Game-like Experience Research Articles

The Game-Like Experience of Virtual Reality Art: Sensational Players and Critical Audiences

This article delves into why audiences perceive virtual reality (VR) art as a game-like experience and how it impacts audiences’ reception of culture by examining two VR art pieces and their respective audience responses in focus group discussions. Through qualitative analysis, two factors are identified: the cognitive association of VR with gaming due to audiences’ preconceptions about VR, and the immersive environment of VR creating the “magic circle” that fosters the sense of play. The study argues that the intersection of VR and art generates the affordance allowing audiences to “play” with culture. However, the “not-serious” feature of play in VR may work against the norms and mores of a specific culture in the real world, especially when it relates to religious or ethnic culture. This article sheds light on the implications of the game-like experience in VR for creating VR applications beyond gaming, particularly in art and cultural heritage.

Application of gamification in work environment

Introduction: preliminary findings clearly suggest that games and gamified systems have motivational potential for workplaces. The use of gamified systems in work environments could be a positive and innovative solution to address contemporary problems in organizations such as: high levels of stress, reduced social capital, reduced loyalty and rapid changes in workforce demographics. The objective was to characterize the application of gamification in the work context. Method: a total of 23 articles in Spanish and English, from Science, Scielo and Dialnet, were reviewed; using as keywords: gamification, game, work environment, being more than 50 % of the last five years. Result: it is considered a technology with a potentially high impact in industries such as retail, media, consumer goods and marketing, manufacturing. Gamification in intra-organizational environments can affect employee attitudes and behaviors, make workplaces more attractive, create opportunities for productive collaboration, improve customer service, build loyalty, and increase productivity. Conclusions: gamification in the work environment uses game-like experiences to promote organizational and personal performance; It seems to be associated with improvements in motivation, productivity, performance, immediacy and remuneration according to true effort. However, its degree of applicability is still unclear.

USABILITY OF A TABLET-BASED HOME MEMORY TEST IN OLDER ADULTS WITH AND WITHOUT COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Abstract Increasing Alzheimer’s and related disorders prevalence, highlights the need for accurate and reliable cognitive screening and diagnostic tools. We studied usability of LifeBio Brain, a prototype cognitive testing mobile application. We established baseline cognitive performance in volunteers from Brown University’s Geriatric Clinic using the Saint Louis University Mental Status (SLUMS). We asked volunteers to use the LifeBio Brain app at home on an iPad twice daily for 10 times, for about 15 minutes each time, followed by completion of a 10-question System Usability Scale on satisfaction that assesses the app and its ease of use. The LifeBio Brain app contains a mix of adapted cognitive tests such as clock draw and Trails A, and game-like experiences, presented in a randomized order. We analyzed a white non-hispanic sample (n=51) with a balanced distribution of age [79.6 (7.2) years, range 66-95] and sex (58.82% women). The median SLUMS score of 25, indicates cognitive impairment in most participants. Similarly, the median usability score on the 50-point System Usability Scale was 41. We found that 80% of participants had a usability score of 35 or greater, with a 95% CI of 31-38, and 67% had a usability score of 40 or greater. SLUMS score ≤14 correctly predicted study completion in 90% of participants. Most volunteers from an outpatient geriatrics clinic found LifeBio Brain usable. Volunteers leaving the study early tended to have lower SLUMS Scores. The LifeBio Brain app may have utility for measuring memory and thinking abilities in a white outpatient geriatrics population.

BENDI: Improving Cognitive Assessments in Toddlers and Children with Down Syndrome Using Stealth Assessment.

Cognitive assessment is a fundamental step in diagnosing intellectual and developmental disabilities, designing interventions, and evaluating their impact. However, developed and developing countries have different access to tools designed for these purposes. Our goal was to develop a battery for cognitive assessment mediated by digital technology that allows the exploration of cognitive domains (inhibitory control, attention, motor ability, and context memory) in children with Down Syndrome (DS) in Chile. Four tasks, based on established experimental paradigms modified to provide a game-like experience, were tested in 68 children with DS from 20 months to 12 years of age. We present evidence of reliability based on internal consistency and split-half analyses, with results ranging from adequate to excellent. Regarding validity, factorial and correlational analyses show evidence consistent with what was theoretically expected of internal structure, convergence, and divergence with other measures. Expected age trajectories were observed as well. Our data offer evidence that supports the use of tasks based on touch-screen devices for cognitive assessment in the population with DS. The tasks also have a low cultural load, so they could be validated and used in other contexts without the need for an adaptation process.

