Informatics in Education, 2022, Vol. 21, No. 4, 655–674
© 2022 Vilnius University, ETH Zürich
DOI: 10.15388/infedu.2022.27
655
Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
Serafeim A. TRIANTAFYLLOU
1
, Christos K. GEORGIADIS
2
1
Secondary Education, Greek Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, Athens, Greece
2
Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Received: April 2022
Abstract. The rapid development of technology in today’s times make business’ survival a rather
complex task. It is therefore necessary for the specialized organization and administration of
each company to differentiate and strengthen its competitive advantages. Gamication is an es-
tablished practice in many business domains and can enforce employees to engage in business
processes and change aspects of their behavior. Even though numerous gamication patterns that
are described in literature have been used so far by businesses to various working environments,
the outcomes were not the best possible that we would expect in terms of their right utilization to
business non-game contexts. Thus, there is need for concise gamication patterns that can offer
right guidance to game designers in business. Gamication design patterns can provide a distilled
knowledge of techniques of how to design object-oriented software. This paper aims to address
this gap in existing literature by describing new gamication design patterns, classifying them
according to specic criteria and providing new information to this research domain. Our study
is a descriptive literature review and is based on review of previous works. This descriptive lit-
erature review tries to give a better understanding by proposing new gamication design patterns
in the continuously evolving research domain of gamication design patterns.
Keywords: gamication, design patterns, software design, game design.
1. Introduction
Gamication from its very beginning around 2010, has become a technological trend
with many successful implementations in software industry. It is an informal umbrella
term for describing the use of game-based elements to enhance user experience and
engagement in non-game activities and applications (Deterding et al., 2011; Huotari
and Hamari, 2012). It uses elements and mechanics of game design in a non-game
environment to bring on certain behavior in individuals, as well as to enhance their
motivation and engagement in specic tasks (Sailer, Hense, Mayr & Mandl, 2017).
Similar concepts that have been strongly connected to gamication are also ‘gameful
design’ or ‘game-like design’ (McGonigal, 2011). The popularity of gamication is
obvious the last nine years in the development of enterprise information systems and
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e-commerce systems, and while it has successfully been implemented in various work-
ing environments, it still remains unclaried how employees really act inside gamied
environments. Meder et al. (2015) examine the concept of gamication under the fol-
lowing hypotheses:
Gamication refers to diverse types of users that use game elements with many
(i)
different ways.
Gamication is used in order to accomplish a set of goals, as for instance the (ii)
issue of assigning each user a game design element that will encourage him to
accomplish these goals.
Gamication is the process of employing the integration of game design concepts
into non-game scenarios and non-game environments such as websites and mobile ap-
plications, to obtain instant feedback of services offered. According to Phillips (2014),
successful implementation of gamication requires a consistent design process. He men-
tions that a successful design process should include the following features:
Purpose
● : the designer must set a specic goal to achieve.
Human-centered ● : user-experience should be one of the priorities.
Balance ● : it is important the existence of balance between analytical and critical
thinking.
Iteration ● : focus on prototyping and testing.
Based on the above mentioned, Werbach (2014) has developed a gamication frame-
work of the following six steps:
Dene
● the goal behind gamication implementation.
Outline ● the desirable user behavior with the initial goal.
Describe ● the target audience.
Devise ● activity loops with emphasis on achieving progress and enhancing engage-
ment.
Do not forget ● the fun part.
Deploy ● gamication efciently with the use of the right tools.
The basic goal is to increase users’ engagement by urging them to interact more with
the gamied environment of the software application. A gamied software application
that includes specic interactive user-interface game elements such as challenge, badges
and stickers, leaderboards and storytelling is more likely to inspire users and increase
their motivation and engagement.
Designing gamication is a user-focused process. Thus, when designing how to ap-
ply gamication we should carefully choose the game design elements that best t to our
users’ needs and expectations, in order to incentivize them to accomplish goals and bring
the desirable outcomes in their workplace (Usability.gov., 2014).
Gamication is a signicant tool for designers to drive user engagement. It is impor-
tant to embody game elements into applications and systems that will incentivize users
to achieve goals. For example, users want to win awards and enjoy facing challenges.
Therefore, the embodied game dynamics in gamied projects can act as effective intrin-
sic motivation because they encourage users to engage with a gamied system at their
will. As Jane McGonigal, an American designer and author states:
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657
“Games give us unnecessary obstacles that we volunteer to tackle.”
In the set of rules that are part of the design process of a gamied app, there are some
types of rules that are commonly reused in many gamied software apps. A set of design
patterns for gamication can be reused for other gamication projects.
