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Gamification and Game Studies
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Gamification and Game Studies

A special issue of Information (ISSN 2078-2489). This special issue belongs to the section "Information Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 37114

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Panagiotis Petridis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Aston, Business School, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: games and XR in education; 3D interfaces and haptics; gamification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Games have become the leading form of entertainment today. The video games market is expected to be worth over USD 90 billion by 2020, and there are currently more than 2.5 billion video gamers from all over the world according to the European Mobile Game Market. Accordingly, there is a plethora of different games mediated through different technologies that are focused on the different gaming needs of the player base.

Following these developments, most of us use game mechanics in our everyday life, through the application of gamification. Gamification is defined as the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage players. It essentially describes the integration of game dynamics, services, community, content, and/or a campaign in order to drive participation in all manner of productive activities.

In recent years, the application of gamification has increased, and is demonstrated in the growing number of gamification applications, which focus on productivity, employee motivation, financial monitoring, professional training, fitness, and education. Research in the area has provided evidence that support the idea that gamification can increase motivation, engagement, and commitment in certain activities (such as healthy habits, exercise, learning, etc.).

We welcome submissions in the form of empirical, theoretical, and review articles that are focused on the combined area of the following topics:

  • Gamification approaches in a variety of contexts, including document annotation and ground-truth generation, interface design, information seeking, user modeling, and knowledge sharing;
  • Gamification design;
  • Applied game principles, elements, and mechanics;
  • Gamification analytics;
  • User engagement and motivational factors of gamification;
  • Player types, contests, and cooperative gamification;
  • Search challenges and gamification;
  • Game-based work and crowdsourcing;
  • Applications and prototypes;
  • Game-based learning;
  • Education and learning;
  • Human–computer interaction.

Dr. Panagiotis Petridis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning
  • Education and Games
  • Game Design
  • Human–computer interaction
  • Applied game principles, elements, and mechanics
  • Serious Games
  • Extended reality (XR)
  • Gamification

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 716 KiB  
Article
Addictive Games: Case Study on Multi-Armed Bandit Game
by Xiaohan Kang, Hong Ri, Mohd Nor Akmal Khalid and Hiroyuki Iida
Information 2021, 12(12), 521; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12120521 - 15 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4326
Abstract
The attraction of games comes from the player being able to have fun in games. Gambling games that are based on the Variable-Ratio schedule in Skinner’s experiment are the most typical addictive games. It is necessary to clarify the reason why typical gambling [...] Read more.
The attraction of games comes from the player being able to have fun in games. Gambling games that are based on the Variable-Ratio schedule in Skinner’s experiment are the most typical addictive games. It is necessary to clarify the reason why typical gambling games are simple but addictive. Also, the Multiarmed Bandit game is a typical test for Skinner Box design and is most popular in the gambling house, which is a good example to analyze. This article mainly focuses on expanding on the idea of the motion in mind model in the scene of Multiarmed Bandit games, quantifying the player’s psychological inclination by simulation experimental data. By relating with the quantification of player satisfaction and play comfort, the expectation’s feeling is discussed from the energy perspective. Two different energies are proposed: player-side (Er) and game-side energy (Ei). This provides the difference of player-side (Er) and game-side energy (Ei), denoted as Ed to show the player’s psychological gap. Ten settings of mass bandit were simulated. It was found that the setting of the best player confidence (Er) and entry difficulty (Ei) can balance player expectation. The simulation results show that when m=0.3,0.7, the player has the biggest psychological gap, which expresses that player will be motivated by not being reconciled. Moreover, addiction is likely to occur when m∈[0.5,0.7]. Such an approach can also help the developers and educators increase edutainment games’ efficiency and make the game more attractive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gamification and Game Studies)
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18 pages, 329 KiB  
Article
MMORPG Evolution Analysis from Explorer and Achiever Perspectives: A Case Study Using the Final Fantasy Series
by Haolan Wang, Zeliang Zhang, Mohd Nor Akmal Khalid, Hiroyuki Iida and Keqiu Li
Information 2021, 12(6), 229; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12060229 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6571
Abstract
Due to the advent of the Internet, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have been enjoyed worldwide by many players simultaneously, and game publishers’ revenues have reached billions of dollars from subscriptions alone. Frequent updates (e.g., versioning) and new contents (e.g., quest system) [...] Read more.
Due to the advent of the Internet, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) have been enjoyed worldwide by many players simultaneously, and game publishers’ revenues have reached billions of dollars from subscriptions alone. Frequent updates (e.g., versioning) and new contents (e.g., quest system) are the typical strategies adopted by developers to keep MMORPG experiences fresh and attractive. What makes such strategies attractive and retains the interest of players in MMORPGs? This study focuses on one aspect of a popular MMORPG: the player’s experience of the quest systems of Final Fantasy XIV (FF14). The different quest systems were analyzed considering Bartle’s players’ classification, specifically for the explorers and achievers. From an information science perspective, such an analysis can be achieved via game refinement (GR) theory, which formulates the information of the game’s progression into a measurable model of game sophistication. On top of that, we used the concept of motion in mind, which was derived from concepts in physics. It maps game progression information to enable the possible quantification and approximation of players’ mental movements and affective experiences in the game. Based on the analysis of the collected data using the proposed measures of GR and motion in mind, the impact of regular updates on players in long-term games is discussed. Insights from the study provide guidance and suggestions for potential improvements in long-term game design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gamification and Game Studies)
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29 pages, 1451 KiB  
Article
A Survey on Gamification for Health Rehabilitation Care: Applications, Opportunities, and Open Challenges
by Nooralisa Mohd Tuah, Fatimah Ahmedy, Abdullah Gani and Lionelson Norbert Yong
Information 2021, 12(2), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12020091 - 22 Feb 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8441
Abstract
Research trends in gamification have shown a significant diversity in various areas of e-health, particularly in addressing the issues of rehabilitation and physical activity. Rehabilitation requires better engaging tools that help to increase the patient’s motivation and engagement in particular forms of rehabilitation [...] Read more.
Research trends in gamification have shown a significant diversity in various areas of e-health, particularly in addressing the issues of rehabilitation and physical activity. Rehabilitation requires better engaging tools that help to increase the patient’s motivation and engagement in particular forms of rehabilitation training. Adopting gamification in rehabilitation offers different treatment and care environments when implementing rehabilitation training. As gamification is increasingly being explored in rehabilitation, one might not realize that using various techniques in gamified applications yields a different effect on gameplay. To date, varied gamification techniques have been utilized to provide useful experiences from the perspective of health applications. However, a limited number of surveys have investigated the gamification of rehabilitation and the use of suitable game techniques for rehabilitation in the literature. The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze the existing gamification techniques for rehabilitation applications. A classification of rehabilitation gamification is developed based on the rehabilitation gamifying requirements and the gamification characteristics that are commonly applied in rehabilitation applications. This classification is the main contribution of this paper. It provides insight for researchers and practitioners into suitable techniques to design and apply gamification with increased motivation and sustainable engagement for rehabilitation treatment and care. In addition, different game elements, selection blocks, and gamification techniques are identified for application in rehabilitation. In conclusion, several challenges and research opportunities are discussed to improve gamification deployment in rehabilitation in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gamification and Game Studies)
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Review