Theoretical Foundations of the Flipped Classroom

This study examines the theoretical foundations of the flipped classroom based on a literature search using various online sources such as Google Scholar, Internet Archive Scholar, ScholExplorer, Chatsonic, and ChatGPT. Processing the collected data involved organising, analysing and interpreting the information contained in physical or electronic documents, and after careful reading of the data, pre-processing was necessary to eliminate the content of little relevance to the study. Next, we conducted a textual analysis, extracting key concepts and basic theories related to the flipped classroom. Finally, we grouped authors by theory, classifying secondary contributors under the key author of each theory. The interpretation of the results incorporated in the discussion consisted of answering the research questions. As for the study site, it comprises the entire web. Our results indicate that three main theories support the flipped classroom method: active learning theory, pedagogical differentiation theory and intrinsic motivation theory. Active learning theory stresses the importance of learning through action and play, emphasising the student’s active involvement in his or her learning process. In this approach, the student plays a central role in driving learning, creating a game-like experience, and fostering intelligence development. The theory of educational differentiation, on the other hand, recognises the diversity of students’ skills, interests and learning styles. It encourages teachers to adapt their teaching to meet students’ needs, promoting their learning and success.

Exploring the Impact of Entrustable Professional Activities on Feedback Culture: A Qualitative Study of Anesthesiology Residents and Attendings.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) were introduced as a potential way to optimize workplace-based assessments. Yet, recent studies suggest that EPAs have not yet overcome all of the challenges to implementing meaningful feedback. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the introduction of EPAs via mobile app impacts feedback culture as experienced by anesthesiology residents and attending physicians. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the authors interviewed a purposive and theoretical sample of residents (n = 11) and attendings (n = 11) at the Institute of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital of Zurich, where EPAs had recently been implemented. Interviews took place between February and December 2021. Data collection and analysis were conducted iteratively. The authors used open, axial, and selective coding to gain knowledge and understanding on the interplay of EPAs and feedback culture. Participants reflected on a number of changes in their day-to-day experience of feedback culture with the implementation of EPAs. Three main mechanisms were instrumental in this process: lowering the feedback threshold, change in feedback focus, and gamification. Participants felt a lower threshold to feedback seeking and giving and that the frequency of feedback conversations increased and tended to be more focused on a specific topic and shorter, while feedback content tended to focus more on technical skills and more attention was given to average performances. Residents indicated that the app-based approach fostered a game-like motivation to "climb levels," while attendings did not perceive a game-like experience. EPAs may offer a solution to problems of infrequent occurrence of feedback and invite attention to average performances and technical competencies, but may come at the expense of feedback on nontechnical skills. This study suggests that feedback culture and feedback instruments have a mutually interacting influence on each other.

A framework for gamification in the metaverse era: How designers envision gameful experience

Gamification uses principles extracted from games to elicit a unique game-like experience for users in various settings, including learning, healthcare, and business. The ‘gameful experience,’ considered by researchers to be the essence of gamification, plays a significant role in positively affecting behavior in organizations and society as a whole. While attempts have been made to conceptualize the idea of gameful experience, those attempts lack empirical insights from gamification designers. Thus, this paper aims to understand gamification from the designer's perspective. Towards this objective, interviews were conducted with experienced gamification designers from different industries and parts of the world. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Inductive reasoning resulted in eleven themes, which were mapped to four overarching theoretical categories: nudge experience, flow experience, alternate reality experience, and hedonic experience. The evidence indicates that gamification is influenced by positive psychology and the metaverse. The findings provide theoretical insights concerning the construct of gameful experience and practical inputs on the experience to target when implementing gamification.

Eco-Gamification Platform to Promote Consumers’ Engagement in the Textile and Clothing Circular Value Chain

The textile and clothing (T&C) value chain is one of the most polluting in the world and one that produces the most waste. It is, therefore, important to encourage the circular economy (CE) model in this sector to reduce pollution, mitigate the effects of waste production, and, consequently, increase environmental sustainability. Leveraging end-consumer engagement in a CE mindset in the T&C sector is crucial, as they are the last player in a typical linear value chain. Therefore, a platform that supports and promotes sustainable tasks to manage one’s fashion products, through the use of gamification techniques, can be of utmost importance. In this article, we identify impactful carbon footprint consumer actions and solutions for the T&C consumer phase. After that, we survey gamification frameworks for analyzing techniques, at the system design level, which enable the engagement of the final consumer in the CE process. Then, we select and use one of such frameworks, Gameful Design Heuristics (GDH), for defining the gamification structure needed to implement on a business-to-consumer-to-consumer (B2C2C) context of a circular economy process, linking it to the aforementioned actions and solutions. As result, we present a B2C2C circular business process model for the T&C value chain and propose the design model of a gamified platform for the final consumers, which allows them to register the consumer-to-business (C2B) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) activities, from the circular value chain’s business process, and benefit from a game-like experience. All the model features have been mapped to the GDH framework heuristics, validating that it is possible to support a set of defined heuristics of applied gamification for promoting CE in the T&C value chain.