2. Related Work on Gamication Frameworks
Meaningful gamication in software industry refers to the improvement of software
design with game-like features to create engaging and enjoyable experiences to us-
ers exactly with the same way games do (Deterding et al., 2011; Huotari and Hamari,
2016; Deterding, 2015). Nowadays, the software is designed to be useful and practical.
Software is designed using the utilitarian principle of research software development
which emphasizes that software should reduce the overall human effort (Van der Hei-
jden, 2004). However, most users expect that software is designed not only to be prac-
tical, but also enjoyable and easy to use (Deterding et al., 2011; Hamari et al., 2014).
Therefore, software designers embody gamication techniques in software develop-
ment projects in order to design, analyze and optimize utilitarian software with hedonic
elements (Van der Heijden, 2004).
In enterprise gamication, most gamied systems embody game design elements
such as points, badges, leaderboards and progress bars in order to increase motiva-
tion, engagement, knowledge sharing and productivity of businesses and organizations
(Morschheuser et al., 2017). Gamication software engineering is a complex domain,
and a multidisciplinary approach should be followed, including basic principles from
the elds of psychology, game design and programming to handle efciently the com-
plexity of designing effective gamication software development (Brookey, 2010).
Software engineering of gamication aims to create gameful engaging and enjoyable
experiences to increase users’ motivation towards specic behavior patterns through
the implementation of game design elements from games into non-gaming contexts
(Huotari and Hamari, 2016 ; Deterding, 2015). In most cases, game designers that im-
plement gamication aim to design and implement gamied software that is:
A functionally well-designed software to function in a proper way.
i)
A user-friendly software which encourages users’ interaction and leads to desir-ii)
able behavioral changes.
Gamication can be classied and modelled in many ways, e.g., with UML (Uni-
ed Modeling Language) diagrams (Dormans, 2008; Taylor, 2006), Petri Nets (Araújo
and Roque, 2009), or other custom tools that allow users to communicate structure,
behaviour, and interaction. MDA framework (standing for Mechanics, Dynamics, and
Aesthetics), developed and taught as part of the Game Design and Tuning Workshop at
the Game Developers Conference, San Jose 2001–2004, is a formal approach, which
attempts to contribute to a better scientic understanding in the research area of game
design and production, game criticism and research on technical gaming and playful
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
658
interaction (Hunicke et al., 2004). The MDA framework is a tool that can help design-
ers and researchers in game research area. Games and gamied applications are cre-
ated by designers and developers, and they constitute a product or service consumed
by users (players) (Vieira, Silveira & Martins, 2019). Game Mechanics are built from
algorithms and data and refer to specic game components that are presented to users.
Game Dynamics illustrate the run-time game system operation and behavior. Aesthetics
represent the emotional stimuli that come from the way users interact with the whole
game system.
Embodying specic structural schemes and design forms as solutions to common
repeatable problems, show the meaningful use of design patterns in software industry.
Design patterns are offering a distilled knowledge of techniques of how to design ob-
ject-oriented software. They are concise and simple solutions to specic type of prob-
lems (Gamma
et al., 1995). In particular, Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson,
and John Vlissides state about design patterns in their software engineering book, that
design patterns are created to solve design problems, like nding the right objects,
choosing granular objects which are at low level detail in the code, and achieving intel-
ligent code reuse (Gamma et al., 1995). Object-oriented programs may have complex
structure of components and interactions among them, which means that components
and interactions among them can be dened on different levels of granularities. Design
patterns show in a much simpler way how developers can structure classes and objects
to solve specic problems (Freeman et al., 2004). Game design patterns are design
patterns that are especially useful for making games or gamied projects. Many of
the design patterns introduced by Gamma et al. (1995) can be useful in game-based
projects, but Robert Nystrom (Nystrom, 2009–2014) has described in his book many
other design patterns that are also very useful especially in the production process of
game-like based projects. Nystrom’s expertise in software industry as a game developer
at Electronic Arts for eight years is obvious in his book Game Programming Patterns,
where he describes some of the old Gang of Four design patterns, and presents many
new design patterns, created with main aim to solve repeatable problems in game pro-
gramming. Design patterns constitute a necessity in intelligent software design in a
continuously changing and evolving software industry.
3. Dening User Experience (UX)
User experience (UX) focuses on a deeper understanding of users. In particular, it is
very important to understand users’ needs, abilities and limitations. Also, we must focus
on the business objectives in order to improve the quality of users’ interaction with the
business products or services. Nick Babich a UX architect and writer, mentions that
user-centered design consists of user-focused processes in the product design and de-
velopment stages. In the design process of a gamied product, designers focus on users’
requirements, objectives, and feedback (Babich, 2019).
