=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1715/paper3
|storemode=property
|title=Contributions of Affordances to Gamification
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1715/Hollerit.pdf
|volume=Vol-1715
|authors=Bernd Hollerit,Kenji Tanaka,Helmut Prendinger
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/chiplay/HolleritTP16
}}
==Contributions of Affordances to Gamification==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1715/Hollerit.pdf
Contributions Of Affordances To
Gamification
Bernd Hollerit Helmut Prendinger Abstract
University of Tokyo National Institute of Informatics 2- This paper represents theoretical reflections about the
Department of Systems 1-2 Hitotsubashi, effects of affordances in gamification. Affordances, a
Innovation, School of Chiyoda-ku, 101-8430 Tokyo,
visual clue to the function of an object, constitute major
Engineering, 7 Chome-3-1 Japan
helmut@nii.co.jp design elements in gamified applications. We propose a
Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo,
113-8654 Japan framework to validate the effects on engagement of
hollerit@gmail.com target groups.
Kenji Tanaka Author Keywords
University of Tokyo Gamification; Affordances; Usability; Human Computer
Department of Systems Interaction; Engagement.
Innovation, School of
Engineering, 7 Chome-3-1
Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, ACM Classification Keywords
113-8654 Japan C.4 Performance of systems: Design studies,
kenji_tanaka@sys.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp measurement techniques, modeling techniques,
performance attributes
D.2.4 Software/Program Verification: Statistical
methods
H.3.4 Systems and Software: Performance evaluation
(efficiency and effectiveness)
Introduction
The concept of gamification has received increased
attention in recent years. Gamification works with the
concept of affordances to engage users, however, the
contribution of each individual affordance has not been
investigated yet. We propose a way to analyze single Examples for affordances in gamification include points,
elements of gamification and their impact on target badges, leaderboards, progression, status, rewards,
groups. and roles. [Seaborn]
Background & Related Work The impact of affordances, and gamification as a whole,
Gamification has been defined as the process of “the is measured in engagement. Engagement in turn is
process of game-thinking and game mechanics to measured in duration, recency, frequency, virality, and
engage users and solve problems” with gamification ratings. Duration describes how long an application is
techniques striving “to leverage people's natural desires being used, recency denotes when was it used for the
for competition, achievement, status, self-expression, last time, frequency counts how often is it being used,
altruism, and closure”. [Zichermann][Boundless] virality shows how often it was shared, e.g. on social
media, and ratings might operate on a 1-5-star scale
Gamification uses affordances, visual hints to the usage from worst to best.
of an object. The term originated from psychology and
is now widely used in Human Computer Interaction While the existing literature provides evidence that
(HCI). gamification works, the contribution to engagement by
individual affordances has not been investigated. We
therefore aim to measure the effects of e.g. points on
duration, badges on frequency, and leaderboards on
ratings. Furthermore, we are interested in focus
groups. Are young people engaged more than seniors?
Do women appreciate points more than men? Are
certain regions more susceptible to gamification?
Methodology
In order to investigate the contributions of individual
affordances to gamification, we need a base application
to test. The National Institute of Informatics in Japan
has developed “Genkii”, an app that lets users report
their happiness at a specific location. An icon is placed
Figure 1: Affordances. A button invites a subject to push it, a
on the map and users can investigate where people are
switch requires flipping, a knob affords rotating. A light source happy, sad, and indifferent.
provides visual feedback. Image source:
http://paaralan.blogspot.jp/2010/09/affordance-and- This basic functionality can be upgraded with elements
educational-games.html
of gamification, most prominently points, badges, and
leaderboards. The introduction of these elements
should have positive impacts on engagement. In order Previously, the Genkii application has been populated
to establish the effect of that impact, multiple versions by Yahoo crowdsourcing. We intend to apply the same
of our application should be prepared. One basic approach to obtain user data for our analysis. We
application, one application including a point-system, expect our findings to provide valuable insight on the
one application with badges, and one application that design of future applications using a gamified approach.
features a leaderboard system. In particular, we aim to examine whether certain target
groups respond differently to various types of
A service called “Playbasis” provides this functionality. affordances. This could help with future designs of
It enhances applications with gamification elements applications aimed at specific groups.
that we can investigate.
Figure 2: Genkii, developed by
the National Institute of
Informatics in Japan. Users can
report their happiness at their
current location.
Figure 3: Methodology of our study. We aim to compare the different contributions of affordances (points, badges, leaderboards) to
engagement (duration, recency, frequency, virality, ratings) in gamification.
Acknowledgements
We thank all the developers of the National Institute of
Informatics, without whom this project would not be
possible.
References
1. Boundless. “Gamification in Education.” Boundless
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Dec. 2014
from https://www.boundless.com/education/textbo
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