Exploring gamification in team sports: A scoping review and research agenda Sandra Birnstiel1 and Benedikt Morschheuser1 1 Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lange Gasse 20, 90403 Nürnberg, Germany Abstract While team sports play a pivotal role in societies around the world, we recognize a concerningly high dropout rate among young people in organized sports clubs in recent years. Research indicates that a central reason is the declining enjoyment of conducting team sports over time. In parallel, digital games have become one of the most popular leisure activities globally. Thus, gamifying team sports, i.e. the integration of design elements of digital games into team sports, is considered a promising way to re- boost the motivation of individuals in sports. However, while digital games and team sports are closely intertwined phenomena, we lack a structured understanding of how aspects of gaming can be utilized to benefit team sports and what avenues future research in this area should pursue. Therefore, in this paper, we present the results of a scoping review examining the emerging field of hybrid forms that combine digital games and team sports into gamified team sports. This paper highlights the significant potential of merging digital games into team sports to promote athlete engagement and motivation. Further, the findings reveal a need for further research and innovative approaches to unlock the full spectrum of benefits this fusion of gaming and team sports offers. Therefore, we provide a research agenda that can serve as an anchoring point for future research. Keywords games, gamification, exergames, sports, team sports1 sports clubs [6]. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the 1. Introduction quitting rate even further increased [7]. In parallel, digital games are increasingly gaining Team sports are an essential part of human culture and attention in society and have not only become one of play a crucial role in many societies worldwide. From the most popular leisure activities in recent years but ancient times to modern times, team sports have been have also penetrated areas such as education, culture, a source of entertainment, a driver for people to health, work, and especially sports [8]. Further, engage in physical exercise, and a way to bring people gamification, which refers to ‘the use of game design together regularly. However, while TV viewer elements in non-game contexts’ [9] in order to enhance numbers all over the world show a globally great motivation in an activity and even change behavior interest in team sports, such as during the recent [10], is increasingly applied in individual sports [8]. soccer World Cup or the American football Super Bowl Previous studies indicate that gamification can [1], there is a noticeable decline in active participation increase athletes' enjoyment and continued in these sports [2,3]. Especially the dropout rate in participation in various forms of exercise [8,11–13] organized sports in adolescence is very high. Research and that users already expect digital applications for indicates that various discrete factors cause the sports to be gamified [14]. As a consequence, we see an decision to quit, which can be summarized into five increasing number of gameful solutions in the app primary sources: lack of enjoyment, perception of stores that aim to engage people in specific physical competence, social pressure, competing priorities and activities [15], such as taking more steps per day, going physical factors [2]. As enjoyment is the number one running or cycling, by using game design features such reason for people to participate in sports activities as captivating stories, competitions or rewards. [2,4,5], it is not surprising that individuals stop Previous research at the intersection of digital games engaging in team sports because the activity becomes and sports has yielded a plethora of studies and unenjoyable over time [5]. In Europe, the recruitment reviews focusing on the gamification of sports, which and especially the retention of members is reported to extensively explore and document this fusion be a significant challenge by more than a fifth of the [13,16,17]. Surprisingly, the intersection of games and team sports has hardly been considered so far, 8th International GamiFIN Conference 2024 (GamiFIN 2024), April 2- 5, 2024, Ruka, Finland sandra.birnstiel@fau.de (S. Birnstiel); benedikt.morschheuser@fau.de (B. Morschheuser) 0000-0002-0111-9420 (S. Birnstiel); 0000-0002-7665-8971 (B. Morschheuser) © 2024 Copyright for this paper by its authors. The use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org) CEUR ceur-ws.org Workshop ISSN 1613-0073 Proceedings 33 although combining the two phenomena has the ‘to play a game is to engage in activity directed potential to boost the motivation and enjoyment of toward bringing about a specific state of affairs, participating in team sports and offers a chance to using only means permitted by specific rules, where ensure the survival and prosperity of youth sports by the means permitted by the rules are more limited in addressing the number one reason for quitting [18]. scope than they would be in the absence of the rules, Additionally, a lack of structured guidance for future and where the sole reason for accepting such research on the interwoven phenomena of digital limitation is to make possible such activity’ games and team sports prevents us from gaining a In other words, he reduces the construct of game more detailed understanding of the existing to four defining factors: a goal, means, rules and lusory relationships, interactions and yet untapped potential. attitude [23]. This concept is very broad but has been Therefore, we are conducting a scoping study to considered as a common basis for the two related structure the field, identify initial approaches and phenomena of team sports and digital games, which is overlaps, and provide anchor points for future why it is placed at the top of the conceptual framework research in this emerging research area. in Figure 1. 