Abstract
In this paper, we present the development and validation of an instrument for measuring users’ gameful experience while using a service. Either intentionally or unintentionally, systems and services are becoming increasingly gamified and having a gameful experience is progressively important for the user’s overall experience of a service. Gamification refers to the transformation of technology to become more game-like, with the intention of evoking similar positive experiences and motivations that games do (the gameful experience) and affecting user behavior. In this study, we used a mixed-methods approach to develop an instrument for measuring the gameful experience. In a first qualitative study, we developed a model of the gameful experience using data from a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions posed to users of Zombies, Run!, Duolingo, and Nike+ Run Club. In a second study, we developed the instrument and evaluated its dimensionality and psychometric properties using data from users of Zombies, Run! (N = 371). Based on the results of this second study, we further developed the instrument in a third study using data from users of Duolingo (N = 507), in which we repeated the assessment of dimensionality and psychometric properties, this time including confirmation of the model. As a result of this work, we devised GAMEFULQUEST, an instrument that can be used to model and measure an individual user’s gameful experience in systems and services, which can be used for user-adapted gamification and for informing user-modeling research within a gamification context.
Highlights
Video games have become a highly visible part of human practice and culture
This finding is corroborated by Eppmann et al (2018), who included the dimension of absorption in GAMEX
The experience of accomplishment will stretch beyond the game phase and into the postgame phase; this reflects the thoughts of Bouvier et al (2014), who stated that engagement might extend beyond the mediated activity
Summary
Video games have become a highly visible part of human practice and culture. The experiences they evoke are in no way limited to systems and services purposefully designed as games. Gamification refers to the transformation of technology to become more game-like, with the intention of evoking similar positive experiences and motivations that games do (the gameful experience) and affecting user behavior. Services, and organizational structures are increasingly intentionally imbued with game-like qualities (Hamari et al 2018; Vesa et al 2017), and gamification has been applied in widely differing contexts, such as commerce, health, sustainability, software development, and research (Seaborn and Fels 2015; Hamari et al 2014). For example, hunting for Pokémons in Pokémon Go helps promote both physical and social activity for an inactive general population (LeBlanc and Chaput 2017)
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