An interactive game for rehabilitation based on real-time hand gesture recognition.

Currently, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have become serious global health problems related to their high incidence and fatality rate. Some patients with cardiovascular cerebro-cardiovascular diseases even may face motor or cognitive dysfunction after surgery. In recent years, human-computer interactive systems with artificial intelligence have become an important part of human well-being because they enable novel forms of rehabilitation therapies. We propose an interactive game utilizing real-time skeleton-based hand gesture recognition, which aims to assist rehabilitation exercises by improving the hand-eye coordination of the patients during a game-like experience. For this purpose, we propose a lightweight residual graph convolutional architecture for hand gesture recognition. Furthermore, we designed the whole system using the proposed gesture recognition module and some third-party modules. Finally, some participants were invited to test our system and most of them showed an improvement in their passing rate of the game during the test process.

Effectiveness of a Gamified and Home-Based Approach for Upper-limb Rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation treatments have been greatly en-hanced by health-enabling technologies, as these enable more objective and interactive interventions. Multiple studiesindi-cate that gamification is efficient in promoting treatment cus-tomization, adherence, motivation, and engagement, leading to increased patient satisfaction. In this work we study the effectiveness of a novel gamified telerehabilitation system. Pa-tients exercise within a digital game-like experience, with their motion tracked using an user-friendly "invisibles" paradigm, i.e. without requiring sensor placed on the body. Pain, ad-herence and satisfaction data was collected and analysed. Our approach was particularly relevant during the acute stages of the pandemic, during severe restrictions in the access to in-person rehabilitation activities. A total of 62 patients participated in this study, during a 14-month period. Each patient completed an average of 16 sessions, and 85.5% of them were considered fully recovered after the protocol completion. All patients improved their pain level, with an overall 73.3% average pain reduction. Moreover, in the end of the treatment 79.4% of the patients reported their pain in the levels 0 or 1 (in a 0-10 scale). In terms of treatment satisfaction, 95% of the patients would reportedly recommend the proposed solution to a friend of family. Moreover, the main benefits reported were the convenience, time flexibility, and customization. Our results validate the clinical outcomes and the healthcare quality perceived by the patients in the use of the approach in telerehabilitation for shoulder-related conditions, and are encouraging for usage in further physical rehabilitation fields.

Design of a toolkit for real-time executive function assessment in custom-made virtual experiences and interventions

Virtual Reality (VR) and other game-like experiences are popular intervention platforms in neurocognitive rehabilitation research. Executive Functions (EF), the cognitive processes that regulate attention and goal-oriented action, are recognized as a domain of concern in several congenital and acquired neurocognitive conditions (e.g.: ADHD, autism, addiction, cognitive decline, traumatic brain injury, and stroke). VR-based simulations of real-world tasks have shown potential for rehabilitation in independent functioning. The custom nature of such projects makes cross-intervention analysis difficult and complicates development of best-practices. We have designed a toolkit for building virtual interactions that can consistently replicate traditional cognitive tests (such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and Multitasking Task) as well as extend to more complex tasks in any virtual context. Analysis of participant performance data between traditional tasks and these VR replications may indicate the toolkit can successfully replicate traditional measures while also extending into more complex contexts.

Evaluating Grasping Visualizations and Control Modes in a VR Game

A primary goal of the Virtual Reality ( VR ) community is to build fully immersive and presence-inducing environments with seamless and natural interactions. To reach this goal, researchers are investigating how to best directly use our hands to interact with a virtual environment using hand tracking. Most studies in this field require participants to perform repetitive tasks. In this article, we investigate if results of such studies translate into a real application and game-like experience. We designed a virtual escape room in which participants interact with various objects to gather clues and complete puzzles. In a between-subjects study, we examine the effects of two input modalities (controllers vs. hand tracking) and two grasping visualizations (continuously tracked hands vs. virtual hands that disappear when grasping) on ownership, realism, efficiency, enjoyment, and presence. Our results show that ownership, realism, enjoyment, and presence increased when using hand tracking compared to controllers. Visualizing the tracked hands during grasps leads to higher ratings in one of our ownership questions and one of our enjoyment questions compared to having the virtual hands disappear during grasps as is common in many applications. We also confirm some of the main results of two studies that have a repetitive design in a more realistic gaming scenario that might be closer to a typical user experience.