2.2. Digital games Games are a formative part of human culture [24]. People have always played games and continue to do so in modern times, not just in analog forms but also in digital games. The invention of the TV in 1909 laid the foundations to bring games into a digital world. The 1970s and 1980s was the great period of arcade games and home gaming, after the first PC games came out. Since 2007 casual gaming even on smartphones became common and latest since then digital games became part of our everyday lives. Digital games, as games mediated through digital media, are therefore a subcategory of the broad concept of games and are Figure 1: Conceptual mapping of the roots of the presented as such on the left side of the framework in phenomenon of gamification of team sports. Figure 1. Beyond the defining factors found by Suits [22], digital games are a multifaceted, continuously evolving 2. Conceptual framework phenomenon that can include a large variety of mechanics and features that induce these unique Guided by the goal of our research, it is of great gameful experiences that excite people about games. A relevance to first investigate to what extent the specific subset of digital games worth highlighting in parallel but closely related concepts of team sports and our case are multiplayer games. Multiplayer games (digital) games differ in their origins and what and modes (i.e. multiplayer expansions of primarily similarities exist. In recent decades, various single-player games) utilize specific mechanics and philosophers and scientists have addressed this features to asynchronously or synchronously connect question in order to contribute to a better people in play. These features can be split into understanding of these interwoven phenomena. While cooperative approaches like team challenges, for which reviewing the literature on this topic, we mapped the multiple players have to work together to reach a relationships between the two disciplines into a shared goal; competitive approaches when players conceptual framework, depicted in Figure 1. have the individual goal to obstruct the goals of other players; and cooperative-competitive approaches like team competitions, in which groups of players have the 2.1. Games shared goal to obstruct the goals of others [25]. Although digital games and team sports are usually One of the first famous approaches to defining the term considered as separate phenomena, they have many game is the attempt by Wittgenstein [19]. He denied similarities. Commonalities can be found in their that there is any common feature in the multifaceted specific goal structures, rules and design features, in approaches we call game, pointing out that the particular in the case of multiplayer games. However, meaning of the term is not as simple as it sounds. He team sports are also often used as a source of rather suggested clustering games into families inspiration for digital games, such as FIFA or Madden dependent on the presence and absence of the NFL [26,27]. characteristics of strategy and luck. Roger Caillois later separated between paidia as playfulness and ludus as formal, rule-based game behavior [20]. 2.3. Sports and team sports To this day in literature, there are numerous definitions of the term game, and between them, a lot Analogous to the umbrella term games, the term sports of discussions and critics [21]. One more precise and is also used in a sprawling way to cover a wide range widely used definition originated from Suits [22]: of concepts. It is a colloquial term used worldwide since the beginning of the 20th century, making it 34 difficult to find a comprehensive and precise definition gamification has been applied to extend physical of sports [28]. Nevertheless, there are attempts such as activity with gameful experiences, such as Ring Fit in the Oxford dictionary of sport science and medicine Adventure for Nintendo Switch, where fitness [29], which defines sport as ‘structured, goal directed, exercises are embedded into a video game [38] or the physical activity governed by rules, which has a high smartphone app Zombies, Run! motivating runners level of commitment, takes the form of a struggle with with captivating narratives [39]. These applications oneself or involves competition with others’. The are mainly used by individual athletes. However, there dictionary also describes characteristics of play and are also applications with integrated multiplayer external rewards combined with intrinsic satisfaction modes, such as Zwift, that cyclists can use to interact from the activity itself as sources of motivation. This and ride with other cyclists virtually or compete in definition describes some aspects that are reminiscent virtual races [40]. Considerable research has already of the definition of a game, such as goals and rules, been carried out in this area, even focusing on various which shows that the two concepts are somehow technologies, including wearables and Virtual Reality related. Furthermore, human activity, which serves (VR) [13,16,17]. Such gamification can make sports physical and mental exertion, is a crucial part of the more enjoyable and even improve performance [8,12]. concept [30,31]. Based on the positive findings on the use of Team sports are an integral part of human culture gamification in individual sports, potential benefits on in various societies around the world, which is why motivation and performance in team sports can be this subset of sports is worthy of special attention. In assumed [8,11,12]. Further, we recently see an team sports, individuals are organized into opposing increasing interest of people in innovative forms of teams consisting of at least two players, and the teams gamified team sports, such as various fantasy sports play against each other [31]. The most popular team apps like NFL Fantasy or Fantasy Premier League sports worldwide, based on TV viewer numbers, [41,42], in which the users can build virtual teams and include e.g. soccer, cricket and hockey [32]. compete against other players based on the According to Suits, ‘sports are essentially games’ performance of professional real-world matches, or an [23], fitting into his definition of games cited earlier in American football league, where fans control the plays this paper. To differentiate sports, he added further online to make watching the game more enjoyable distinctive elements of sports compared to other types [43]. Finally, there are many potential use cases for of games: (1) sport is a game of skill, (2) the skill is using gamification in team sports, such as applications physical, (3) the game has a wide following and (4) to improve physical skill in team sports training with achieved stability [23]. He later proposed a distinction exergames or to improve cognitive skills with serious between sports that are refereed games and sports that games, which can be games focusing on sports-related are not games but judged performances, revising his education or raising awareness of specific topics in first definition to classify all sports as games [33]. team sports [44]. Although evidence from individual Refereed games in his definition, are sports such as sports and practice suggests that gamification can also soccer or basketball, which have constitutive rules, as bring many benefits in team sports, we lack a opposed to diving or figure skating (judged structured understanding of the current body of performances), which have no constitutive rules but knowledge in this field and guidance for future focus on performance. However, Suit's revised research to advance our understanding of these new definition sparked a philosophical debate with hybrid forms of gamified team sports and to better scholars, such as Meier, Kretchmar, and Hurka all support practitioners in leveraging existing rejecting Suit's revision and arguing for his first opportunities. Therefore, this paper presents a definition that all sports are games [34–36]. This scoping review guided by the following research indicates that the dominant view among scholars is questions: that all sports are games. For this reason, the term • RQ1: How has existing research applied (team) sport, like digital games, forms a subcategory of gamification in team sports? games in the framework in Figure 1. However, since • RQ2: What benefits and challenges of scholars diverge on this point, the connecting line using gamification in team sports contexts have remains dashed. been identified in existing research? 