Gamification FAQ #1: What is Gamification?

#1: What is Gamification?

Although the concept is around since 2010, there is no commonly accepted definition. 

So, what is gamification, after all? The most common and accepted definition for gamification is the one proposed by Deterding et al. (2011): “the use of game design elements in non-game contexts”. This is a straightforward definition but it lacks the purpose of the concept and raises some questions. What are game design elements? What is the point of using game design elements in non-game contexts? How should they be used? The main goal is that, by moving game elements to other contexts, it will be possible to induce, on people acting in those contexts, the same engagement that players feel when they play a game. If people are deeply motivated and engaged with some task they are performing, it will be more likely that they exhibit the right behaviors concerning the completion of that task. Gamification has as final objective the improvement of users’ involvement. As also pointed out by Kumar and Herger (2013), gamification is about motivating users. 

The definition I use is

The use of game elements and game techniques in non-game contexts, to drive game-like engagement in order to promote desired target behaviors.

This definition is related to what Nicholson (2012) calls meaningful gamification. With meaningful gamification, people engage in an activity because they are intrinsically motivated to perform the activity.

The concept of implicit gamification, proposed by Chou  is, in fact, what is considered to be gamification under the above definition. 

It is also close to what Kapp et al. (2014) call structural gamification rather then their notion of “content gamification”. In Kapp et al.’s view, “content gamification” is closer to serious games and simulations, since it aims to make contents more game-like.

Marczewski’s notion of intrinsic gamification or Long Term Deep Level Gamification is also close to what I understand as gamification. 

Behavior change gamification, proposed by Werbach and Hunter (2012), seeks to form new habits among a target population and is also emphasized in the last part of my definition – to promote desired behaviors. Werbach and Hunter point that this category of gamification includes “redesigning the classroom to make kids learn more while actually enjoying school”. 

It is also worthwhile to watch this video from Andrzej Marczewski:

and also this post: Gamification: What’s Play Got to do, (Got to do) with it?


References:

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., and Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining ”gamification”. In Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek ’11, pages 9–15, New York, NY, USA. ACM. 

Kumar, J. and Herger, M. (2013). Gamification at Work: Designing Engaging Business Software. The Interaction Design Foundation., Aarhus, Denmark. 

Nicholson, S. (2012). A user-centered theoretical framework for meaningful gamification. In Proceedings of Games+Learning+Society 8.0, Pittsburgh. ETC Press. 

Kapp, K., Blair, L., and Mesch, R. (2014). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction  Fieldbook: Ideas into Pratice. Wiley.

Werbach, K. and Hunter, D. (2012). For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business. Wharton Digital Press.   

A Brief History of Gamification: Part VII - The Definitions (Again and Again)

The debate about what the definition for gamification should be is far from being over. After the definition from Brian Burke and Gartner  (see A Brief History of Gamification: Part V - The Definitions (Again) ), more definitions saw the light of day:

Andrzej Marczewski publish in his blog the post Defining gamification – what do people really think? where he presents an "average definition" for gamification: creating more game-like experiences in non game contexts. He points that this definition "does not include anything about why or how, just what it is". His proposal results from an average of a list of other definitions (some from  gamification gurus), looking at the most common concepts present. He concludes by saying "we are all trying to make more engaging experiences for people using ideas that games have been using forever".

A different approach is proposed by Rajat Paharia, the founder of Bunchball, in A New Day for Gamification, or Is It? For him, gamification is motivating people through data. He comments on Burke's definition stressing that it could be enhanced with less emphasis on game language, avoiding the use of terms like "players". For Paharia, gamification is not about games and not about play. He even quotes Brian Burke about gamification not being about fun. In short, Rajat Paharia's view of gamification is very enterprise and business related and gamification is more than that.

Finally, and recently, Kevin Werbach, the man behind the well-known MOOC on gamification, has a paper ((Re)Defining Gamification: A Process Approach) discussing and explaining his new definition: the process of making activities more game-like. The main change here is the notion of gamification as a process. In Werbach's view, his definition "creates a better fit between academic and practitioner perspectives". Most definitions rely on the use of game elements, in what he calls the elemental definitions, Using game elements in non-game contexts is not the same as transforming that context into something more game-like. To do that, a process is needed. The process can transform the activities to be more or less game-like. Therefore, the frontier between gamified and non-gamified settings is wider. He points that in education, the fact that a point system is used (the grades), it is  not possible to say that school activities (e.g. examinations) are gamified. At least, it means that education is a good non-game context that can be gamified as others mentioned (e.g. Lee and Hammer's Gamification in Education: What, How, Why Bother?). Werbach's definition is also aligned with the "average" definition from Marczewski.