Gamification in freight transportation: extant corpus and future agenda

PurposeSeveral freight operations rely on human cognition and behavior. Tackling these aspects, gamification transforms activities to resemble game-like experiences. Since the freight transportation sector is rapidly adopting gamification, the purpose of this study is to provide an overview that synthesizes the state-of-the-art and plot future directions for research and the practice of gamifying this area.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of the gamification of freight transportation was conducted. After screening 691 studies, 40 relevant studies were analyzed.FindingsMost studies found positive psychological and behavioral outcomes from gamification. Literature mainly focused on tackling the operational-level issues of road and maritime transportation modes by implementing simulation games.Research limitations/implicationsBesides elaborating how gamification can improve freight transportation, the authors describe directions still uncovered by the current corpus, such as research design and temporality and the variety of modes and tasks.Practical implicationsPractical implications emerged from the studies, primarily focusing on understanding users, tasks and contexts, targeting different audiences and transportation modalities, and balancing motivational affordances, while considering the demands of the freight transportation domain, including dynamic, spatially dispersed environments and cooperation between multiple stakeholders.Social implicationsThe transportation of goods dominates much of the global economy and ecology. Therefore, gamifying this domain has a huge societal impact potential, especially related to issues of sharing economy, safety, environmental sustainability and social media.Originality/valueBeyond providing an original overview of gamified freight transportation, this study maps current research gaps and describes practical recommendations.

The Tinder Games: Collective mobile dating app use and gender conforming behavior

Mobile dating apps like Tinder became very popular among young adults, and, in contrast to mobile dating websites, they were designed to create a more game-like experience. While it is well documented that seeking entertainment is one core motivation for mobile dating app use, the social nature of entertainment has garnered less attention. Therefore, in this paper we draw on research on entertainment in dating apps and the socio-physical contexts of use to identify patterned behaviors of heterosexual users. To do this, we employed a qualitative multi-phase research approach. First, we conducted 20 interviews with mobile dating app users. Based on the findings from that study, we conducted gender-specific focus groups and a discourse analysis to explore the social phenomena identified in phase one. Our findings suggest the fun of mobile dating is not just interacting with potential matches through the apps, but the use of the apps among one’s friends. These “dating games” are entertaining, but importantly mitigate potential social or physical risks of mobile dating. Unsurprisingly, notions of “play” across the interview, focus group, and discourse analyses reflect highly gendered practices surrounding mobile dating apps and different risks associated with such games.

FDA OKs ADHD Video Game Therapy

FDA OKs ADHD Video Game Therapy

CREB1T: A Gamification of Double Entry Accounting System Based on Android Application

All is altered by technology. Every aspect of our lives is now, in one way or another, heavily dependent on or seamlessly improved by technology. Different technology media, channels and resources, especially in the higher education, have greatly affected the method of pedagogy in recent years. First was computer-based learning, which has replaced most of the traditional way in reading, learning and test taking. This include the use of electronic books, videos and the computer-based exams. On the other hand, gamification has been able to enhance students' understanding of learning. From the usual monotonous reading to the recollection of a enjoyable game-like experience, which gives them the feeling of pleasure instead of pressure. The students undertaking accounting classes have a great deal to learn basic accounting including debit and credit principles – a double entry accouting system method, which are one of the essentiaal and important to the skills they have in the real world, and yet they can be repetitive, boring and tearful. The CREB1T application aimed to tackle this issue by incorporating gamification approach in the lesson and deploy it on a mobile application, a platform where most millenials students are receptive with. And since it’s on mobile students may able to learn it anywhere during their spare time giving them freedom to suit their study habit.