2.4. Gamified sports 3. Research method While a main difference between digital games and The purpose of this scoping review is based on two team sports is that sports commonly require physical common reasons according to Arksey and O’Malley skills and digital games are used via digital media, [45]: First, this study aims to investigate the above- there has recently been a rise in hybrid forms, which defined research questions by synthesizing the combine aspects of digital games with physical sports. existing body of knowledge related to the intersection Such approaches are often called exertion games or of team sports and digital games in order to clarify how exergames, meaning digital games or gameful systems game design features are employed in hybrid forms for exercise [13], which can be grouped under the combining digital games and team sports as well as umbrella term of gamification [37]. whether and what game design features are beneficial Gamification refers to the use of game design elements in different contexts of such hybrid forms. Second, this to transfer any activity into one that affords additional study strives to identify key anchor points and gameful experience [37]. In individual sports, there are directions for future research in this area. We adopted numerous examples of applications in which the framework of Arksey and O’Malley [45] to conduct 35 a scoping review and followed the five mandatory Therefore, we excluded 126 papers based on their stages enhanced by recommendations of Levac et al. title and abstract not containing team sports and a [46]: (1) defining a clear research question, (2) form of gamification. For instance, we found that the identifying relevant studies with a balance of breadth term *ball is used in various other contexts such as and depth, (3) iteratively selecting studies, (4) Schuller [51] gazing into a crystal ball or Mizuyama et charting the data and (5) analyzing, reporting and al. [52] speaking of a snowball effect. Furthermore, we considering the meaning of the findings. excluded eight more papers not available in English The search string development was guided by our and five where the full paper was unavailable. After research questions and focused on gamified team reading the full text of the remaining papers, we sports, i.e. hybrid formats of the two disciplines, digital excluded additionally 15 papers not containing team games and team sports. To identify relevant keywords, sports, such as Kaisar et al. [53] inventing a new we conducted initial pilot searches and developed our collaborative sports like game but not fitting our search string iteratively. The final search was: understanding of team sports, or a paper missing a TITLE-ABS-KEY ((gamif* OR exergam* OR concrete proposal for the use of a developed motion "extertion game" OR "extertion games" OR "serious recognition technique of tennis players in games, such game" OR "serious games") AND ("team sports" OR as Bačić [54]. At the same time, we excluded 33 papers *ball OR soccer OR rugby OR hockey OR "water polo" describing gamification features associated with team OR cricket OR curling OR bobsleigh)) sports, complementing other contexts such as education or health, such as Cerqueira et al. [55] The search string covered the term ‘team sports’ designing an Augmented Reality soccer game that and any permutation of the term gamification, supports the learning of basic mathematical functions exergame or serious game, covering the discipline of or Amprimo et al. [56] evaluating the effectiveness of a digital games in a way that is usually used in soccer themed game for Parkinson rehabilitation. conjunction with other disciplines. Finally, we included the remaining 28 papers in the Further, in order to find relevant literature in the scoping review: [57–84]. field that focuses on a specific form of team sports but We created a charting table to investigate the pool may miss using the keyword team sports, we included of papers in a deductive and iterative manner. We the names of popular team sports listed in the summer extracted the papers' information regarding and winter Olympic games [47] and additionally bibliometric information, descriptive information included cricket, which is not listed as Olympic about the context and design of gamified systems discipline, but very popular in some countries, such as described in the papers, empirical work conducted, India or Pakistan [32]. We needed to balance the and their findings. The charting table serves as the breadth and depth of the resulting literature to basis for the results section. The most relevant findings provide a comprehensive and meaningful overview of are presented in tables in the following section. the field. Therefore, we decided not to include search terms for esports, which can also be seen as a mix of sports and games. This specific phenomenon has 4. Results recently received great attention in the scientific literature, and many reviews already exist which provide an overview of the scholarly work in this field 4.1. Bibliometric information (cf. [48–50]). Therefore, and because the primary As a first step, we examined the bibliometric data of focus of this review is on physical sports, we decided the 28 included papers. In 2011 initially the first paper not to include any esports-related search terms in our combining digital games and team sports was search string. published. Notably, the investigated research field has We limited the literature search to the metadata developed in parallel with other research on gamified (title, abstract or keywords), as searching for the terms information systems, which also started in 2011 [8]. in the whole text would result in a large amount of false The number of papers increased in the following years, positives mentioning one of the searched terms from one paper each in 2011 and 2012, to two papers without being a central aspect of the paper. We used each in 2014 and 2015, to three papers in 2016. This the Scopus database as our source of data since it trend was interrupted in 2017, when no paper was contains the most potentially relevant databases in the published, but continued in the following years with area around games and sports. The literature search in one to three papers per year again until 2021. the Scopus