field of gamification, this study provided a reference to future research in HCI design which needed to draw lessons from practical knowledge.