Creating and Using “Choose‐your‐own‐experiment” Case Studies in Large Lecture Courses

“Choose‐your‐own‐experiment” cases make use of an in‐class iterative cycle in which students choose from a set of experimental options, followed by the immediate acquisition of data, and subsequent discussion before repeating the cycle with another decision. Cases involving iterative decision‐making and evidence gathering are common in medical education and games, but uncommon in undergraduate science education. Notably this game‐like experience is implementable in regular large‐lecture courses. An additional layer of complexity can be added by limiting the ability of students or groups to gather all the data, creating a “jig‐saw” type activity and an opportunity for genuine collaboration toward a common goal. I will present an example of one such case study which is currently published and freely available for immediate use. This original case was created to increase retention and deepen learning by teaching “scientific inquiry” in life science courses. I will also discuss how this method can be easily implemented in other courses and contexts and suggest methods for other practitioners to write their own cases, drawing on my own experiences writing six cases of this type for biology and biochemistry courses. Thus the goal of this session is to aid others in the creation and implementation of content‐specific inquiry‐driven activities in the health sciences to foster increased student retention in these programs.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Youth e-participation as a pillar of sustainable societies

Public inclusion is recognized as essential in local government decision-making processes. Popular web based tools not only ensure wide e-participation with increased acceptance among citizens, but can also be used to target long term sustainability by attracting and actively engaging the youth. This paper presents a comprehensive approach aiming to empower youth in the process of urban planning using a combination of game based learning, co-creation, simulation modelling and design thinking. The proposed methodology attracts the youth by presenting the urban planning problem using their favourite game Minecraft. The final model is a collaborative effort between citizens and experts during which the participants are unobtrusively educated on sustainable urban design. The results of its implementation in a public space design case study in Prishtina, Kosovo show that the youth responded very positively to the possibility of empowerment and learning how a popular game can be used to help the community, while other participants considered the input and ability to use the e-tools essential for joint expression of ideas. In conclusion, by making the effort to transform projects in modern innovative game-like experience attractive to the youth, the local government invests in long term sustainability.

Games to Live With

In this paper I offer an alternative way to look at games that require no form of play. The player of these games is only supposed to keep them always up-to-date and running, but no specific action is required. NikeFuel is a significant example of this kind of game. NikeFuel, a technology for the quantification of body movement developed by the sports company Nike, is applied in a series of gadgets. The most popular, Nike+, is a wristband that quantifies the movements of the user and converts them into a NikeFuel score, which can later be visualised on a laptop or mobile phone. The act of moving throughout the day is transformed into a game-like experience, according to the principles of gamification. Gamification and quantified-self technologies have been noted for their performative potential and their capacity to control and inform our bodies (Whitson 2015). From a Foucauldian perspective, quantified-self technologies are attempts to rationalise the practices and movements of living organisms, as forms of biopolitical control (Foucault 2005, Schrape 2014). However, these are also spaces of transformation of the conditions under which the self becomes possible. Through NikeFuel, and other examples that I explore in this paper (Farmville, Cookie Clicker, CarnageHug), the player has to come to terms with games that act as parasites on their own lives. Thus, I argue that Nike+ can also be seen to complicate our thoughts about the contemporary digital technologies that surround us on an everyday basis. In this paper I will argue, possibly counter-intuitively, that gamification and quantified-self technologies are not necessarily tools that we use for a specific purpose; these are technologies we carry around with us and live with. As such, we are transformed by them as much as we transform them. Thus, the problem raised in this paper is about how we can co-habit and be hospitable with these ‘parasites’ (Serres, 1982).

Comparing Outcomes of Kinect Videogame-Based Occupational/Physical Therapy Versus Usual Care.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a game-like exercise tool as a component of occupational and physical therapy treatment for patients with shoulder pain and impairment in an outpatient physical therapy clinic. The product evaluated is a hands-free therapy (HFT) prototype, using Microsoft(®) (Redmond, WA) Kinect™ technology. HFT was designed as a home exercise program (HEP), or adjunct to a clinic-based exercise program, with the goal to improve patient compliance and outcomes by providing patients with continuous immediate feedback and engaging them in a game-like experience. Eight patients with shoulder injuries were randomly assigned to study groups. Outcomes in pain, range of motion, and function were assessed. The experimental group received six sessions using HFT; the control group received six sessions of treatment as usual. The research demonstrated that patient outcomes were as good in the group using HFT as outcomes achieved with usual care. HFT was found to be a useful adjunct in an outpatient therapy clinic, allowing patients to complete exercises with real-time feedback and minimal therapist oversight. These preliminary findings support the potential use of technology to provide an effective therapy and HEP system. Additional research utilizing a larger sample size is warranted to determine if this product can be an effective tool to improve HEP compliance and to determine the effectiveness of HFT as an adjunctive treatment in the clinic.