database was conducted in July 2023. Afterwards, there is a noticeable upward trend as The Scopus search query resulted in 246 hits. shown in Figure 2. In 2022, six papers were published, These contained 29 conference reviews and two followed by an additional five by July 2023. literature reviews, which do not provide self- Most papers were published at conferences and in contained research contributions, so we excluded journals related to games, HCI and computer science them from the literature review. We screened the (18 papers). Further three papers were published at resulting 215 papers for inclusion and relevance by the conferences and in journals related to medicine and iteratively developed inclusion criteria: (1) screening sport sciences. The remaining articles were published of the title and abstract indicates that gamification in in venues related to social sciences (3), psychology (2), any connection with a team sport is a relevant topic in and engineering (1), or were multidisciplinary (1). the paper; (2) the paper is in English; (3) the full text More than half of the papers were published as can be acquired; (4) a full paper screening shows that journal articles, starting with the first one in 2011. The gamification in any connection with a team sport is a number of journal articles kept low with maximum one relevant topic in the paper. 36 paper per year until 2021, as illustrated in Figure 2. improve tactical skills [70], what is caused by Four journal articles were published in 2022, and five technology constraints. While the majority of studies journal articles were published in 2023 by the time the focused on gamifying athletes' training, three papers review was conducted in July, indicating an increasing focused on the training of referees [80], sports trend. The remaining 13 papers were published at journalism [81] and the involvement of the audience conferences in varying numbers between zero and two during public matches using fan tokens [82]. per year. However, a slightly decreasing trend of conference papers is visible since 2019, and in 2023 no Table 1 conference paper was published by July. Topics addressed in the described applications. The bibliometric descriptors of the reviewed Topics Count % Papers literature show an increasing amount of research that Training of physical skills and sports-related core has been published on the topic of gamification, such activity as exergames, serious games and gamification Throws/swings/kicks 7 26% [57–63] solutions connected to team sports. Since the number Duels 1 4% [64] of literature on gamification in general shows a Ball handling 1 4% [65] steadily increasing trend [8], we also expect to observe a growing number of research papers for the future Training of sports-related cognitive skills combining digital games and team sports, as indicated Cognitive skills 4 11% [66–69] by Figure 2. The rising number of journal papers over Tactical skills 2 7% [70,71] the last year indicates greater interest and in-depth Reaction time 1 4% [72] research on that topic in the future. Activities related to increased athlete’s health and well-being in sports Sport values edu- 4 15% [73–76] cation Avoid injuries 1 4% [77] Rehabilitation 1 4% [78] Sports-related knowledge acquisition Basic knowledge 1 4% [79] Referee training 1 4% [80] Involvement of fans and spectators Sport journalism 1 4% [81] Audience engage- 1 4% [82] ment Not specified 2 7% [83,84] Figure 2: The number of publications per year split into journal and conference papers. 4.3. Gamification in team sports 4.2. Identified topics The systems and technologies used to gamify team sports are various, led by standard computer games, as Members of universities conducted the projects seen in Table 2. Some applications use technologies, addressed in all reviewed papers. Some projects such as marker-based tracking, to track users' motion additionally consulted sports experts outside data to be able to involve full body movements in the universities [57,80] related to the topics addressed. gamified approach [54,60]. Other applications track Surprisingly, compared to the large amount of inputs on hit or light-sensitive surfaces, triggered academic attention devoted to the gamification of mainly by ball hits. Two papers also mention using VR individual sports, only 28 of the reviewed papers systems to present fully immersive games. Other address systems intending to gamify team sports. They technologies, like game consoles, Smartphone apps address mainly soccer (12), but also basketball (4), and Fitlights, which is a commercial multifunctional handball (3), tennis (3), volleyball (2), baseball (2), light-based system for sports training [86], were rarely rugby (1) or various team sports at once (4). The used. One paper uses a very specific medical device, a applications described in the papers mainly focus on a TecnoBody ProKin, for balance training with an specific aspect of the athletes' training, like practicing attached touch display to gamify rehabilitation basketball free throws in a VR simulator with training for athletes with back pain [78]. enhanced visual guidance [58], thus only covering While the technologies used to gamify team sports certain facets of sports. The single facets of the are diverse, the gamification features used follow the respective team sport addressed were various, as patterns identified in related reviews of the use of shown in Table 1, such as practicing concrete ball gamification in other contexts [8]. Overall, game design throws or tennis swings with simulators, teaching features were not discussed in detail. However, it is sports values with ratings transferable in a virtual worth noting that many of the features described were game or avoiding injuries by engaging habit tracking. used to create immersion in team sports, for example, Most of these gamified applications build a separate by using specific themes or environments known from training block not fully included in the regular training team sports, such as a soccer field as the design of a routines and is merely seen as an addition to standard virtual game board [80]. Additionally, it is noticeable training, like VR basketball training [58,59] or that points, scores and leaderboards are widely used computer games such as eFootball PES [85] used to 37 in the systems described, as in other areas [8]. Most activity recognition system for VR sports games studies implemented game designs related to the sport including soccer, presented in an empirical study itself, like virtual soccer matches [76] or practicing without information on the effects of gamification basketball or handball throws [59,67] or penalty shots [83,84]. in soccer [68]. Most approaches award players with Except of pilot studies and evaluated technical points. Surprisingly only six of the reviewed papers innovations, the remaining 18 papers evaluated the included multiplayer approaches in their applications. effects of