(Gamification and Motivation)
Motivation 1.0
When I was a child, my mother often played a “reward” game with me. As long as I did a housework or got a praise from others, I could put a coin into the piggy bank.
When it reaches a certain level, it can be exchanged for rewards. For me at that time, getting COINS was my biggest motivation and goal. Sometimes I would do a lot of housework a day in order to get rewards faster. Even if tired also full of enthusiasm.
I enjoyed the game because I found the process was gratifying and the motivation was the reward.
Now I can cook and do housework, independence is very strong, probably because of my mother’s reward system to built my habit. (Thanks mum! ♥ )
As we grow up, we play different games at different times. Have you ever asked yourself why you play games? Most people would say it’s relaxing, fun and enjoyable.
Yes. When you play the game, you enjoy the process, discovering new things, new levels, new storylines.
In my previous blog on gamification, I wrote about Why people love Pokémon GO and used Pokémon Go as an example to show the basics. In this blog, it will discuss gamification and motivation, and what motivates people in certain situations.
Motivation 2.0
The basic idea of gamification is to use this motivational power of games for other purposes not solely related to entertaining purposes of the game itself (Sailer et al. 2013, p. 28).
In the video (Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us?). It’s easy to see how we are externally motivated. You’re motivated by money, profits and rewards.
For example, the fresh STIKEEZ movement (22 Mar, 2020- tweet), has boosted Coles’ earnings. Despite many concerns about its plastic products, consumers, especially younger ones, are encouraged and motivated to buy free toys even at unnecessary cost.
Human beings have an inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities, to explore and to learn. One who is interested in developing and enhancing intrinsic motivation in children, employees, students, etc. should not concentrate on external motivation factors such as monetary rewards (Deci and Ryan, 2008).
When money was used as an external reward for certain activities, participants lost interest after the novelty period, and reduced a person’s long-term motivation to continue the project. That is why this type of campaign is “limited edition”.
Motivation 3.0
A significant problem that many schools and educators are facing today, as Zichermann and Cunningham (2011) posited, is that many students are lacking the motivation and interest to learn.
Intrinsic motivation can be much harder to spot because people struggle to see it. But what if gamified platforms motivate you intrinsically as they do extrinsically? Even more than external benefits you gained.
Engaging gamification is always more acceptable to students than boring texts. Good gamification is designed to understand and align the organization’s goals with the player’s intrinsic motivation. Then, by using external rewards and essentially satisfying design, the player is driven to complete their mastery journey. This process requires elements of desire, motivation, challenge, reward, and feedback to create a sense of engagement.
Motivation 4.0
Intrinsic motivation comes from within. It drives behaviours that leads to internal rewards. It’s like enjoyment, positive feelings, happiness and the drive to become a better self. When people are intrinsically motivated, they enjoy what they are doing enormously. It provides a genuine sense of fulfilment and benefits.
Rewards emerge when we have a clear goal, a challenging task to perform, and enough skills to meet the challenge — or at least to come close enough that we are energised to try again and do better — Jane McGonigal
In conclusion
Follow gamification design, with motivation:
- It Helps Learners Become who They Want to Be.
- Levels Make Progress Easy to See.
- Gamification Helps You Love Learning.
After reading this, what’s your opinion? I also shared a video on YouTube and happy to listen your feedback!
For more relevant materials:
Video: Motivation and Building Habit
References:
- Deci E.L and Ryan R.M. (2008), Self-Determination Theory: A Macrotheory of Human Motivation, Development, and Health, University of Rochester, Canadian Psychology, Vol. 49, No. 3, 182–185
- Sailer, M, Hense, J, Mandl, H & Klevers, M 2013, ‘Psychological Perspectives on Motivation through Gamification’, Interaction Design and Architecture(s) Journal, no. 19, pp. 28-37.
- Zichermann, G. and Cunningham, C. (2011), Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps, O’Reilly Media Inc., Sebastopol, CA.
^Irene's Wonderland^ 