A Gamificação é uma técnica que a utiliza elementos de design de jogos em ambientes que não são jogos, visando aumentar a motivação e engajamento dos usuários e que vem ganhando espaço em diversos áreas como saúde, marketing e também na educação. Porém, ainda que o interesse pela técnica venha crescendo, os meios para sua aplicação nesses ainda não estão bem definidos e os resultados obtidos têm-se mostrado dependentes do contexto e da população alvo. Diversos autores atribuem essa inconstância nos resultados a problemas no design da gamificação, uma vez que a maior parte dos projetos tem utilizado abordagens one-size-fits-all, no qual todos os usuários utilizam o mesmo ambiente independente de suas preferências individuais. Diante desse cenário, tem-se proposto que a gamificação personalizada pode atender uma maior parcela dos usuários, adequando os ambientes gamificados ao perfil dos usuários. Uma das abordagens para a personalização da gamificação consiste no uso de tipologias de jogadores para determinar os elementos mais interessante para o usuário. No entanto, as tipologias utilizam estereótipos, criando constructos que ainda restringem as informações consideradas durante a personalização. Dessa forma, neste trabalho buscou-se investigar a personalização com base na teoria de motivações para se engajarem em jogos, que trata o perfil do usuário como um conjunto de diferentes subcomponentes motivacionais correlacionados, que se agrupam em macro-componentes. Para isso, adaptou-se a teoria para o contexto da gamificação e elaborou-se dois modelos o de Macro-Gamificação, o qual relaciona-se com a teoria de Autodeterminação e às necessidades de Competência, Relacionamento e Autonomia do usuário, e o de Micro-Gamificação, que relaciona os elementos de jogos a um determinado subcomponente motivacional e disponibilizá-lo mediante o interesse do usuário no subcomponente. Para avaliar então se a gamificação personalizada influencia no engajamento dos usuários quando comparada a gamificação não personalizada, os modelos foram implementados em um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem, preparado para criar os perfis de gamificação dos usuários dinamicamente e adaptar interface do em tempo real. Realizou-se então um estudo de caso com N=36, utilizando como domínio o estudo dos silabários do idioma japonês. Ao final do estudo foram identificados dois padrões de atuação no sistema com uma diferença de 65% de participação e que foi utilizado para segmentar os participantes. No segmento menos engajado, os participantes do grupo não personalizado apresentaram um engajamento aos grupos personalizados. Já no segmento dos usuários mais ativos o grupo utilizando o modelo Micro-Gamificado, apresentou-se mais engajado. Desse modo, não é possível afirmar que a gamificação personalizada proporcione um maior engajamento do que a gamificação sem personalização, embora os resultados sugiram que usuários que permanecem utilizando o sistema por mais tempo tem um maior engajamento no ambiente personalizado. Por fim, é possível afirmar que o desenvolvimento de sistemas gamificados com personalização ainda está em sua infância e por isso nesta pesquisa além de buscar evidencias sobre o impacto da gamificação personalizada no engajamento dos usuários, buscou-se também desenvolver ferramental para facilitar o processo para os membros da comunidade em ordem de impulsionar os avanços dessa área de pesquisa. / Gamification is a technique that uses game design elements in non-game context, to increase users motivation and engagement and that has been gaining space in several areas such as health, marketing and also in education. However, although the interest in the technique is growing, the means for its application are still not well defined and the results obtained have been shown to be dependent on the context and the population. Several authors attribute this resultsin the results to problems in gamification design, since most projects have been using an one-size-fitsall approach, in which all users uses the same environment independent of their preferences. Given this scenario, it has been proposed that the personalized gamification can adress a larger portion of users, adapting the gamified environments to users profiles One of the approaches to personalize the gamification is to use player typologies to determine which elements are most interesting to the user. However, typologies uses stereotypes, creating constructs that still restrict the information considered during customization. Thus, in this work, we sought to investigate personalization based on the theory of motivations to engage in games, which treats the user profile as a set of different correlated motivational subcomponents, which are grouped into macrocomponents. For this, the theory was adapted to the context of the gamification and two models were elaborated the Macro-Gamification, which is related to the theory of Self-determination and to the needs of Competence, Relationship and Autonomy of the user, and the Micro-Gamification, which relates the game elements to a particular motivational subcomponent and make it available through the users interest in the subcomponent. In order to evaluate whether personalized gamification influences user engagement when compared to non-personalized gamification, the models were implemented in a virtual learning environment, prepared to dynamically create users gamification profiles and adapt the interface in real time. A case study was then carried out with N = 36, using as a domain the study of syllabaries of the Japanese language. At the end of the study, two patterns of performance in the system with a difference of 65 % participation were identified and used to segment the participants. In the less engaged segment, the non-personalized group participants showed a higer engagement than the personalized groups. However, in the segment of the most active users the group using the Micro-Gamified model, presented itself more engaged. Thus, it can not be argued that personalized gamification provides greater engagement than non-personalized gamification, although the results suggest that users who remain using the system longer have a greater engagement in the personalized approach. Finally, it is possible to affirm that the development of personalized gamified systems is still in its infancy and for this reason, in this research, besides searching for evidence on the impact of personalized gamification on user engagement, we also sought to develop tooling to facilitate the process for the members of the community in order to boost the advances of this area of research.