different forms of gamified team sports in Four of them mentioned pure competitive modes. Two empirical studies. Nine of them collected mainly papers describe a system where competitive and quantitative data, four qualitative data and five used collaborative interactions are possible. In a basketball mixed measures. The most commonly used method to application, several people can interact virtually on a analyze the effects of the used gamified approach was virtual basketball court, free in their decision how to an experimental setup, which was used in 14 papers. play together, collaboratively or competitively [59]. Only two papers focused on interviews and Another paper adds gamification features to standard observations, for example, to get insights into the handball training, where cooperation and competition opinion of players on the game's proficiency and usually are part of the game [71]. Other 18 papers derive challenges [70] or to gain experts' knowledge describe systems that can only be used individually. towards better understanding sports media coverage The remaining four did not describe a concrete game. of big sports events [81]. Two papers used a case They focus on a technical invention, a sports activity study, such as one paper with a sample size of two, to recognition system for exergames in VR, or they receive feedback on the applicability of a new VR describe first ideas but without details on the game system for novice and expert basketball players [58] or design. another paper that examines the dangers of fan tokens by investigating a specific case [82]. Table 3 reports Table 2 the type of data collected in the empirical studies. Most Systems and technologies used to gamify team sports. commonly, performance measures were collected, System and technology type Count % such as Jensen et al. [65] investigating performance Computer or web-based games 6 22% improvement through scores by using an interactive training game to practice ball handling skills while Virtual Reality systems 5 19% simultaneously surveying the field. Reaction time Marker or suit-based motion tracking 4 15% measurements are used similarly, often to examine Hit or light sensitive surfaces 4 15% reaction time improvements, such as Amprasi et al. Game consoles (Nintendo Wii, Xbox) 2 7% [66] conducting reaction time measurements to Smartphone app 2 7% investigate whether children can improve their Fitlights 1 4% selective attention with VR gaming for playing TecnoBody ProKin 1 4% volleyball [66]. To gain further insight into the user, Not described 2 7% questionnaires, interviews, observations, expert reviews and feedback were also conducted. The participants attending the mentioned studies Table 3 were either children between seven and 17 years old, Types of data collected in the identified 18 papers which was the case in eight papers, or adults in ten with empirical data, excluding preliminary studies papers. In most of the analyzed papers, the gender of and functionality tests of technological innovations. In the subjects was not reported. The reviewed papers some cases, multiple types of data were collected. reporting gender either had mixed gender samples, Data type Count % which was the case in seven studies, had only male Performance measurements 7 26% subjects in three studies or had only female subjects in Questionnaire data 6 22% one study. In one mixed-gender study, the results were even analyzed separately by gender. This Interview data 4 15% demonstrated that descriptive reaction times Reaction time 3 11% improved more effectively in female participants than Qualitative data form observations 3 11% in male participants after three months of reaction Qualitative data of expert reviews 2 11% training with Fitlights [72]. Although they studied the Qualitative feedback 1 4% differences between the genders descriptively, no statistical tests were used to test the significance of the gender difference. Overall, the reviewed papers paid little attention to demographic differences such as age 4.4. Effects of gamification in team and gender, although these differences could impact sports on the effects studied, as implied by Badau et al. [72]. Further, the number of subjects varied between Twenty-two of the total 28 reviewed papers included the papers but was rather small in most cases. The studies, out of which two papers showed preliminary minimum number of participants was two in a case tests and results, such as Lyons et al. [77] who study mentioned above [59], a high number of subjects conducted a pilot study for avoiding injuries using a was 38 in a within-subjects experiment investigating self-monitoring app without gamification features to the improvement of basic knowledge on rugby solve usability issues before adding additional knowledge through standard instructions and video features. In addition, two papers examined the gaming [79]. However, a lot of papers reported functionality of a specific technical innovation, an between-subjects experiments with small sample sizes 38 per intervention group, such as Šlosar et al. [68] year, which was the case in a field experiment examining the effect of additional tennis exergaming in examining exergaming improving reaction times in addition to standard tennis training with 63 tennis after the intervention of 6 months and an participants split into four different groups. However, additional follow-up test after one year [68]. In the there was one outlier having a sound sample size of investigation of gamification in sports media coverage, even 360 subjects, which were children of different the authors even looked at the past four years [81]. sports disciplines in the aforementioned within- There was a variety of different studies conducted subjects designed study on reaction training with in the reviewed literature. Still, the authors of the Fitlights by Badau et al. [72]. reviewed papers focused on developing gamified applications or prototypes to enhance team sports- Table 4 related aspects. They conducted user testing over a Benefits and challenges of gamifying team sports, specific period to allow participants to experience the which are reported in the analyzed papers with training and gather performance data before and after empirical results and selected preliminary studies usage, in order to assess the effectiveness of the with valuable findings. Preliminary studies are application. indicated with an *. The findings of the empirical studies were various Finding Count Paper and very specific as their research questions. The Increasing motivation findings of the empirical studies and relevant pre- studies are summed up in Table 4. The reviewed Gamification, using team sports 1 [76]* papers indicate that gamification can be used in the as a guiding design concept, can form of separate training units to improve the players' motivate behavior change performance in team sports, such as a specific gamified Increasing performance soccer field