According to the ve-stage Design Thinking model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner
Institute of Design at Stanford there are the following ve basic stages in the design pro-
Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
659
cess: Empathise, Dene (the problem), Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The Design Thinking
process is a step-by-step and exible process that can help both businesses and individu-
als to nd solutions to a problem. It helps the design team to understand users’ needs
(Empathy), dene the problem to be solved (Dene), create new ideas (Ideate), adopt
a specic approach in prototyping (Prototype) and develop a prototype/solution to the
problem (Test) (Rikke Friis Dam and Yu Siang Teo, 2020).
User experience (UX) is a continuously developing eld. Creating a successful user-
centered design contains the principles of human-computer interaction (HCI) including
the following basic disciplines (Usability.gov):
Project Management
● is the application of knowledge, tools, and techniques on
planning and organizing a project and its resources. In particular, this includes
identication and management of the lifecycle to be used and its application to the
user-centered design process.
User Research
● focuses on a better understanding of users’ behaviors and needs,
that occurs with specic observation techniques, task analysis, and feedback
methodologies.
Usability Evaluation
● focuses on how users can learn and use efciently a product
to meet their goals. It also refers to how satised users are through that process.
Information Architecture
● focuses on the overall organization of information,
and, in particular, how information is structured and presented to users.
User Interface Design
● focuses on ensuring that a user interface contains elements
that are easy to access, understandable and friendly to use from users.
Interaction Design ● focuses on creating engaging interactive systems.
Visual Design
● focuses on ensuring a friendly interface that meets brand objec-
tives.
Content Strategy
● focuses on useful content by planning its creation, delivery and
overall management.
Accessibility ● focuses on the open access and user-friendliness of a site, system or
application and its ease of use from disabled individuals.
Web Analytics ● focuses on the collection, reporting, and analysis of websites
data.
Peter Morville a pioneer of the elds of information architecture and user experi-
ence explains information architecture and user experience with the following dia-
gram (see Fig. 1). The three circles show the distinction between user experience and
user-centered design (Morville, 2004). Peter Morville went further and designed a
new more detailed diagram to show the facets of user experience (see Fig. 2). Accord-
ing to him a system must be: (a) useful by providing innovative solutions, (b) usable,
with emphasis in web design on the interface-centered aspects of human computer
interaction, (c) desirable by using efciently elements of emotional design such as
images, identity, brand and others, (d) ndable with main purpose the efcient design
of navigable web sites and locatable objects to meet users’ expectations, (d) acces-
sible to everyone, (e) credible and (f) valuable by delivering of value to its sponsors
(Morville, 2004).
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
660
According to usability expert Jakob Nielsen, usability is a quality feature that evalu-
ates the ease of use of user interfaces with emphasis on specic methods for improving
ease of use during the design process. He states about usability on the Web the following
(Nielsen, 2012):
Fig. 1. Three Circles of Information Architecture (Morville, 2004).
Fig. 2. User Experience Honeycomb (Morville, 2004).
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661
“On the Web, usability is a necessary condition for survival. If a web-
site is difcult to use, people leave. If the homepage fails to clearly
state what a company offers and what users can do on the site, people
leave. If users get lost on a website, they leave. If a website’s informa-
tion is hard to read or doesn’t answer users’ key questions, they leave.
Note a pattern here? There’s no such thing as a user reading a website
manual or otherwise spending much time trying to gure out an inter-
face. There are plenty of other websites available; leaving is the rst
line of defense when users encounter a difculty.
The rst law of ecommerce is that if users cannot nd the product, they
cannot buy it either.”
4. Research Methodology
This literature review aims to make a synthesis of research and ndings on the content of
gamication design patterns and user engagement. Following guidelines by Paré et al.,
we conducted a descriptive literature review of selected studies that tted for nal de-
tailed analysis. Our research methodology tries to address the gap in existing literature
by describing new gamication design patterns, classifying them according to specic
criteria and providing new information to this research domain. Our research methodol-
ogy is based on review of previous works and the following basic steps show our basic
research plan:
Step 1: Initial Search in bibliographic databases
The basic aim of our research methodology was at rst to direct our research to nd
relevant studies about gamication design patterns and user engagement. To nd more
publications of high scientic rigor, a detailed and focused search process was run in rel-
evant bibliographic databases such as Scopus database, and SpringerLink (a search with
“Gamication Design Patterns” and “User Engagement” in the eld including titles,
abstracts and keywords in the Scopus and the SpringerLink databases, accessed 1 Oc-
tober, 2022). The total number of publications after a search in Scopus Database within
2011–2022 amounted to 377 documents in the year 2022, 401 documents in the year
2021, 338 documents in the year 2020, 227 documents in the year 2019, 192 documents
in the year 2018, 136 documents in the year 2017, 127 documents in the year 2016,
86 documents in the year 2015, 57 documents in the year 2014, 34 documents in the
year 2013, 8 documents in the year 2012 and 5 documents in the year 2011 (see Fig. 3
and see Fig. 4). Also, considering the documents by afliation, the greatest number of
documents were by afliation: the Tampere University (31 documents), the Northeast-
ern University (18 documents), the Delft University of Technology (17 documents), the
Universiteit Ultrecht (17 documents), the Politecnico di Milano (16 documents), the
Aalto University (16 documents), the Turun yliopisto (15 documents), the Karlsruher
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
662
Institut fur Technologie (15 documents), the LUT University (14 documents) and the
University of Saskatchewan (14 documents). The total number of publications after a
search in SpringerLink Database amounted to 1,539 chapters, 1,398 books, 806 Confer-
ence Papers, 684 Articles, 550 Conference Proceedings, 97 Reference Work Entries and