In the beginning of April 2011, the Swedish parliament decided to participate in the NATO-led intervention in Libya. The purpose of the intervention was to maintain a no-fly zone, protect civilians and to create an arms embargo. The aim of this thesis is to describe how the Swedish participation was motivated by the Swedish decision-makers in the parliament. It also aims at exploring the possible motives behind the decision to participate, through different theoretical perspectives such as realism, liberalism and constructivism. This was done with an idea analysis where motivations and motives were searched for primarily in the government proposition and the parliament debate concerning the participation. Other sources that were used to explore possible motives were the Swedish department of defense, previous research and newspapers. My findings shows that the Swedish decision to participate in the Libya-intervention was mainly motivated with liberal ideas. They also show that the motives could be many, but the most probable were the liberal ones which likely can be traced to the Swedish national identity.

Virtual worlds give us the opportunity to explore another self, a virtual character of the real life you. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have become extremely popular over the last decade. It has also grown into a lucrative business. To keep the players, the game needs to be more than just a game. This study aimed at finding out what factors that determine which features of the character creation interface that are most important to players. The following research question was formed; “Which underlying factors affect how important different features of the character creation interface are to experienced MMORPG players? To be able to answer the question an extensive literature review was conducted. A qualitative approach was taken. Long interviews were made with five participants, two female and three male players. The interviews took place while they created a number of avatars in different MMORPGs. The interviews were then followed up. During the follow-ups, the impact the character creation process had for the players, were discussed. The findings indicate that the character creation interface is important for the players to get a good gaming experience. However different types of players require different things. Important features for the users to change were mainly; the head; the name; and adding parts of yourself on your character. The factors that determined the importance of these features were found to be; Player types; Identity types; Immersion levels; and whether or not the game or the gaming experience were new to the player. Another finding showed that the longer you have played a game the less bizarre the different races, classes and gender will seem. The study also indicated that the female participants had a hard time identifying with their male characters.

My dissertation is an advocacy of the idea that if aid proved to be ineffective, it is partly because of the donor and not only the recipient as it is usually argued. The thesis contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature on aid effectiveness and explores the ability of aid to achieve its goals in the presence of both incentives and informational problems. <p>The thesis consists of three essays dealing with a particular aspect of donor policies that may impact the effectiveness of aid: i) the drivers of aid allocation among recipient countries, ii) ex-post conditionality and the role of reputation in inducing compliance with aid contracts; iii) and finally, the optimal choice of aid modalities.<p>The first chapter investigates the drivers of U.S. aid policy. <p><p>I find considerable evidence that the pattern of aid is dictated as much by political and strategic considerations, as by the economic needs and merit of the recipients. Most importantly, inertia seems to impact heavily the aid allocation process. Any of these motivations, when excessive, would lead to a time inconsistency situation where the donor is not credible in his conditionality. With such an impact on aid allocation, the question arises on the effectiveness of conditioning aid provision on political, social, or economic reforms. This is precisely the scope of chapter 2.<p><p>The second chapter investigates the conditions under which reputation can serve as commitment device in order to induce donors of development aid to enforce aid contracts and recipients to comply with such contracts. The idea is that the success of conditionality rests solely on the availability of a commitment technology that ties the hands of the donor. Reputation concerns could create the required incentives and overcome the altruism effect on the donor side.<p><p>Notwithstanding that incentive creation must not be driven by the volume of aid only, but also by the way it is channelled, i.e. aid modality. This is particularly relevant for recipients with certain characteristics. Depending on the preference alignment of the donor and the recipient, the information structure in place, the optimal aid modality can change. The characteristics of the optimal aid package are investigated in chapter 3. Optimality imposes a mix of fixed project and financial transfer to recipient countries. The transfer can be negative for countries exhibiting a high willingness or ability to redistribute to the poor. This is interpreted as a contribution to the financing of the infrastructure project. The extent of the project (large or small size) is determined by the interest of government for the poor in the recipient country.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The broader aim of this essay is twofold: Firstly, I study what motivate people to engage in physical activities, particularly walking or running. Secondly, I contextualize the experiences and understanding in relation to governmentality and technology. I pay particular attention to perceived benefits of physical activities and cardio exercises, both physical and mental benefits, which include feelings, motivations and experiences. The essay focuses on the perceived benefits of physical activities, which is deeply tied to health and self-governing. Therefore, this essay examines how physical activities is viewed as good for people’s health, how it is motivated by pain and illness, monitored by self-govern and technology, and desired for its ability to maintain capability and freedom. In order to analyze perceived benefits of physical activities, this study draws from several theoretical orientations of governmentality, concept of illness, embodiment, place, mobility and freedom. I have used medical anthropology, public health studies as well as historical studies of sport and exercises to contextualize physical activities. As method I have drawn mostly from interviews with the participants in the study and some observations of the environment. Besides that, I have used my own senses to experiences walking in different areas. Furthermore, I have analyzed written material from the public health agency and the ministry of health and social affairs in Sweden, health organizations and newspapers.

