A topic of my thesis is gamification and fantasy games. The main goal of this research was analyzing the situation in Czech Republic and finding out if fantasy games have an influence on a reading of sport servers. In theory part of this project, gamification and fantasy games are clearly defined. The biggest gamification projects in the world are introduced, as well as the trials of gamification in Czech Republic and a chosen game from abroad. In practical part, the situation on Czech Republic's fantasy games market is analyzed, the two biggest representatives are compared and an influence on reading of sport servers is researched.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-07-27T12:44:59Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) dissertação_final_v_final_com_ficha_catalografica.pdf: 2623493 bytes, checksum: ac0b1610e9c2178dfaed42e3260bf8b2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-27T12:45:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) dissertação_final_v_final_com_ficha_catalografica.pdf: 2623493 bytes, checksum: ac0b1610e9c2178dfaed42e3260bf8b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / CNPQ / O aprendizado de programação apresenta desafios e dificuldades em diferentes níveis, podendo ocasionar baixo desempenho e desmotivação no estudante, aumentando o índice de evasão em cursos de Computação e Informática. As metodologias tradicionais de ensino, por sua vez, não têm apresentado resultados satisfatórios para amenizar tais dificuldades. A pesquisa nesta área é vasta, e apresenta diversas formas de abordar este problema, como utilização de jogos, Pensamento Computacional, gamification, entre outras. Neste estudo, utilizamos o engajamento estudantil, concomitantemente as técnicas de gamification, como forma de minimizar os problemas acima citados. Nesse contexto, a pesquisa aqui apresentada busca investigar a influência da utilização de um modelo gamificado para promover o engajamento estudantil e auxiliar o aprendizado de programação, para proporcionar um aprendizado personalizado. Com esse intuito, um modelo foi elaborado, baseando-se no perfil de jogadores e técnicas de engajamento de games. Para mensurarmos a influência deste modelo, este foi implementado através da ferramenta intitulada de cod[edu]. Para tal, um quase-experimento foi realizado em três turmas de programação de duas instituições diferentes, totalizando 24 alunos. Para a coleta de dados utilizou-se entrevista estruturada, questionário dos indicadores de engajamento e base de dados presente na ferramenta cod[edu]. Os dados extraídos foram tratados estatisticamente usando Alfa de Cronbach cujo intuito é comprovar a confiabilidade de um questionário. A escala de Likert foi utilizada nas afirmações do questionário, sendo as respostas calculadas através do valor médio. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que houve aumento nos valores dos indicadores de engajamento, sinalizando uma influência positiva neste aspecto, devido ao uso do modelo proposto. A conclusão da pesquisa apresenta recomendações e estratégias de aprendizagem consideradas significativas para amenizar o problema, além da proposta de trabalhos futuros. / Learning to program presents challenges and difficulties at different levels, which may cause student’s low performance and lack of motivation, which increase dropout rates in Computing and Information Technology courses. Traditional teaching methods, in turn, have not shown satisfactory results to ease such difficulties. Research in this area is vast, and offers several ways to address this problem, such as using games, Computational Thinking, gamification, among others. In this study, we used the student engagement together with gamification techniques, in order to minimize the problems mentioned above. In this context, the research presented here aims to investigate the influence of using a model with gamification to promote student engagement and help them to learn programming through a personalized learning experience. To that end, a model was developed, based on the profile of players and gaming engagement techniques. To measure to the influence of this model, a computational tool, entitled cod[edu] was implemented. In the sequel, a quasi-experiment was carried out in three groups of two different institutions, totaling 24 students. For data collection, we have used structured interviews, questionnaire of engagement indicators and the database used in the cod[edu] tool. The extracted data were statistically analyzed using the Cronbach Alpha which aims to prove the reliability of a questionnaire. The Likert scale was used in the statements of the questionnaire and responses were calculated using the average value. The results showed that there was an increase in the values of engagement indicators, signaling a positive influence in this respect due to the use of the proposed model. The conclusion of the research presents recommendations and learning strategies considered significant to ease the problem, beyond the proposal of future work.

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions.