Could the new Kevin Werbach's definition replace the widely used definition from Deterding et al., the use of game design elements in non-game contexts?

Some final remarks about what is gamification:

• It is not the same as games, but it is about games. If it is not about games, why call it gamification in the first place? If it is about games, the users of gamified applications can be called players, to highlight the idea, but this is probably not very important.

• Is is not clearly just about digital engagement. Is is about engagement, regardless of the medium, with a digital or non-digital approach. But digital tools can be very helpful.

• It is not about play, but it must feel as play, and it must be fun (how to define fun, anyway?). The importance of fun is the reason of the concept's name, the fun part of games, that lead to gamification.

• Data plays a central role in a gamification process because it drives the relation between the gamified application and the players. Again, digital tools can be very helpful.

• And it has a clear purpose: motivate people to change their behaviors and feelings about something that is not a game and is perceived as boring, unchallenging or without value. Making the thing (some activity in a non-game context) more game-like, by using what games have that can be used outside games, can engage people and motivate them to act properly regarding the thing's objectives.

All these definitions make their contributions: Burke with the focus on motivation and engagement as the purpose of gamification, Paharia with the focus on data and Werbach and Marczewski with the focus on the process of creating game-like experiences.

See also these other posts about the history of gamification:

A Brief History of Gamification: Part I - The Origin
A Brief History of Gamification: Part II - The Name
A Brief History of Gamification: Part III - The Definitions
A Brief History of Gamification: Part IV - The Evolution
A Brief History of Gamification: Part V - The Definitions (Again)
A Brief History of Gamification: Part VI - The Predictions

What is Gamification? A Short Whiteboard Video, Posted by Karl Kapp

A video with a definition for gamification, the origin of gamification and some predictions by Karl Kapp (published in this post). The definition is applied to learning and instruction and is based on the same ideas of the latest Karl Kapp's book on the subject (see this other post). The differences between gamification, learning games and simulations are also presented.

The video includes also Kapp's notions of structural gamification and content gamification:

• Structural gamification: the application of game elements to propel a learner through content with no alterations or changes to that content, only the structure around the content. 

• Content gamification: the application of game elements, game mechanics and game thinking to alter content to make the content more game like.
  

See also these posts about the history of gamification:

A Brief History of Gamification: Part I - The Origin
A Brief History of Gamification: Part II - The Name
A Brief History of Gamification: Part III - The Definitions
A Brief History of Gamification: Part IV - The Evolution
A Brief History of Gamification: Part V - The Definitions (Again)
A Brief History of Gamification: Part VI - The Predictions
 

A Brief History of Gamification: Part V - The Definitions (Again)

This is not exactly history (yet) but the discussion about the recent proposal for a gamification definition proposed by Brian Burke, a research analyst at Gartner, brings new issues that will help to understand the concept of gamification and, therefore, will probably be part of its history.

This is what Brian Burke and Gartner propose:

Gamification is “the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals”

They care to explain in detail the components of their proposal:

• Game mechanics describes the use of elements such as points, badges and leaderboards that are common to many games.

• Experience design describes the journey players take with elements such as game play, play space and story line.

• Gamification is a method to digitally engage, rather than personally engage, meaning that players interact with computers, smartphones, wearable monitors or other digital devices, rather than engaging with a person.

• The goal of gamification is to motivate people to change behaviors or develop skills, or to drive innovation.

• Gamification focuses on enabling players to achieve their goals. When organizational goals are aligned with player goals, the organization achieves its goals as a consequence of players achieving their goals.

Concerning game elements, not much to say. The examples given are the usual game elements found in gamified applications. Calling them game mechanics or game elements is another issue. I prefer the term "game elements". "Mechanics", in my view, are related to the rules that govern the use of the elements, how are they related and how they can motivate people to achieve their goals.

Experience design is, to my knowledge, a new term in the gamification universe. I believe it is related to the player journey (see this post). In the explanation there is a connection to play, which is a central component in gamification.

A major issue concerning the definition, that raises most of the discussion, is about "digitally engage". In this definition, gamification can only be applied in a digital context. That is not the view of many gamification researchers and practitioners (or gamification gurus). In fact, the concept can be used in any context, digital or non-digital. Digital technologies can help by providing the platforms to assist the implementation of the concept in a non-digital context, but that is not mandatory. See this post about the different application contexts of gamification.