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18 pages, 10334 KiB  
Review
Gamifying Computer Science Education for Z Generation
by Hadeel Mohammed Jawad and Samir Tout
Information 2021, 12(11), 453; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12110453 - 1 Nov 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5765
Abstract
Generation Z members use their smart devices as part of their everyday routine. Teaching methods may need to be updated to make learning materials more interesting for this generation. This paper suggests gamifying computer science subjects to enhance the learning experience for this [...] Read more.
Generation Z members use their smart devices as part of their everyday routine. Teaching methods may need to be updated to make learning materials more interesting for this generation. This paper suggests gamifying computer science subjects to enhance the learning experience for this generation. Additionally, many students face difficulty in understanding computer science materials and algorithms. Gamifying computer science education is one of the suggested teaching methods to simplify topics and increase students’ engagement. Moreover, the field of computer science is dominated by males. The use of gamification could increase women’s interest in this field. This paper demonstrates different techniques that were developed by the researchers to employ gamification in teaching computer science topics. The data was collected at the end of the two different courses. Results show that students enjoyed the suggested teaching method and found it useful. This paper also demonstrates two tools and their gamification elements. These tools were developed by the researchers to help people learn computer programming and information security. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gamification and Game Studies)
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Other

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18 pages, 1458 KiB  
Systematic Review
Gamification for Brand Value Co-Creation: A Systematic Literature Review
by Mohamad Amir Merhabi, Panagiotis Petridis and Rushana Khusainova
Information 2021, 12(9), 345; https://doi.org/10.3390/info12090345 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 10034
Abstract
Gamification, commonly defined as the use of game elements in non-game contexts, is a relatively novel term, yet it has been gaining popularity across a wide range of academic and industrial disciplines. In the marketing field, companies are increasingly gamifying their mobile apps [...] Read more.
Gamification, commonly defined as the use of game elements in non-game contexts, is a relatively novel term, yet it has been gaining popularity across a wide range of academic and industrial disciplines. In the marketing field, companies are increasingly gamifying their mobile apps and online platforms to enrich their customers’ digital experiences. Whilst there has been a number of systematic studies examining the influence of gamification on user engagement across different fields, none has reviewed its role in brand value co-creation. Following a systematic literature review procedure via the online research platform EBSCOhost, this paper is the first to survey a set of empirical studies examining the role and impact of gamification on brand value co-creation. A final pool of 32 empirical studies implies the existence of four types of activities that are co-created by online users and positively influenced by gamification, namely: customer service, insights sharing, word-of-mouth, and random task. Moreover, this paper highlights the major game dynamics driving these activities, the key findings of each of the covered studies and their main theoretical underpinnings. Lastly, a set of noteworthy research directions for future related studies are suggested, comprising the exploration of novel game elements, and new co-creation activities related to corporate social responsibilities and physical commercial operations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gamification and Game Studies)
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