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Gamification is increasingly successful in the field of education and health. However, beyond call-centers and applications in human resources, its utilization within companies remains limited. In this paper, we examine the acceptance of gamification in a large company (with over 17,000 employees) across three generations, namely X, Y, and Z. Furthermore, we investigate which gamification elements are suited for business contexts, such as the dissemination of company principles and facts, or the organization of work tasks. To this end, we conducted focus group discussions, developed the prototype of a gamified company app, and performed a large-scale evaluation with 367 company employees. The results reveal statistically significant intergenerational disparities in the acceptance of gamification: younger employees, especially those belonging to Generation Z, enjoy gamification more than older employees and are most likely to engage with a gamified app in the workplace. The results further show a nuanced range of preferences regarding gamification elements: avatars are popular among all generations, badges are predominantly appreciated by Generations Z and Y, while leaderboards are solely liked by Generation Z. Drawing upon these insights, we provide recommendations for future gamification projects within business contexts. We hope that the results of our study regarding the preferences of the gamification elements and understanding generational differences in acceptance and usage of gamification will help to create more engaging and effective apps, especially within the corporate landscape.
A Gamified and Adaptive Learning System for Neurodivergent Workers in Electronic Assembling Tasks
(2020)
Learning and work-oriented assistive systems are often designed to fit the workflow of neurotypical workers. Neurodivergent workers and individuals with learning disabilities often present cognitive and sensorimotor characteristics that are better accommodated with personalized learning and working processes. Therefore, we designed an adaptive learning system that combines an augmented interaction space with user-sensitive virtual assistance to support step-by-step guidance for neurodivergent workers in electronic assembling tasks. Gamified learning elements were also included in the interface to provide self-motivation and praise whenever users progress in their learning and work achievements.
A report from the World Economic Forum (2019) stated loneliness as the third societal stressor in the world, mainly in western countries. Moreover, research shows that loneliness tends to be experienced more severely by young adults than other age groups (Rokach, 2000), which is the case of university students who face profound periods of loneliness when attending university in a new place (Diehl et al., 2018). Digital technology, especially mental health apps (MHapps), have been viewed as promising solutions to address this distress in universities, however, little evidence on this topic reveals uncertainty around how these resources impact individual well-being. Therefore, this research proposed to investigate how the gamified social mobile app Noneliness reduced loneliness rates and other associated mental health issues of students from a German university. As little work has focused on digital apps targeting loneliness, this project also proposed to describe and discuss the app’s design and development processes. A multimethod approach was adopted: literature review on high-efficacy MHapps design, gamification for mental health and loneliness interventions; User Experience Design and Human-centered Computing. Evaluations occurred according to the app’s development iterations, which assessed four versions (from prototype to Beta) through quantitative and qualitative studies with university students. The main results obtained regarding the design aspects were: users' preference for minimalistic interfaces; importance in maintaining privacy and establishing trust among users; students' willingness to use an online support space for emotional and educational support. Most used features were those related to group discussions, private chats and university social events. Preferred gamification elements were those that provided positive reinforcement to motivate social interactions (e.g. Points, Levels and Achievements). Results of a pilot randomized controlled trial with university students (N = 12), showed no statistically significant interactions in reducing loneliness among experimental group members (n = 7, x² = 3.500, p-value = 0.477, Cramer’s V = 0.27) who made continued use of the app for six weeks. On the other hand, the app showed effects of moderate magnitude on loneliness reduction in this group. The app also demonstrated relatively strong magnitude effects on other associated variables, such as depression and stress in the experimental group. In addition to motivating the conduct of further studies with larger samples, the findings point to a potential app effectiveness not only to reduce loneliness, but also other variables that may be associated with the distress.
What emotional effects does gamification have on users who work or learn with repetitive tasks? In this work, we use biosignals to analyze these affective effects of gamification. After a brief discussion of related work, we describe the implementation of an assistive system augmenting work by projecting elements for guidance and gamification. We also show how this system can be extended to analyse users' emotions. In a user study, we analyse both biosignals (facial expressions and electrodermal activity), and regular performance measures (error rate and task completion time).