The last part of the definition, motivate people to achieve their goals, is interesting since it focus on the players (the people with goals to be achieved) and not on the organizational goals (that must be aligned with the players' goals). But, in many situations, the target users of a gamified application, may not have such clear goals. In these cases, the gamified application tries to change the players behaviors, to achieve certain goals, that are useful for them but that they are not aware of (or concerned about). Therefore, the goals are set by the organization, and the gamified application tries to motivate the players to reach those goals, that must be clear for the players and that must be, ultimately, the players' own goals. This is particular relevant in educational contexts.

To summarize, this new definition and the discussion about it shows that there is still work to be done to clarify what is meant by gamification. It is now clear that is not the same of games or serious games or simulations or game-based learning (as it was initially confused). But the Burke/Gartner definition reveals that we must look deeper into the contexts where gamification can be applied and to the tools that can be used.

The most common definition, and widely used in the academia, is still "the use of game design elements in non-game contexts". Simple and straightforward. My own definition adds a second part:

the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, to drive game like engagement in order to promote desired behaviours.

It points to the goals of gamification, an engagement like the one people experience with games, as a way to promote some desired behaviors in the target users of the gamified application (that can be digital or non-digital).

Concerning the discussion about the Burke/Gartner definition, see this posts and discussions

Gartner Redefines Gamification: What Do You Think?

A response to Gartner’s new definition of gamification

What gamification is to me – My definition

Gartner is Soooooo Wrong about Gamification…

How #Gartner got Gamification Wrong


This is the fifth post of the series A Brief History of Gamification. See also,

A Brief History of Gamification: Part I - The Origin

A Brief History of Gamification: Part II - The Name

A Brief History of Gamification: Part III - The Definitions

A Brief History of Gamification: Part IV - The Evolution

A Brief History of Gamification: Part III - The Definitions

The third part of The Brief History of Gamification is here, following A Brief History of Gamification: Part I - The Origin and A Brief History of Gamification: Part II - The Name. I invite others to contribute (with comments to the post) if something is missing and to correct what may be wrong or incomplete.

This third post is about the definition of the concept that became known as gamification. There are probably as many definitions for gamification as people writing about it. Gamification definitions have been proposed since the word appeared in 2010. Some of them were listed previously in this blog in a post where 23 definitions were listed. Those definitions were found in web logs, technical reports and academic papers. Some of them are redundant or very similar to each other. 

Here are some of those definitions and a few more recent ones:

• “The notion that gaming mechanics can be applied to routine activities” (Johnson et al., 2014);

•  “The use of game mechanics and rewards in non-game setting to increase user engagement and drive desired user behaviors” (Duggan and Shoup, 2013);

• “Implementing design concepts from games, loyalty programs, and behavior economics to drive user engagement” (Zichermann and Linder, 2013);

• “The use of game elements and game-design techniques in non-game contexts” (Werbach and Hunter, 2012);

•  “The application of game metaphors to real life tasks to influence behaviour, improve motivation and enhance engagement” (Marczewski, 2012); 

• “Using game techniques to make activities more engaging and fun” (Kim, 2011); 

• “The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game 
context” (Wu, 2011); 

• “Taking game mechanics and applying to other web properties to increase engagement” (Terrill, 2008);

   

Other definitions from the academia are:

•  “Incorporating game elements into a non-gaming software application to increase user experience and engagement” (Domínguez et al., 2013);

• “A form of service packaging where a core service is enhanced by a rules-based service system that provides feedback and interaction mechanisms to the user with an aim to facilitate and support the users’ overall value creation” (Huotari and Hamari, 2011);

• “The use of game mechanics, dynamics, and frameworks to promote desired behaviors” (Lee and Hammer, 2011);

• “The use of game design elements in non-game contexts” (Deterding et al., 2011).

This shows that there is no consensus for a single and widely accepted definition for gamification (Werbach and Hunter, 2012). The first known definition in an academic paper is the one from Huotari and Hamari. In spite of all these different proposals, the definition that is more often found in academic papers is the one from Deterding et al. (2011). This definition is now widely used as the academic definition for the concept of gamification.

The definition from Domínguez et al. refers to non-gaming educative contexts. To conclude, some more definitions regardind education and training contexts:

• “The adition of elements commonly associated with games (e.g. game mechanics) to an educational or training program in order to make the learning process more engaging” (Landers and Callan, 2011); 

• “Using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems” (Kapp, 2012); 

• “Simple gameplay to support productive interaction for expected types of learners and instructors” (Rughinis, 2013); 

See also:

A Brief History of Gamification: Part I - The Origin

A Brief History of Gamification: Part II - The Name

References:

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., and Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: Defining ”gamification". In Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, MindTrek ’11, pages 9–15, New York, NY, USA. ACM.

