The motivation of gameplay

Abstract

Many academics prefer to think of education as “work” rather than “fun”. As a result, motivation in higher education rarely comes from the process itself. The author predicts this will change as the generation raised on the engagement of games no longer accepts the historical but unnecessary separation of fun and learning. The author offers the games world as an example of the process itself being motivating to the user. He ascribes this to “gameplay”, the techniques used by game designers to keep players engaged. The author suggests several ways to bring the motivation of gameplay into education, and predicts that gameplay will eventually become the criterion by which students choose their courses.