33 Reference Works (Fig. 5).
Step 2: Dening Selection Criteria
To select our papers, we dened the following criteria:
Peer-reviewed full-text papers published in an international venue were selected
1.
for review.
Research methods in the papers are clearly explained.2.
Fig. 3. Scopus indexed papers within 2011–2022.
Fig. 4. Documents by afliation indexed by Scopus database.
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663
Step 3: Selected Studies
The number of selected papers is presented in Table1:
Fig. 5. SpringerLink indexed papers.
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5. Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
5.1. Game-based Practices with Gamication
The optimist scenario when applying gamication in web-based systems especially
in eCommerce is to boost engagement, increase motivation, give options, enhance
progress, and create social habits (Zichermann and Joselin, 2010). In virtual project
management of software applications, embodying game-like elements in a system
leads not simply to an increase of engagement of employees at work, but to a constant
Table 1
Selected Studies
Selected Studies Gamication
Design Patterns
Design
Patterns
User
Engagement
Alexander, Ishikawa, Silverstein, Jacobson, Fiksdahl-
King, Shlomo, 1977
-
Araújo & Licinio, 2009
Aseriskis and Damasevicius, 2014
Babich, 2019 - -
Brookey, 2010
Chou, 2016
Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011
Deterding, 2015
Direkova, 2012
Dormans, 2008
Dymek & Zackariasson, 2016
Freeman, Freeman, Sierra & Bates, 2004 -
Gamma, Helm, Johnson & Vlissides, 1995 -
Hunicke & Leblanc & Zubek, 2004
Hamari, Koivisto & Sarsa, 2014
Huotari, & Hamari, 2012
Kapp, 2013
Lewis, 2014
McGonigal, 2011
Meder, Jain, Plumbaum & Hopfgartner, 2015
Morschheuser, Maedche and Walter, 2017
Morville, 2004 - -
Nielsen, 2012 - -
Nystrom, 2009–2014
Phillips, 2014
Triantafyllou & Georgiadis, 2022
Zichermann and Joselin, 2010
Vieira, Silveira & Martins, 2019
Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
665
rising progress and the creation of a habit to use software on a regular basis (Trian-
tafyllou, 2022). When gamied software is designed in a proper and successful way,
it has the capability to overcome any challenges that might appear in virtual projects
by creating effective communication standards and tracking information about others
team members’ interactions available (Aseriskis and Robertas, 2014). In addition, a
gamied system has the potential to provide a basis for automated processes due to the
rise of motivation that occurs when team members establish a relationship of mutual
trust and friendship (Dymek and Zackariasson, 2016; Triantafyllou and Georgiadis,
2022).
5.2. Pattern Recognition
5.2.1. Motivational User Stories and Design Patterns
User stories are an approach in software engineering that ensures that software appli-
cations meet users’ needs and expectations. They must be specic with well-dened
requirements and methods, and well-designed features and outcomes (Lewis, 2014).
Design patterns were rstly introduced by Christopher Alexander and others in
their book “A Pattern Language” (Alexander et al., 1977). The patterns described
in this book refer to the general use of design patterns as architectural solutions at
construction levels. However, we focus our research on the use of design patterns in
software. Design patterns are offering a distilled knowledge of techniques of how to
design object-oriented software. According to Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph
Johnson, and John Vlissides, design patterns are concise and simple solutions to spe-
cic type of problems (Gamma et al., 1995). In their software engineering book “Ele-
ments of Reusable Object-Oriented Software”, they explain that design patterns are
created to solve design problems and this book had so much inuence on software
engineering eld that its authors were referred to as the “Gang of Four” in the software
engineering circles.
Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen present in a very interesting way game de-
sign patterns in their named book “Patterns in Game Design” (Bjork and Holopainen,
2004). They present game design patterns in similar scope to motivational design pat-
terns and describe creative experimentation that helps in the creating of emotional
experience for the players. Björk and Holopainen (2004) dened game design patterns
as follows:
“Semiformal interdependent descriptions of commonly recurring
parts of the design of a game that concern gameplay.”
Similarly, Lewis (2014) suggests the following denition of motivational design pat-
terns based on the above denition:
“Semiformal descriptions of commonly recurring parts of the design
of an application that concern motivating user behavior.”
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
666
As with game design patterns, motivational design patterns are inaccurate tools, thus
the “semiformal” aspect must be kept in the above denition. The key difference is that
motivational design patterns are not as interlinked as game design patterns. Game design
patterns have very strong connections and the inclusion of one pattern in a game may
enable or disable the inclusion of another. Motivational design patterns have more inde-
pendency and can be combined to create different forms of applications (Lewis, 2014).
For a motivational design pattern to function properly it must meet users’ needs. Users
must be aware about the functionality of the pattern. But they do not do this consciously
and it is important to examine some of the following levels that a user faces when he/she
is working with a motivational design pattern:
1. User interface widget: The user interface widget represents what the user can
see.
2. Affordances: Affordances describe how the widget enables the user to interact
with the interface.
3. Desire: These affordances refer to give answers to the question of what really
drives the users to interact with the widget.
A common element in gamication that is closely connected with the development of
academic or professional skills, refers to the process of creating, identifying or predict-
ing a pattern. Karl Kapp (2013) states about the pattern recognition that:
“Pattern recognition is the ability to recognize order in a chaos or to
see relationships in disjointed information. Patterns can be found in
concepts, ideas, and series of words, symbols, numbers, and images.
They can also be found in behavior, economies and historical events.
In every discipline, patterns are crucial for predicting the future, es-
timating the right course of action and determining diagnostic steps.
Salespeople use patterns to sell product, psychologists use patterns
to help patients, lawyers use patterns to help settle cases and re-
searchers use patterns to ght disease.”
In gamication, pattern recognition can be used to teach a salesperson to see a pattern
in a specic type of product. In teaching, a learner might be asked to identify the pattern
of behavior in a certain circumstance. Adding pattern recognition into gamied learning
events provides challenges to learners and incentivizes them as they work to identify
what constitutes a pattern (Kapp, 2013).
According to Kapp (2013) some simple guidelines that we can follow in pattern
recognition are the following:
Start with simple patterns and then move to more complex patterns.
●
Start with more tangible patterns and then move to more abstract patterns. ●
Provide many opportunities in the process of pattern recognition. ●
Keep the patterns simple for new learners in a studied subject and more abstract ●
for the knowledgeable learners.
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667
5.3. Specic Design Patterns for User Engagement
5.3.1. Successful Gamication is Based on the Core Drivers of Motivation
Gamication is about using game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking to
enhance users’ engagement, motivate action, and support learning. If done with the
proper way, research by Karl Kapp who is an Instructional Technology Professor at
Bloomsburg University, has shown that gamication can enhance employee motivation
by 51.6%.
Research has shed new light on why users prefer to play games and use gami-
ed applications by revealing what is actually happening inside the brain. Games and
gamied processes are very effective at driving users to encode, store and retrieve
information, resulting in meaningful learning. In gamied environments, users are
driven to contextualize information in their attempt to achieve their goals. Gamied
environments often produce strong emotions, resulting in knowledge activation fo-
cused on facilitating the recall of knowledge. The cooperative and social elements
of games and gamied projects draw on these emotions producing strong long-term
pleasant memories.
Successful gamication is based on the core drivers of motivation. The mechanics
of game elements (badges, points, leaderboards and quests) don’t automatically lead to
gameful and enjoyable user experience. Based on Yu-kai Chou’s extensive research in
the gaming industry, Yu-kai Chou has discovered that all successful games have eight
core drivers of motivation. Specically, Chou has proposed the “Octalysis framework”
and the following eight core drivers:
Epic Meaning & Calling
●
Development & Accomplishment ●
Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback ●
Ownership & Possession ●
Social Inuence & Relatedness ●
Scarcity and Impatience ●
Unpredictability and Curiosity ●
Loss & Avoidance ●
Yu-kai Chou has identied and classied the following 78 gamication techniques
depending on the type of motivation (see Table 2) (Chou, 2016).
5.3.2. Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
Gamication is the application of game elements and digital game design techniques
to non-game problems, such as business and social impact challenges. Gamication is
dened by Oxford University Press, as the “application of concepts and techniques from
games to other areas of activity.”