installation with goal-like rebound Player performance in team 4 [65,66, surfaces on each of the four sides of the playing field sports can be improved with 68,72] [65]. Further, the empirical findings reported in the additional gamified training analyzed papers indicate that commercial video games units can be used to improve specific cognitive skills, such as Playing video games can 2 [70,79] using the eFootball PES computer game to improve improve specific team sports tactical thinking [70,85] or playing Rugby League Live skills, such as tactical thinking to learn the basics of rugby [79,87]. Gamified Visualizations like visual 3 [58,59, technologies, such as Fitlights, are also used in guidance, perspective changes 63] separate training units in other sports such as or celebrity avatars can increase Volleyball, Handball and Basketball [72]. Furthermore, users' performance the analyzed studies indicate that specific Multiplayer games/modes visualizations within implementations, such as visual Competitive multiplayer modes 1 [64] guidance for a perfect basketball throw [58], the can increase physical intensity change to a third person perspective to better observe of training units and correct own behavior [59] or a celebrity avatar Gain knowledge [63], can support performance improvement. Gamification can help to gain 3 [71,80, Gamification also appear to be a viable approach to team sports related knowledge 81] assist athletes in preventing or recovering from Recovery injuries; for example, one study indicates that back Gamification can help prevent 3 [69,78], pain can be cured more effectively with VR racing game therapy than standard therapy [78]. However, or recover from sports-related [77]* deploying gamification in sports also brings injuries challenges, such as the need to carefully design scoring Challenges of gamifying team systems while maintaining the sports relevance so that sports players are not only engaged to score but also perform Children prefer real world 1 [62] actions correctly [67]. Additionally, one study activity compared to virtual mentioned that children prefer real-world activities exergames compared to the usage of exergames as a replacement Gamification must maintain 1 [67] for common training, which was examined in context sports relevance during an of a commercial Wii Sports exergame solution [62,88]. exergame Fan tokens, a cryptocurrency for 1 [82] fans of elite sports teams, may 5. Discussion be harmful This paper investigates how game design features are Five papers did focus on a rather single usage of a employed in gamified team sports, i.e. hybrid forms gamified solution [58,59,63,64,67]. All other papers combining digital games and team sports (RQ1) and concentrated on multiple-use scenarios of an what is known about the benefits and challenges of application to give the users time to experience the such hybrid forms (RQ2). For this purpose, we application and improve in doing their respective conducted a scoping review with 28 paper and sports. Therefore, the authors gave the subjects a generated a comprehensive overview of the current variety of time spans between two weeks to over one state of research. This overview indicates that there is 39 a lot of potential for combining team sports and digital [66]. However, this research has largely been limited games: to the improvement of individual components and The screened literature demonstrates that team does not take into account the multi-faceted nature of sports can profit of including game design features in team sports. Moreover, these gamified approaches the sports training to improve athletes' performances. have typically been deployed as separate gamified The reviewed papers used various innovative training units, supplementing conventional training technologies and concepts to gamify special training sessions, such as additional reaction time units with units, commonly used in addition to standard training. Fitlights [72] or additional ball handling units in a Purpose of such applications are mainly to improve specific gamified setup [65]. However, this approach scoring techniques and other performance-related tends to overlook the complex dynamics inherent in aspects in sports, such as training of cognitive and team sports, including factors such as team cohesion, tactical skills or reaction time. Skills not directly identity formation, intergroup relations, team related to performance but still crucial in sports, such interaction and effective communication. as knowledge of sports values, can also be supported Furthermore, it is important to recognize that team by gamification. sports span various phases, including training, In summary, this review demonstrates that matches, seasons, breaks, and preparation periods, incorporating game design elements and principles in each with its own unique requirements. To truly team sports can positively influence behavioral enhance the team sports experience, it is needed to outcomes, such as sports performance. However, in adopt a more holistic approach that seamlessly contrast to research on the effects of gamification in integrates gamification into the overall training other contexts [8,11], the existing body of literature on program and, ideally, throughout the season. This gamified team sports barely reports details on the holistic approach aligns more organically with existing psychological outcomes of using gamification in team team processes and will provide teams with practical sports. The potential effects of gamification on the benefits in terms of performance and player motivation and enjoyment of athletes or social engagement. dynamics in team sports still need to be investigated in Future research should investigate how future research. However, since lack of enjoyment is gamification can be integrated into team sports the primary reason for people quitting [2,4], research accompanying the entire training and season should aim to advance our understanding of how instead of adding extra gameful training sessions gamification can help restore and maintain enjoyment covering just single aspects of the team sport. in team sports and increase re-attendance and Agenda point 2: Seamless integration of gamification retention of athletes. In addition, the development of new technologies Exploring the common potential of the two needed to support the integration of gamification into disciplines of digital games and team sports to increase user's motivation is a young field of research, which training should be addressed in future research. The current landscape of gamified training systems often noteworthy increased in the past years. This scoping relies on technologies that are not conducive to on- review presents the first comprehensive overview on field or on-site club ground usage, such as VR Systems hybrid forms of digital games and team sports, which enabling athletes to embody celebrity avatars for is beneficial for comprehending how