 Domínguez, A., Saenz-de Navarrete, J., de Marcos, L., Fernández-Sanz, L., Pagés, C., and Martínez-Herráiz, J. (2013). Gamifying learning experiences: Practical implications and outcomes. Computers and Education, 63(0):380–392. 

Duggan, C. and Shoup, K. (2013). Business Gamification for Dummies. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.  

Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2014). NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education Edition. Technical report, Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. 

Kapp, K. (2012). The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. Pfeiffer. 

Kim, A. (2011). Smart gamification: Designing the player journey [video].

Huotari, K. and Hamari, J. (2011). Gamification: from the perspective of service marketing. In Proc. CHI 2011 Workshop Gamification. 

Landers, R. and Callan, R. (2011). Casual social games as serious games: The psychology of gamification in undergraduate education and employee training. Serious Games and Edutainment Applications.

Lee, J. and Hammer, J. (2011). Gamification in education: What, how, why bother? Academic Exchange Quarterly, 15(2):2.

Marczewski, A. (2012). Gamification: A Simple Introduction. Marczewski, A.

Rughinis, R. (2013). Gamification for productive interaction reading and working with the gamification debate in education. In Proceedings of the Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 8th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies.

Terrill, B. (2008). My coverage of lobby of the social gaming summit   
Werbach, K. and Hunter, D. (2012). For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business. Wharton Digital Press. 

Wu, M. (2011). What is gamification, really? [web log message] 

Zichermann, G. and Linder, J. (2013). The Gamification Revolution. McGraw-Hill Education. 

Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion

(Shared by Zac Fitz-Walter on Gamification Weekly, issue 20)

Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion (DGEI): The Potential of Digital Games for Empowerment and Social Inclusion of Groups at Risk of Social and Economic Exclusion: Evidence and Opportunity for Policy (European Comission - Joint Research Centre, Information Society Unit).

This report shows the potential of games to support those at risk of social and economic exclusion (Gamification Weekly). The report finds that "games-based approaches offer a particular opportunity to reach people at risk" in particular young people not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs).

Gamification, as a new concept is referred. A definition is provided and the relation of gamification with serious games is addressed. Also, the report mentions the potential of using digital games in education.

Definition of Gamification (Glossary, page 205):

Applying game design elements to non-game activities, often with the goal of engaging people more in these activities.

The “Serious Game” and "Gamification" Industries (page 125)

(...)

However none of these terms has captured the imagination so much as the term ‘Gamification’, a sufficiently vague concept that has served to reinvigorating some of the serious game work, which may be too serious, Gamification focuses on how to exploit the gameplay elements of digital games in applications that are not digital games, but in practice implementations are frequently based in online services and mobile apps. In 2012, Gamification ideas, long used in weight-loss and child motivation, are attracting considerable interest from consultants and policy makers linked to ideas of 'nudging'. However it is not immediately clear whether those with the expertise to develop gamification are game designers or have any relationship with digital games development, and whether the tools of gamification can be considered part of 'serious games and gaming'. However discussion of gamification often end up addressing 'serious games', and proponents of ‘serious games’ are starting to appropriate the term to promote their own work. As Escribano (2012) suggests, conventional and low key use of game approaches has taken a technological turn (Escribano, 2012). One of the key popularisers of the idea through her games and publications is game designer Jane McGonigal, who explicitly developed the idea in developing an online tool with game-based techniques to promote personal empowerment, using the resilience approach. Clearly, the current trend of gamification is closely linked to the potential of ICTs, and the rich tools of digital gaming, and the popularity of the gamification idea focuses attention more clearly on the game like motivational elements of 'serious gaming' rather than the technological elements.

(...)

Education (page 128)

Use of digital games in the education sector is one of the oldest applications of games. From the supply side they can be developed as part of an educational publishing business, and more recently, the elearning industry. However, educational games, according to the report of the EC Engage project122, have always been "low budget, low tech, poor cousins of the computer game industry. Up until recently, very few commercial companies have provided good quality educational games. Historically, these games have been written by teachers and academics who wish to utilize the technology within there teaching, but usually do not have the skill, not the finance, to create a high quality product". This is changing with new expertise, tools andchanging business models for distribution. Games in education can be replacements for text books and other media, or tools for game-making and a more radical gamified approach to teaching and learning. Serious uptake in the formal education sector however, depends on significant innovation in practices of formal schooling, and in the procurement and certification systems for education products.

Gamification: More Definitons

Following a previous post (Survey: Which Definition of Gamification is the Best?), here is another recent definition for gamification:

"A process of enhancing a service with affordances for gameful experiences in order to support user’s overall value creation."