The meaning of and motivations behind self-identification is a contentious topic within “the Black community.” The thesis examines the articulation of “Black” and/or “African” identities as means of gaining access to Nova Scotia’s Black Business Initiative (BBI), a state-funded organization mandated with “fostering a dynamic and vibrant Black presence” in the Nova Scotian business community. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Halifax in 2013, including interviews with a diverse representation of 36 participants who self-identified as either "Black" or "African." Viewed as a rare redress effort directed toward and run by Blacks, the BBI is a highly visible site of contestation and competition between “indigenous Blacks” and more recently arrived “African Nova Scotians” from the African continent and Caribbean islands over the boundaries of native and foreign Blackness. The thesis argues that a group historically positioned as “Black” (i.e. Other) within a lasting narrative of displacement – both in the Americas in general, and academic diaspora discourse specifically – can be seen as adopting and adapting a discourse of indigeniety as an act of political and economic empowerment. Stuart Hall’s theoretical understanding of the articulation and positioning of Black identities is used to frame a discussion on the coupling of a distinct group’s lived experiences of subjugation and marginalization in place (i.e. Blackness) with a political and juridical ideology of belonging and entitlement to state recognition and resources (i.e. indigeniety) as a means of securing racially directed resources. It therefore challenges Paula Madden’s (2009) overly simplistic critique of this community as creating a hierarchy of Blackness and performing an erasure of Mi’kma’ki through its claims of Black indigeniety.

Studien ämnar skapa förståelse om hur lärande möjliggörs för tidigare deltagare inom ett program för potentiella chefer. För att undersöka syftet definierades tre frågeställningar: “Hur beskriver deltagarna den lärmiljö programmet utgör?”, “Vilka konsekvenser uppges denna miljö generera till?” och “Hur kan dessa konsekvenser förstås, beskrivas och analyseras i termer av drivkrafter för lärande?”.   I studien genomfördes sju semi-strukturerade intervjuer med tidigare deltagare från utbildningsprogrammet på Försäkringskassan och därmed studerades deltagarnas upplevelser av hur lärande möjliggörs inom programmet. Materialet analyserades utifrån ett kontextuellt perspektiv på lärande samt drivkrafter för lärande. Ur materialet framkom fyra övergripande teman: Förväntningar, Programmets innehåll, Riktlinjer och Bekräftelse, vilka speglar hur lärande möjliggörs för programmets deltagare. Det framkom i resultatet att programmet var av varierande behållning för deltagarna. Resultatet visade även att studiens teman är väl sammankopplade till varandra och visar hur lärande kan möjliggöras inom programmets lärmiljö. / The study aims to create an understanding of how learning is enabled for former participants in a program for potential managers. In order to investigate this purpose, three questions were formed: “How do the participants describe the learning environment of the program?”, “Which consequences can this environment generate to?” and “How can these consequences, be understood, described and analysed in terms of motivations of learning?”.   The study was carried of seven semi-structured interviews with former participants of the training program at Försäkringskassan and the participants’ experience of how learning is enabled within the program was studied. The material was analysed from a contextual perspective of learning and motivations for learning. From the material it appeared four main themes: Expectations, Program contents, Guidelines, Confirmation, which reflects how learning is enabled for the participants of the program. Results showed that the benefits in the program varied amongst the participants. The results also showed that the themes in the study are well related to each other and is showing how learning can be enabled within learning environment of the program.