team sports can training purposes [63] or computer and console games profit from digital games in hybrid forms, and what aimed at enhancing tactical skills [70,79]. These knowledge on its effectiveness has been gained so far. approaches require the deployment of computer pools In addition, this overview of the literature can offer or special arrangements to allow all team members to valuable information to guide future research participate at the same time, which is a significant endeavors [89]. barrier to seamlessly integrating gamification into The literature contributing to this review overall standard training sessions. includes few empirical papers partly lacking high To address this challenge, researchers should quality studies. This reveals a high demand for further investigate and innovate in the realm of technological research in the area of gamified team sports. Therefore, we present an agenda for future research solutions. This could involve the development and utilization of wearable devices, smart clothing, or on hybrid forms combining digital games and team sideline displays specifically designed to facilitate the sports in the following sections. The agenda is divided integration of gamified elements into training sessions into thematic and methodological agendas, presenting and other team activities. By exploring these eight agenda points suggesting future directions for technological frontiers, future research can help research on hybrid forms of digital games and team unlock innovative ways to tap into the potential of sports. gamification in team sports, ultimately improving both individual skills and the overall team sports 5.1. Thematic research agenda experience. Future research should explore innovative Agenda point 1: More holistic gamification approaches technologies to seamlessly integrate gamification The body of literature provided insights into into team sports training sessions, addressing the gamified team sports, highlighting their focus on limitations of existing systems. isolated aspects of athlete training. For instance, Agenda point 3: Diversifying gamification studies focused on enhancing the scoring accuracy in The implementations of gamification described in basketball throws [58] or improving cognitive skills, the reviewed papers focus on diverse use cases and such as selective attention through exergame play stakeholders, such as improving throws or swings, 40 avoiding or recovering from injuries of players, and to increase people's engagement in team sports. referee training. However, the game design features Further, by carefully investigating the specific design used are, on the whole, rather uninventive, using patterns and socio-psychological dynamics of themes and environments familiar from the sports innovative forms of gamified team sports, research can themselves, and earning points by scores visualized on gain valuable insights to inform practitioners about leaderboards, which can be also seen in various other how these approaches might influence the future of contexts [8,90]. Surprisingly only six papers sports and sports culture. mentioned multiplayer approaches in their Future research should examine emerging implementations imitating the team sports character, hybrid forms of digital games and team sports to although the interplay of multiple players is the most gain valuable insights into their social and prominent feature of team sports. Almost all of these economic implications and their potential multiplayer approaches use competitive game design disruptive dynamics for the sports culture. features, neglecting the cooperative team nature of the Agenda point 5: Revealing adverse effects sport. Only two systems were included in which The literature review revealed predominantly collaborative interactions would be possible caused by positive effects of gamified team sports on behavioral the free play character of the interventions [59,71]. outcomes. While many studies highlight such benefits, Based on the characteristics of the sport, team-based certain studies also report challenges, including features using cooperative or cooperative-competitive children’s preference for real-world sports over digital features can also be beneficial to adapt the nature of activities [62] and the potential risks associated with team sports, which should be investigated in future studies. Additionally, other social-related features certain technologies, such as the addictive potential of fan tokens [82]. In addition, incorporating game design supporting the social connections of the team should elements into team sports applications can pose a risk be examined [91], as especially social relations is an by shifting the users’ focus to rewards rather than to a essential factor for performing leisure sports [4]. proper execution of sports-related activities. Thus, Furthermore, it is important to investigate the effects maintaining the sports relevance of an application of immersive game design features, such as avatars while integrating gamification features and mechanics and creative narratives, in order to tap the full was found to be critical to effectiveness. [67]. While in potential of game design elements in the context of other contexts, such as education, previous research gamified sports to further enhance the positive effects that systematically analyzed the potential negative found [91]. effects of using gamification found that gamification Future research on gamified team sports can reduce the effectiveness and user performance in should seek to diversify the use of game design specific activities [94,95], there is also clear relevance features and concurrently develop an to investigating potential negative consequences of understanding of what constitutes and creates gamifying team sports. This is particularly important gameful and engaging experiences. given the risk of severe consequences, such as injury, Agenda point 4: Exploring emerging forms of gamified in sports. team sports Future research should examine potential Beyond the reviewed literature, we see recent adverse effects of using gamification in team trends that demonstrate an intriguing integration of sports to support the development of successful, game design elements into traditional sports. For safe, and effective approaches. example the King's League - a Spanish soccer league, innovatively extends the conventional rules of soccer by incorporating additional design elements of digital 5.2. Methodological research games [92]. These modifications not only increase the agenda dynamics of the team sports but also increase the entertainment value for the spectators. On the other Agenda point 6: Conduct solid empirical studies hand, new hybrid forms emerge that utilize recent The majority of all studies reported positive effects technological developments in the gaming industry to of hybrid forms of digital games and team sports, merge the physical world of sports with the digital