Designing interactive systems through a game lens: An ethnographic approach

Influence of incentive mechanism and fit degree on user's environmental behavior-Taking Alipay "Ant Forest" in China as an example

How to use game elements to motivate users and influence their behavior has become a new research trend, which is vital for enhancing the willingness of potential platform users to participate in environmental protection. This paper aims to analyze the influence of incentive mechanism and fit degree on user's environmental behavior based on the stimulus-organism-response theory and self-determination theory. The questionnaire data of 500 users was collected and the impact of incentives on user's environmental behavior was analyzed by structural equation modeling. The results show that economic, value, and social incentives have a significant impact on user's environmental behavior. Besides, the value and social incentives of "Ant Forest" game platform positively influence user fit (conscious participation, enthusiasm, and platform interaction), but the impact of economic incentive on platform interaction is not statistically significant. From the perspective of user fit, "Ant Forest" game platform can positively promote users to adopt environmental behavior, because it explores users' needs from their perspective to give full play to the role of game incentives on users' environmental behavior. Additionally, this research provides the practical implications for managers exploring the effects of co-creation processes in developing countries and regions.

Potentials and pitfalls of increasing prosocial behavior and self-efficacy over time using an online personalized platform

Background

This longitudinal mixed methods experimental study aimed to better understand the interplay between digital technology exposure over time, self-efficacy, and prosocial behavior in everyday contexts.

Methods

66 psychology students tracked their daily prosocial behavior over three weeks. Additionally, half of the participants were randomly assigned to receive access to an online platform, which made personalized suggestions for prosocial actions to complete. Qualitative post-study interviews complemented quantitative measures.

Results

Platform exposure had no measurable impact beyond that of tracking over time on either prosocial behavior or self-efficacy. Tracking increased self-efficacy to perform everyday prosocial actions, but did not affect self-efficacy to impact change. Prosocial behavior was predicted by self-efficacy to impact change. Enjoyment of the platform predicted completing higher numbers of suggested prosocial actions and was related to a higher likelihood to continue using the platform in the future. Avenues for increasing platform effectiveness include context-specific action personalization, an effective reminder system, and better support for the development of self-efficacy to impact change through meaningful actions.

Conclusion

Technology for prosocial behavior should be enjoyable, capable of being seamlessly integrated into everyday life, and ensure that suggested actions are perceived as meaningful in order to support the sustainable development of self-efficacy and prosocial behavior over time.

A Guide for Game-Design-Based Gamification

Many researchers consider Gamification as a powerful way to improve education. Many studies show improvements with respect to traditional methodologies. Several educational strategies have also been combined with Gamification with interesting results. Interest is growing and evidence suggest Gamification has a promising future. However, there is a barrier preventing many researchers from properly understanding Gamification principles. Gamification focuses of engaging trainees in learning with same intensity that games engage players on playing. But only some very well designed games achieve this level of engagement. Designing truly entertaining games is a difficult task with a great artistic component. Although some studies have tried to clarify how Game Design produces fun, there is no scientific consensus. Well established knowledge on Game Design resides in sets of rules of thumb and good practices, based on empirical experience. Game industry professionals acquire this experience through practice. Most educators and researchers often overlook the need for such experience to successfully design Gamification. And so, many research papers focus on single game-elements like points, present non-gaming activities like questionnaires, design non-engaging activities or fail to comprehend the underlying principles on why their designs do not yield expected results. This work presents a rubric for educators and researchers to start working in Gamification without previous experience in Game Design. This rubric decomposes the continuous space of Game Design into a set of ten discrete characteristics. It is aimed at diminishing the entry barrier and helping to acquire initial experience with Game Design fundamentals. The main proposed uses are twofold: to analyse existing games or gamified activities gaining a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and to help in the design or improvement of activities. Focus is on Game Design characteristics rather than game elements, similarly to professional game designers. The goal is to help gaining experience towards designing successful Gamification environments. Presented rubric is based on our previous design experience, compared and contrasted with literature, and empirically tested with some example games and gamified activities.

Exploring young adult perspectives on the use of gamification and social media in a smartphone platform for improving vegetable intake

Young adults are the poorest consumers of vegetables. Social media and smartphones are frequently used by this demographic and could serve as an engaging medium for nutrition promotion. Five focus groups were conducted to capture participants' perceptions of a theory-based gamified self-monitoring app for improving vegetable intake of young adults. Ranking activities were used to gather feedback on preferences for social media posts. Data arising from group discussion were analysed using NVivo software using a deductive approach to group common ideas into themes. Thirty two participants (14 males) attended (mean age 23.1 (SD 2.7) years). Qualitative analyses of open discussion revealed two major themes regarding preferred features for a smartphone app; (1) the use of visual guides for estimating quantities of vegetables and tracking progress, and (2) a simple interface. Gamification strategies such as earning badges were viewed more positively than the use of a self-reward framework. Social media posts which presented food pictures and recipes were ranked most motivating, while awareness-raising posts received lower scores. Participants indicated a preference for viewing but reluctance to post information onto social media. "Just in time" situational cues were ranked highly and the use of an "authoritative" tone was preferred and associated with credibility. Young adults also ranked messages containing "Gen Y" language highly, with a preference for those which were personally relevant. The proposed use of social media and mobile-gaming was seen as an acceptable approach for improving vegetable intake. Materials should be visually appealing, simply designed, credible, and personally relevant to appeal to this population. This feedback may inform future mobile-phone based interventions targeting improved nutrition in young adults.