Modern education systems tend to focus on the use of external pressures to motivate students to learn. Intrinsic motivation - motivation to do something because it is enjoyable in and of itself – by contrast, is more valuable in these environments as it has multiple benefits, such as better conceptual understanding and more sustained learning behaviour. The primary way to facilitate intrinsic motivation is to meet the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Games are inherently effective at satisfying these needs and have in recent years begun to be used in non-game contexts, like education, in order to attempt to improve motivation. This is commonly known as gamification, although gameful design is the more beneficial counterpart thereof since it is directly based on a deep understanding of what makes games good motivators. This study addresses the question of how gameful design can be used to facilitate intrinsic motivation in a tertiary education setting. This is done through an examination of existing literature in order to inform the design of a gameful intervention, which is the focus of this research. This intervention includes a new website, additional exercises on course content as well as changes to lectures. The intervention (in the form of a pilot study and a final implementation) is used in a first year undergraduate module in the Multimedia degree at the University of Pretoria. When the intervention has been used by the students for a full semester, data are collected in the form of questionnaires, focus groups, Google Analytics, website database logs and observation. The results indicate that the gameful intervention meets the three basic psychological needs of those students who interacted with it. As a result of this, students are more intrinsically motivated to interact with the intervention and therefore spend more time engaging with the course content. This study contributes a list of guidelines for educators wishing to use gameful design in their own modules. It also provides the details of the design of the intervention in order to aid the understanding of how gameful design can be used to facilitate intrinsic motivation. This approach to “gamifying” education is rare in the existing literature and can therefore be considered a valuable contribution. / Dissertation (MIS)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Information Science / MIS / Unrestricted

The concept of gamification has various areas of applications as a mechanism for creating motivation and engagement to behavioral change. However, there is a gap in current literature regarding guidelines for implementing gamification, leading to uncertainty and approaches of trial-and-error. To address this issue the purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the challenges and success factors when implementing gamification to create empirically validated guidelines in the form of a structured model. Two research questions were formulated: what are the significant challenges and success factors when implementing gamification? And how should managers act when implementing gamification? To answer the research questions, case studies of 13 ongoing or completed gamification projects was conducted. The data consisted of 20 semi-structured interviews with key individuals, primarily project managers within the selected projects. The data was analyzed through thematic analysis and relevant themes and dimensions were created, forming the back bone of the following structured model. This study identified four challenges during implementation of gamification relating to complications of stakeholder’s management, lack of end user support, lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of sufficient resources. In contrast, the four identified success factors were relating to favorable organizational environment, high intrinsic motivation, customizable gamification applications and high end-user involvement.  Also, this study resulted in a phase model describing what managerial actions should be taken when implementing gamification in three different phases: design, integration and operation. The actions in the design phase are: involve end-users early on, upper management involvement and ensuring sufficient resources, in the integration phase: ensure end-user involvement, development of technical platforms and evaluation and adjustment activities, and in the operational phase: create acceptance of end-users, balance individual and team based achievements and fine tune cooperation vs competition. The phase model can be used as a practical tool, explaining how managers in organizations should act on overcoming the significant challenges and utilizing significant success factors, thereby reducing uncertainty and need of trial-and-error when implementing gamification. By offering a phase model as well as insight of significant challenges and success factors, the current weakness of lack of solutions for integration for gamification in organizations is mitigated. For further studies, extensive single-market or exhaustive research on diverse markets are suggested to find stronger relations and patterns based on the initial work presented in this study. Also, testing the validity of the suggested phase model in actual business settings should be included in future studies.

The diploma thesis focuses on the topic of motivation for physical activity. Possibilities of increasing motivation by creating optimal conditions for fulfillment of three basic psychological needs, in combination with optimal goal setting process using smartphone apps are discussed. The theoretical part of the thesis is dedicated to the theory of self-determination and its` contribution in context of motivation for physical activity. The thesis also focuses on gamified environment used in the smartphone apps. Gamification elements are suitable for use in goal-setting context, as well as in a pursuit of fulfillment of three basic psychological needs. The research focuses on the use of smartphone apps for goal-setting purposes and influence of the set goals on increasing the average daily number of steps. In the sample of 100 participants, a statistically significant effect of goal on the average number of steps performance was observed during a 28-day period of the study. An influence of different goal difficulty on performance was also questioned, without significant effect on performance to have been found.

