“Gradequest Strikes Back”

While the debate on which elements of game design are transferable to other context is still ongoing, academic literature has studied the effectiveness of gamification. In their analysis, Hamari, Koivisto & Sarsa (2014) analyzed 24 studies, some of which are focused on classic gamification (i.e., points, leaderboards, achievements, rewards, progress, feedback, etc.), while others include the recommendations of gameful design (levels, story, clear goals, challenge, etc.). The study concludes that while the results of the gamified experiments are partially positive, the success of gamification often depends on mediating factors, such as the motivations of users or the nature of the gamified system. As a result, it has been challenging for research to make claims that transcend descriptive findings and provide recommendations that can be generalized or transferred to other contexts. Furthermore, the study indicates that gamification mainly leads to short-term effects, and that these effects could be caused by the novelty effect. While these findings are certainly interesting, they are also very much in line with what motivational research has indicated for years: extrinsic motivation can lead to weak but positive short-term effects, and potentially detrimental effects to the individual’s desire to perform the activity in the long run (e.g., Bénabou & Tirole, 2003; Deci, 1975). Gameful design’s emphasis on game elements that move beyond the quick and temporary solution of extrinsic motivation therefore seems to be a potentially more successful approach to meeting gamification’s promise. However, there are no guarantees that this approach will always lead to intrinsic instead of extrinsic motivation, or that it can be applied to just any kind of non-gaming context.