Nadya Direkova who works as a Game Mechanic and Senior UX Designer at Google,
states that the language of game mechanics is a relatively new language in consumer
software (Direkova, 2012). Game mechanics are design patterns that promote play and
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
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game-like engagement. Design patterns can be dened as repeatable solutions to design
problems.
According to Direkova, there are design patterns that create game-like user engage-
ment. She describes the following three main aspects of the user engagement (Direko-
va, 2012): (a) “Come and try the new gamied product or service”, (b) “Bring Friends
to try the new gamied product or service”, (c) “Come back to retry the new gamied
product or service (as frequent customers)”. The rst aspect refers to the beginner ex-
perience that occurs when we invite users to come and try a gamied application. The
second aspect refers to the social experience that occurs when we encourage users to
bring new friends to try the gamied application. The third aspect refers to the repeat-
able engagement that takes place when we call users to come back and try again the
gamied application as frequent customers. According to Direkova, all gamied appli-
cations must have the above mentioned three aspects fullled successfully by the use
of game mechanics.
Examining with detail the above three aspects we can identify specic design pat-
terns for user engagement. Starting to explore the rst aspect “Come and try the new
gamied product or service” with more detail, we can identify the following patterns
(Direkova, 2012):
1. Prize and awards: Prize and awards is a design pattern to attract users’ interest.
They are very popular and are used often in gaming and non-gaming context. A re-
alistic example of their use is the XPrize project (
https://www.xprize.org/).
XPRIZE is a non-prot organization that designs and manages public competitions
intended to encourage technological development that could benet humanity.
Table 2
Chou’s 78 gamication techniques
Epic Meaning & Calling
Narrative, Higher Meaning, Elitism, Humanity Hero, Destiny Child,
Beginners Luck, Free Lunch, Co-Creator
Development & Accomplishment
Points, Progress Bar, Step-By-Step Tutorial, Leaderboards, Badges,
Quest Lists, Boss Fights, Fixed Action Rewards, Win Prize, High-Five,
Crowning, Level-Up Symphony, Aura Effect
Empowerment of Creativity &
Feedback
General’s Carrot, Evergreen Mechanics, Blank Fills, Real-Time Control,
Chain Combos, Milestone Unlock, Boosters, Choice Perception,
Voluntary Autonomy, Instant Feedback
Ownership & Possession
Virtual Goods, Avatar, Build From Scratch, Learning Curve, Earned
Lunch, Collection Set, Monitoring, Protection, Recruitment
Social Inuence & Relatedness
Friending, Mentorship, Group Quest, Bragging, Touting, Water Cooler,
Social Treasure/Gifting, Thank-You Economy, Social Prod, See-Saw
Bump
Scarcity and Impatience
Dangling, Appointment Dynamics, Fixed Intervals, Moats, Throttles,
Countdown, Prize Pacing, Options Pacing, Patient Feedback
Unpredictability and Curiosity
Easter Eggs, Sudden Rewards, Oracle Effect, Mini Quests, Glowing
Choice, Rolling Rewards, Random Rewards, Mischief, Visual
Storytelling, Obvious Wonder
Loss & Avoidance
Sunk-Cost Tragedy, Progress Loss, Fear Of Missing Out, Evanescence
Opportunity, Scarlet Letter, Status Quo Sloth, Weep Tune, Visual Grave
Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
669
Their Board of Trustees include James Cameron, Larry Page, Arianna Hufngton,
and Ratan Tata among others. XPrize was a project that offered a prize to the rst
private company that would land on the moon and take a picture of the planetary
rover. In fact, there were about 30 private companies that had participated in the
mission for the XPrize.
2. Visual storytelling: Game designers in most cases reserve assets in order to de-
sign a gamied application with more visual features and not with too much text
instructions. Gamication for business is the practice of adding game elements
and mechanics to digital experiences to improve engagement, participation, and
trust. Brands are becoming gamication adopters and Groupon is an example of
these recent gamication adopters. Groupon and Zipcar have introduced their
value propositions in order to bring new innovative digital experiences to us-
ers. In particular, they have used a visual language and set of rules that promote
quick and direct engagement. A lot of startups are using this kind of methodol-
ogy of explaining their value propositions through interactive website layouts,
pleasant text messages, specic icons and organized steps. A value proposition
refers to the value a company promises to deliver to their customers if they
choose to buy their product. It is also a clear statement that describes the com-
pany’s brand to consumers by announcing them what the company stands for
and how it operates.
