Designing gamification for constructive competition

FEATHERSTONE, Mark (2018). Designing gamification for constructive competition. In: GERIL, Philippe and KING, David, (eds.) GAME-ON 2018 - 19th International Conference on Intelligent Games and Simulation. Belgium, Eurosis-Eti, 138-143.

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Abstract

This paper examines the need for constructive positive extrinsic motivational competition within gamification projects. Gamification takes common game design principles such as points, leaderboards and competition, then applies them to non-gaming activities. Participants often require extrinsic motivators to engage with gamification, such as financial reward, compulsory participation or prizes. This approach can reduce intrinsic motivation, creativity and sense of agency. One powerful extrinsic motivator is competition, which can be effective even without any real world prize. Competition can be divided into constructive and destructive types. Destructive competition can cause anxiety and lower self-esteem in participants. Constructive competition is motivating without these negative side-effects. It isn't possible to guarantee that a competition will be constructive, but there are broad principles that can be applied to design for constructive competition. These principles were investigated using a purpose built mobile application called UniCraft. This app was used in a cross-over study with university students in an attempt to increase their satisfaction with one of their subjects and it featured a 3D video game-like competitive battle mode. Online analytics recorded a statistically significant increase in app usage when this competitive game mode was enabled.

Item Type:	Book Section
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute > Communication and Computing Research Centre
Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Faculty of Science, Technology and Arts > Department of Computing
Page Range:	138-143
Depositing User:	Mark Featherstone
Date Deposited:	08 Oct 2018 13:28
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 07:54
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/22572

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