Introductory computer programming course is one of the fundamental courses in computer science. Students enrolled in computer science courses at the college or university have been reported to lack motivation, and engagement when learning introductory programming (CS1). Traditional classrooms with lecture-based delivery of content do not meet the needs of the students that are being exposed to programming courses for the first time. Students enrolled in first year programming courses are better served with a platform that can provide them with a self-paced learning environment, quicker feedback, easier access to information and different level of learning content/assessment that can keep them motivated and engaged. Introductory programming courses (hereafter referred to as CS1 and CS2 courses) also include students from non-STEM majors who struggle at learning basic programming concepts. Studies report that CS1 courses nationally have high dropout rates, ranging from anywhere between 30-40% on an average. Some of the reasons cited by researchers for high dropout rate are lack of resource support, motivation, lack of engagement, lack of motivation, lack of practice and feedback, and confidence. Although the interest to address these issues in computing is expanding, the dropout rate for CS1/CS2 courses remains high. The software engineering industry often believes that the academic community is missing the mark in the education of computer science students. Employers recognize that students entering the workforce directly from university training often do not have the complete set of software development skills that they will need to be productive, especially in large software development companies.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how digitalgaming experience affects how motivated studentsbecome by gamification and whether there is anydifference in motivation that is experienced whetherplaying or not in leisure.There was no clear connection on the motivation withinthe different game groups of the result. The resultshowed that some elements motivated more than othersand those that motivated the groups most were points,levels and quests

Before the start of the industrial revolution the workplace has been ever changing with introduction of technologies. With the adoption of automation and artificial intelligence this marks an acceleration shift compared to the past. Where the need for technological, social, and emotional skills will rise while demands for physical and manual skills will fall. Investments in retraining the workforce to close the potential skills gap related to automation and digitalization is getting an increased business priority. The preferred ways of learning have changed over the last few years, stepped outside of the classic classroom trainings into the rapidly growing of online tools. The aim of this thesis is to know whether gamification can support reskilling of people, through the use of a digitally gamified learning experience. Through a qualitative research approach with semi-structured interviews this thesis found that digitally gamified learning experience increases the will to learn new skills. It also showed that using a digitally gamified learning experience the time spent on task increased when learning a new skill.

Sedentary behavior is causing plenty of health risks in today’s digital society. Studies have shownthat very little physical exercise is actually needed to counteract many of these health risks. Merelystanding up regularly and doing some mild exercise by your desk can be enough. Inspired by this,several approaches are being developed based on the idea of scheduling short pauses for physicalexercise, some of which use gamification, some do not. Gamification is thought to improve users’motivation towards an activity. One program that uses gamification to motivate its users to engagein physical exercise is Liopep. In this study, Liopep is compared to Pausit, which does not utilizegamification but is also a program designed for similar physical exercise. Pausit is a program thatguides the user through scheduled short exercise-breaks. Liopep on the other hand is an exergamebased on using a web-camera to track the users movements. Both programs are pause programs thathave scheduled sessions where the user uses the program. Comparing these two may lead to insightregarding the effect gamification has on pause programs. To perform this comparison a two-weekexperimental case-study was performed where participants were asked to use the two programs anddocument their experiences. At the end of each week the participants filled in a review of theprogram they had used during the week, including an Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI)questionnaire to measure motivation, interest, engagement and other aspects that may affectmotivation. After the participants had tested both programs they were interviewed for the purpose ofdocumenting their qualitative opinions and experiences as well as let the participants recommendimprovements for the programs. The results showed that the participants preferred the non-gamifiedprogram Pausit over the exergame Liopep. The issue appeared to be mainly due to drawbacks in thedesign and implementation of Liopep. Participants reported lower motivation and interest forLiopep than Pausit. Liopep was also percieved as promoting less “useful” or less healthy movementwhen compared to Pausit. Whether this is because of Liopep’s design or if it is an intrinsic issuewith gamification of pause programs cannot be confirmed. The theory of gamification claims thatthe implementation of game elements can increase users’ motivation, enjoyment end engagementwith an activity. This study did not show any of these effects when comparing Liopep with Pausit.However, the study’s results are inconclusive due to the small size of the sample. The study didproduce a list of suggested improvements for Liopep that address the issues that caused lowermotivation, enjoyment and engagement.