For the performance measures, the results confirm known effects like increased speed and slightly increased error rate. In addition, the analysis of the biosignals provides strong evidence for two major affective effects: the gamification of work and learning tasks incites highly significantly more positive emotions and increases emotionality altogether. The results add to the design of assistive systems, which are aware of the physical as well as the affective context.
Brand identification has the potential of shaping individuals' attitudes, performance and commitment within learning and work contexts. We explore these effects, by incorporating elements of branded identification within gamified environments. We report a study with 44 employees, in which task performance and emotional outcomes are assessed in a real-world assembly scenario - namely, while performing a soldering task. Our results indicate that brand identification has a direct impact on individuals' attitude towards the task at hand: while instigating positive emotions, aversion and reactance also arise.
Defining Recrutainment: A Model and a Survey on the Gamification of Recruiting and Human Resources
(2017)
Recrutainment, is a hybrid word combining recruiting and entertainment. It describes the combination of activities in human resources and gamification. Concepts and methods from game design are now used to assess and select future employees. Beyond this area, recrutainment is also applied for internal processes like professional development or even marketing campaigns. This paper’s contribution has four components: (1) we provide a conceptual background, leading to a more precise definition of recrutainment; (2) we develop a new model for analyzing solutions in recrutainment; (3) we present a corpus of 42 applications and use the new model to assess their strengths and potentials; (4) we provide a bird’s eye view on the state of the art in recrutainment and show the current weighting of gamification and recruiting aspects.
We present the design outline of a context-aware interactive system for smart learning in the STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). It is based on a gameful design approach and enables "playful coached learning" (PCL): a learning process enriched by gamification but also close to the learner's activities and emotional setting. After a brief introduction on related work, we describe the technological setup, the integration of projected visual feedback and the use of object and motion recognition to interpret the learner's actions. We explain how this combination enables rapid feedback and why this is particularly important for correct habit formation in practical skills training. In a second step, we discuss gamification methods and analyze which are best suited for the PCL system. Finally, emotion recognition, a major element of the final PCL design not yet implemented, is briefly outlined.
Gamification in Industrial Production: An Overview, Best Practices, and Design Recommendations
(2023)
This work describes gamification as a path to increase both productivity and motivation of persons working in industrial production. While gamification has been established in pedagogy or health more than two decades ago, its transgression to the industrial domain started around the year 2010. A discussion of production-specific requirements and the psychological background provide an overview on production-oriented gamified solutions in recent years. We look at how gamification designs evolved to minimize distraction while maximizing acceptance. Based on three best practices, we describe ways to neatly integrate gamification into workflows, use context-awareness to augment work and adapt the challenge-level to keep users in a state of flow. Furthermore, we investigate ways to further increase acceptance by creating user-specific “bottom-up” gamification designs, like custom agents and branded gamification. The overview concludes with design recommendations tailored for the production domain.
Activities for rehabilitation and prevention are often lengthy and associated with pain and frustration. Their playful enrichment (hereafter: gamification) can counteract this, resulting in so-called “exergames”. However, in contrast to games designed solely for entertainment, the increased motivation and immersion in gamified training can lead to a reduced perception of pain and thus to health deterioration. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor activities continuously. However, only an AI-based system able to generate autonomous interventions could vacate the therapists’ costly time and allow better training at home. An automated adjustment of the movement training’s difficulty as well as individualized goal setting and control are essential to achieve such autonomy. This article’s contribution is two-fold: (1) We portray the potentials of gamification in the health area. (2) We present a framework for smart rehabilitation and prevention training allowing autonomous, dynamic, and gamified interactions.
In this work, we investigate how gamification can be integrated into work processes in the automotive industry. The contribution contains five parts: (1) An introduction showing how gamification has become increasingly common, especially in education, health and the service industry. (2) An analysis on the state of the art of gamified applications, discussing several best practices. (3) An analysis of the special requirements for gamification in production, regarding both external norms and the mindset of workers in this domain. (4) An overview of first approaches towards a gamification of production, focusing on solutions for impaired workers in sheltered work organizations. (5) A study with a focus group of instructors at two large car manufacturers. Based on the presentation of three potential designs for the gamification of production, the study investigates the general acceptance of gamification in modern production and determines which design is best suited for future implementations.