3. Visual Cues: This design pattern emphasizes on the visual elements of a software
application. An example of the use of this design pattern has been implemented
by Facebook. Facebook has used a similar pattern for the development of a new
feature of their mobile app. This new feature named “Facebook places” playing
“Flashlight” was designed to help users interact with the app and use it more eas-
ily. In Facebook they have decided to put a screen of darkness around “Facebook
places” and create a ashlight effect around “Facebook places” in order to help
users to click on this feature.
4. Tutorials and Coaching: Tutorials and coaching are used in games and gamied
environments in a lot of scenarios. These scenarios are designed to help users use
these gamied environments and understand how they operate.
5. Reward schedule: This pattern describes the new idea of a reward schedule.
Game designer Sid Meier, the creator of Civilization strategy game, states that:
“You cannot over-reward the player in the rst 10 minutes”. In other words, Sid
Meier explains that when we use game elements and mechanics in software, it is
not the right approach to give too many rewards from the beginning. Foursquare
for instance, has many kinds of badges. For beginners, Foursquare gives to new
users a newbie badge. However, there are some badges for experienced users with
high level of difculty to achieve them. Experienced users can earn their badges
after the successful completion of their mission.
All the above-mentioned design patterns (Prizes and awards, visual storytelling, vi-
sual cues, tutorials and coaching and the reward schedule) emphasize on enhancing pre-
cious initial engagement which is very important for businesses aiming to incentivize
users to start using their software.
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
670
Starting to explore the second aspect (b) “Bring Friends to try the new gamied
product or service” we can identify the social aspect of bringing friends and identify
the following design patterns in our attempt to achieve social engagement (Direkova,
2012):
1. Gated Trial-Form a team to start: It is important to invite users to work as a
team. When we invite users to participate in a gamied environment or log in to
use a gamied application through their social media account, we encourage so-
cial engagement of users because users can bring new friends to participate in our
gamied environment or use our gamied application.
2. Design conversations: Another pattern is to design conversations in order to re-
ceive social feedback from users’ opinions. By enabling conversations and com-
ments of users inside the gamied environment of our website or application,
we achieve the desirable social engagement. For example, Zynga is using many
types of buttons to increase user engagement. In addition, many companies adopt
the idea of a “thank you” button. In particular, when a user posts a question in
the gamied app and another person replies, a “thank you” button recognizes the
courtesy of the user that communicates with the other user by answering to the
question.
3. Structured social feedback: By urging users to write comments and express their
preferences about the gamied software they use, we get important feedback.
4. Reputation: All the above-mentioned patterns help companies to gain reputa-
tion. Reputation is used to many games and gamied applications to make users
feel good, to give users a sense of belonging to a community and for many other
purposes. For instance, Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational
ride-hailing company offering services that include peer-to-peer ridesharing and
a micromobility system with electric bikes and scooters. Uber allows to rate not
only taxi drivers’ behavior but also clients’ behavior through the taxi ride. Con-
cluding, the reputation system is that establishes how efcient players are by
using a gamied software application.
5. Sharing achievements: Another very interesting pattern is the idea of sharing
achievements. For example, users in Xbox platform want to express their digital
achievements to other users, because they can show by that way their meaningful
achievements.
6. Mischief: In any community there are uncertain circumstances that we have to
embrace. For example, Farmville does exactly that by allowing users to keep the
farms of their friends that were designed according to their preferences.
After the initial successful engagement of users, companies focus on nding new
ways to bring users back and retry the gamied website or software application. Start-
ing to explore the third aspect (c) “Come back to retry the new gamied product or
service (as frequent customers)” we can identify the following design patterns (Direk-
ova, 2012):
1. Create scores: Keeping scores can affect behavior in many ways. For example,
The Tidy Street Project in Brighton is part of CHANGE, an EPSRC funded research
Gamication Design Patterns for User Engagement
671
collaboration between The Open University, Goldsmiths, Sussex University and
Nottingham University. In particular, residents who volunteered for a new energy-
saving initiative, they had been given electricity meters so they could monitor
their daily energy use, and identify which devices are using the most power, and
when. In the Tidy Street project people’s energy consumption was written down
on the sidewalk and was updated every time the energy consumption changed.
2. Throttle actions: After achieving scores, the next step is throttle actions. In the
game design process, it is important to design gamied applications that incentiv-
ize users to interact with the whole gamied system.
3. Advanced User Paths: In software gamied applications it is necessary to in-
corporate simple tasks for users, that are gradually become more challenging.
For example, in YELP app website there is a special section that refers to specif-
ic users – an elite squad, that rank the website by writing reviews. In every user
are assigned specic privileges to work on a specic section of the website.
6. Discussion
Within a gamied workplace, gamication design patterns can lead to better user mo-
tivation and engagement by gradually improving the devotion to work and nally, the
productivity of employees. Undoubtedly, literature shows that gamication design pat-
terns help to provide better and reusable solution in everyday workplace conditions.