indicating a great potential for team sports. However, world of gaming. For instance, HADO is a physical many papers conducted experiments with a small esport where teams compete in person on a real sample size for the empirical research designs used. playing field by playing an augmented reality strategy This might be attributed to the novelty of the research game that requires significant endurance from the field. For this reason, the results of such studies should players [93]. Notably, HADO has established an active be taken with the necessary caution. At the same time, league in Japan, demonstrating the public's interest in the number of male participants exceeds that of the such emerging hybrid sports experiences. number of female subjects clearly, without knowing While our review indicates that these novel the exact number due to the lack of description in some applications that bridge the fields of digital games and studies. Most studies did not include data from female team sports are hardly covered in the existing body of participants at all, which we know from three papers literature, scholars should put their attention on this mentioning only male participants out of 11 papers development to deepen our understanding of this mentioning the gender of their participants. In phenomenon and its potential social and economic contrast, only one study included only female implications. In particular, research should aim to shed participants. However, previous research suggests light on the effects of these novel approaches on player that the perceptions towards and effectiveness of a and spectator experience and their resulting potential gamification approach strongly depends on users, 41 their characteristics, and their individual goals [90,96]. undoubtedly a crucial aspect for the team to progress In the literature, small studies with a specific user and succeed in their discipline. However, focusing group have provided quick insights into a solely on performance, and thus behavioral outcomes, phenomenon, but have limitations. Subsequent large neglects other potentially relevant factors that engage studies with a more diverse user group are necessary people to participate in team sports, such as the to ensure the reliability and generalizability of the enjoyment of the activity itself and the interaction with results. Even deeper insight and understanding can be peers. Such a performance-oriented perspective may gained by comparing results across different user hinder the generation of innovations to counteract the demographics. increasing disinterest of people in team sports, Further studies should conduct appropriate especially in leisure sports [5]. Therefore, future empirical evaluations to gain knowledge about the research should consider investigating the cognitive, actual effects of gamified team sports. In social and emotional effects of gamification in team particular, studies should draw on sufficient sports in more detail [4]. samples and reflect on potential demographic and Further studies on gamified team sports should cultural differences. focus not only on performance measures but also investigate cognitive, social and emotional Agenda point 7: Understanding differences in outcomes of using gamification in team sports to gamification design tap the full potential of gamification and digital Thirty-eight of the reviewed studies contained games. empirical results on the effects of gamification in the context of team sports or alternative contexts using elements related to team sports. Our overview 5.3. Limitations indicates that gamification tends to motivate users and can even lead to improved performance, which is Limitations of this study include a focus on English- consistent with findings on gamification in different language articles only, which omits non-English contexts [8,97,98]. Multiplayer modes created through literature that could be considered in future reviews of cooperative, competitive, or cooperative-competitive hybrid forms of digital games and team sports. features have been examined as gamification features Additionally, despite the use of different search terms, in a number of studies, indicating that multiplayer it is possible that studies using different terminology modes are an engaging factor [25,99]. However, these or examining different types of team sports were not results of the reviewed papers are still too vague to included in our search. Nevertheless, the diverse derive specific design recommendations for gamifying findings from this scoping review can still significantly team sports. Most of the studies reviewed examined enhance our understanding of the application of game only the overall results of using gamification, rather design features in team sports. than isolating and studying individual game mechanics or measuring the corresponding effects separately. Throughout gamification research, this is a common 6. Conclusion challenge [8]. However, to capture the full range of effects, it is also necessary to study the interaction In conclusion, this scoping review has made a between different game design elements, as isolating significant contribution in understanding and individual game elements may not reflect the real- structuring the field of gamified team sports. We have world effects of complex gamification approaches. As a identified key application areas for gamification in the result, current research provides limited insights into context of team sports, and provided a systematic the complex interplay of different factors that analysis of gameful design and its impact on the field. influence motivation and performance in the context In addition, the study has uncovered important of digital games and team sport. We therefore believe thematic and methodological agenda points for that a careful and systematic empirical evaluation of researchers in this field, laying the groundwork for the effects of game design features, psychological and realizing the full potential of gamification in team behavioral outcomes, and the differences between sports in the future. By addressing these agenda points different designs would be beneficial, to identify which and building on the insights gained, researchers and element actually causes the observed effects. practitioners can continue to advance the integration In future research, game design elements of gamification in team sports and ultimately improve should be investigated in isolation and in the overall sports experience. conjunction with each other to derive concrete design recommendations. Agenda point 8: Understand the psychological dynamics References and outcomes of gamifying team sports Research on gamification in various contexts, such [1] B. Shea, Super Bowl vs. World Cup: What the as education, health and crowdsourcing shows that ratings say about the U.S. and global TV kings, gamification is a multifaceted approach. 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