Originally published on the ACM XRDS blog.
User experience (UX) is a field within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) that studies the whole experience of a user with a product, system, or service. UX focuses on issues such as usability, ergonomics, cognitive load, and affective…
These slides are a summary of the post series focused on better understanding some of the most widely used gameful design elements.
If you're interested in reading more, also check the original blog posts:
Part 1: Challenge Accepted! The role of challenge for gameful design
Part 2: I’m…
Welcome to the final post in this series focused on better understanding some of the most widely used gameful design elements! This post will address progression, one of the basic design elements to help foster users’ intrinsic motivation from competence and mastery. If you…
In my previous post, I talked about the important role of challenge as an element for gameful design. Today I will talk about rewards, a game element that is present in many gameful applications. But before you continue, if you did not read part…
There are dozens of different game elements that can be employed for gameful design, from the most well-known points, badges, and leaderboards, to levels and progression, social interaction, competition, rewards, and many others. But there is one important game element that is perhaps underestimated: …
Personalization in serious games and gamified applications is a new and important research field with several questions that still need to be investigated. Results from initial research suggest that is very important to personalize serious games, but it is yet not clear how to do…
A profusion of gamified applications and games for health exist or are being developed every day. However, not all of them are informed by quality theoretical or practical research in order to establish the effectiveness of such applications in achieving the proposed goals. Last Fall I had the opportunity…
This year brought us many interesting advancements on the field of Gamification! With so much happening, I will not try to compile a comprehensive list of the best news we had this year, but I would love to highlight some of the facts that were…
In one of my previous book reviews, I argue that Gamification is becoming every day more common, however, many implementations are not as successful as others. I have seen many gamification projects that keep users engaged for a very little time, probably just…
Jane McGonigal is a pioneer in studying the use of games and game-inspired ideas to improve human life. Her first book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World (Penguin Books, 2011) is a bestseller that has inspired…