Gamication is a user-focused process and gamication design patterns are offering a
distilled knowledge of techniques as well as guidance for their use by work gamication
designers.
Within a gamied workplace, most of the employees want to engage in repetitive
learning tasks, overcome failure experience and continue to try to accomplish their goals
despite the difculties. Even though numerous gamication techniques and patterns that
are described in literature have been used so far by businesses to various working do-
mains, the outcomes were not the best possible that we would expect in terms of their
right utilization to business non-game place. Thus, there is need for concise gamication
patterns that can offer right guidance to game designers in business. In this paper, our
main goal was to describe the usage of new gamication design patterns in the work-
place and classify them according to specic criteria by providing new information to
this research domain.
7. Conclusion
Through this piece of work, some conclusions are drawn. The continuous ow of in-
formation and the rapid development of technology in today’s times make business’
survival a rather difcult and complex task. It is therefore necessary for the specialized
organization and administration of each company to differentiate and strengthen its com-
petitive advantages. All of these are prerequisites for operating in the long run.
S.A. Triantafyllou, C.K. Georgiadis
672
Designing gamication is a user-focused process. The basic goal is to increase us-
ers’ engagement by urging them to interact more with the gamied environment of the
software application. A gamied software application that includes specic interactive
user-interface game elements such as challenge, badges and stickers, leaderboards and
storytelling is more likely to inspire users and increase their motivation and engagement.
Gamication is a signicant tool for designers to drive user engagement. It is important
to embody game elements into applications and systems that will incentivize users to
achieve goals. Embodying specic structural schemes and design forms as solutions
to common repeatable problems, shows the really meaningful use of design patterns in
software industry. Design patterns are offering a distilled knowledge of techniques of
how to design object-oriented software.
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S.A. Triantafyllou is a Computer Science Teacher. He has worked as a Computer Sci-
ence Teacher in schools of Primary and Secondary Education of the Greek Ministry of
Education and Religious Affairs. He is also a Certied Microsoft Innovative Educa-
tor. He was born in Thessaloniki. Serafeim received his BSc in Applied Informatics
at the Department of Applied Informatics of the University of Macedonia, an MSc
degree in Continuing Education at the Department of Educational and Social Policy
of the University of Macedonia, and a Master Degree of Education in Special Educa-
tion at the Department of Education of the University of Nicosia and the Department
of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education of the University of Patras.
He has completed successfully the (400 hours) educational program in intercultural
education at the Department of Economics of the University of Piraeus. He has com-
pleted successfully the 1st EURASIP-GAIPDM Seasonal School on “Learning from
Signals, Images, and Video” at the School of Informatics of the Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki. He holds a certicate of Membership of IEEE Education Society
that recognizes him as the Afliate in good standing, denoting a personal and profes-
sional commitment to the advancement of technology. Serafeim is also a Member of
the Hellenic Society for STEM Education. Serafeim taught in School of Pedagogical
and Technological Education (ASPETE), Annex of Thessaloniki (Greece) for the aca-
demic years 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 respectively. He has served as a reviewer for
academic journals and academic conferences. Serafeim is also a certied trainer for
Adults of non-formal education by the National Organization for the Certication of
Qualications & Vocational Guidance – EOPPEP. He worked as a professor of Com-
puter Science in Public Vocational Training Institutes and Lifelong Learning Centres.
His research interests are in the areas of Educational Technology, STEAM technolo-
gies, Gamication technologies, Articial Intelligence, Special Education, Lifelong
learning and e-learning.
C.K. Georgiadis is a Professor of e-commerce technology in the Department of Ap-
plied Informatics at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. From Sep-
tember 2017 he serves as Director of the department’s postgraduate program “M.Sc.
in Applied Informatics”, as well as Member of the Deanship of the School of Infor-
mation Sciences. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science
from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1987 and 2002 respectively.
He completed postgraduate studies in Computer Applications at the University of
Pisa (Italy), in 1989. From 1995 to 2004 he worked as a Scientic and Laboratory As-
sociate at TEI of Thessaloniki. From 2005, he is also a member of the teaching staff
of Hellenic Open University. His research interests include the areas of e-commerce
and m-commerce technologies (related to security, interoperability and usability).
Research productivity is summarized in various articles in cooperation with other
researchers, in international journals and international conferences proceedings. He
has published more than 110 articles in international journals, edited volumes and
international conferences. He is a Senior Member of the ACM and SIGEcom. From
2012 he serves as Member of the Managing Committee of the Greek Computer Soci-
ety (Macedonia Thrace Chapter).