Microtransactions are part of a business model used almost extensively in the video-gaming industry where developers offer virtual goods or features via micropayments. The concept is relatively new and still unknown to many but deeply rooted in modern video-game developers’ business strategies. Microtransactions are found in smartphone applications, online games played on computer or gaming consoles, and while the concept might be unfamiliar to many, the odds are most have encountered it.   Most published games will feature in-game purchases where users have to option to purchase features, items or content for a small amount of money. A microtransaction in its most simplistic form is ad-removal, here developers offer the user a way to get rid of ads by charging a small amount, like $.99. While one microtransaction may seem insignificant, multiple impulsive purchases can quickly add up to considerable sums. This has resulted in the use of microtransactions becoming the most profitable business strategy for game developers.   This study seeks to describe what stimulates a person to complete a purchase by using the components of hedonic motivation from the HMSAM theory leading to the research question: Which hedonic motivations induce use of microtransaction systems and does it vary by age? To research the phenomena a quantitative questionnaire was formed based on hedonic motivations, including three motivations added by the author, gathering responses from 398 video-game players having completed a microtransaction purchase.   After analyzing the results, some components protruded more than others while the consensus suggested that the influence of hedonic motivation was comparatively low. The argument for this outcome may be that players see in-game items as objects of real-world value, making the microtransaction system within a game a utilitarian-motivation system. The general attitude towards microtransactions appeared to be poor which contradicts some elements of previous research while supporting others.   This thesis will contribute to the field of informatics by complementing the traditional technology acceptance model (TAM) with hedonic motivations, as proposed by Lowry et al. in 2013. The author of this study argue it is a modernized way of researching intentions to use asort of system.

The phenomenon of age-disparate relationships between younger men and older women is relatively under- researched and therefore open to misunderstanding. The common assumption is that the younger men enter these relationships with a view to benefiting in terms of money or material goods. This qualitative study explored the experiences of five young men from around Pretoria who are in relationships with older women to understand their motivations for entering into those relationships and their experiences in the relationships. The in-depth interviews were thematically analysed and themes that emerged indicated that, unlike what has previously been found among young women who are in relationships with older men (namely that the young women are often coerced and therefore do not have much power in their relationships), the young men entered the relationships willingly and rely on cultural norms that allow them to navigate and negotiate their roles in the relationships. It is therefore recommended that age-disparate relationships not be discouraged; instead, interventions should focus on assisting young people develop agentic power in such relationships. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Cette recherche explore les trajectoires de mobilité d’étudiants français inscrits à l’Université McGill et HEC Montréal, qui représentent la plus large communauté d’étudiants étrangers au Québec. Visant une meilleure compréhension du phénomène de mobilité à l’ère de la mondialisation, ce mémoire analyse les récits biographiques motivationnels et expérientiels de ces étudiants. De plus, la recherche vise à rendre compte des pratiques de reproduction sociale et culturelle s’exprimant à travers ces récits. L’analyse des récits biographiques suggère que le type de mobilité observé concerne en majorité des étudiants issus de classes moyennes et moyennes supérieures, bénéficiant de ressources culturelles, sociales et économiques relativement importantes et affichant des prédispositions à la mobilité. Les récits motivationnels des étudiants français en mobilité comportent parfois des intentions « stratégiques » mais sont plutôt marqués par des motivations « hédonistes » où la mobilité est un rite de passage employé à des fins d’épanouissement et de découverte personnelle. L’analyse des représentations, significations et usages de l’espace universitaire, urbain, social et culturel par le biais des récits expérientiels révèle que Montréal est bien souvent l’incarnation d’une « terre promise » de l’épanouissement personnel. Cependant, si les discours traduisent une facilité d’adaptation à l’environnement universitaire et montréalais, l’expérience de l’intégration témoigne plutôt du contraire. Les étudiants ont tendance à produire des réseaux d’amitié, fondés sur le partage de l’identité française et de l’expérience de la mobilité, qui sont maintenus à travers des espaces de sociabilité communs. Cet isolement tend à renforcer les liens d’une communauté privilégiée, aboutissant à la reproduction de l’avantage social de cette catégorie ainsi que des codes socioculturels français qui se perpétuent et s’épanouissent dans l’espace montréalais. / This research explores the mobility trajectories of French students enrolled at McGill University and HEC Montréal, for they represent the largest community of international students in Quebec. Aiming for a better understanding of the phenomenon of mobility in the era of globalization, this thesis analyzes the motivational, experiential and biographical narratives of these students. Moreover, this research aims to account the practices of social and cultural reproduction expressed through these narratives. The analysis of the biographical narratives suggests that the type of mobility observed mainly concerns students from middle and upper-middle class backgrounds with relatively significant cultural, social and economic resources and a predisposition to mobility. The motivational stories of French students in mobility sometimes include "strategic" intentions but are rather marked by "hedonistic" motivations where mobility is a rite of passage used for self-fulfilment and personal discovery. The analysis of representations, meanings and uses of academic, urban, social and cultural space through experiential narratives reveals that Montreal is often the embodiment of a "promised land" of personal fulfillment. However, while the speeches reflect an ease of adaptation to the collegiate and Montreal environment, the experience of integration shows the opposite. Students tend to create friendship networks, based on the sharing of French identity and the experience of mobility, which are maintained through common sociability spaces. This isolation tends to strengthen the bonds of a privileged community, resulting in the reproduction of the social advantage of this category as well as the French socio-cultural codes that are perpetuated and flourish in the Montreal urban space.