(Huotari K., & Hamari, J.)

This definition can be found in the authors' paper Defining Gamification - A Service Marketing Perspective.

The above definition gave rise to a recent debate on the "Gamification Research Network" Google group, led by Professor Richard Landers who considered that Huotari & Hamari's definition was "depressing". 

The most controversial aspects on Huotari & Hamari's paper are these claims:

• There are no game elements, or if there are, they are not unique to games as we understand them.
• There are no non-game contexts.
• One can’t create “gameful experiences.

Their last claim is much more consensual:

• The goal of gamification is first and foremost to afford gameful experiences.

I have to agree with Professor Landers. My prefered definition ("The use of game design elements in non-game contexts, to drive game like engagement in order to promote desired behaviors.") is much more close to his own definition (of gamification or gameification):

"The adition of elements commonly associated with games (e.g. game mechanics) to an educational or training program in order to make the learning process more engaging."

(Landers & Callan)

This is, by the way, an education and training specific definition.

References:

Huotari K., & Hamari, J. (2012). Defining Gamification - A Service Marketing Perspective. Proceedings of the 16th International Academic MindTrek Conference, Tampere, Finland, October 3-5, 2012.

Landers, R. N. & Callan, R. C. (2011). Casual social games as serious games: The psychology of gamification in undergraduate education and employee training.  In M. Ma, A. Oikonomou, & L. C. Jain (Eds.), Serious Games and Edutainment Applications (pp. 399-424). Surrey, UK: Springer.

Survey: Which Definition of Gamification is the Best?

Which definition of Gamification do you like best? Which one is the most suitable for education?

Fell free to contribute with other definitions (in a comment to this post).

Choose one definition from the list below (23 definitions) and vote here. Some of them are redundant and others are very similar. They are presented in no special order.

Definitions of Gamification 

Definition #1: "Engaging users, changing behavior with the best ideas from games, loyalty and behavior economics."

(Gabe Zichermann)

Definition #2: "Using game techniques to make activities more engaging and fun."

(Amy Jo Kim)

Definition #3: "Integrating game dynamics into a site, service, activity, community, content or campaign, in order to encourage a certain behavior, attitude or skill."

(Simon Egenfeldt Nielsen)

Definition #4: "Using game-based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems."

(Karl Kapp)

Definition #5: "Typically involves applying game design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging."

(Gamification.org)

Definition #6:  "The application of game metaphors to real lifetasks to influence behaviour, improve motivation and enhance engagement." 

(Andrzej Marczewski)

Definition #7:  "The use of game attributes to drive game-likeplayer behavior in a non-game context.”

 (Michael Wu)

Definition #8: "A modern business strategy that uses proven techniques from social gaming to measure and influence behavior."

(Badgeville)

Definition #9: "The use of design elements characteristic for games in non-game contexts."

(Sebastian Deterding, Dan Dixon, Rilla Khaled & Lennart Nacke)

Definition #10: "The application of motivational and engagement techniques honed in computer games for non-game environments."

(Clark Aldrich)

 

Definition #11: "By incorporating game mechanics into everyday activities, you can make them more fun and therefore more engaging."

(Jon Radoff)

Definition #12: "The use of game mechanics, dynamics, and frameworks to promote desired behaviors."

(Lee & Hammer)

Definition #13: "The integration of the mechanics that make games fun and absorbing into non-game platforms and experiences in order to improve engagement and participation."

(Kyle Findlay & Kirsty Aberts)

Definition #14: "The observation and/or implementation of a playful environment using systematic rules in a non-game context."

(We Play)

Definition #15: "The process of adding game-like elements to something without actually turning the whole thing into a game."

(Amanda Green) 

Definition #16: "The insertion of game dynamics and mechanics into non-game activities to drive a desired behavior."

(Forrester)

Definition #17: "The use of game design elements, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts."

(Mashable)

Definition #18: "The process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage users."

(Andrew Miller)

Definition #19: "A deeper understanding in how we can use psychological theories with gaming mechanisms  in order to motivate human behavior."

(Playgen)

Definition #20: "The process of applying game characteristics to non-game entities."

(Terrell Heick)

Definition #21: "The term that expresses the processes of Game Design used in areas not previously involved in the dynamics of gaming."

(Giuliana Guazzaroni)

Definition #22: "Making the real world more like videogames."

(New Scientist)

  

Definition #23: "The use of game design elements in non-game contexts, to drive game like engagement in order to promote desired behaviors."

(My own definition)

A cloud with the most common words used in the definitions