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The “gamification” of science has gained a lot of traction in recent years, and games that convey scientific concepts or themes are increasingly popular. While a number of existing games touch on microbiology, very few consider the beneficial (as opposed to the detrimental) aspects of microbes. We designed a board game called “Gut Check: The Microbiome Game” to fill this gap. The game is meant to be both educational as well as challenging and fun. Here we discuss the development of the game, some of the logistics of game development in this context, and offer suggestions for others thinking of similar projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years games and game technology have been used quite widely to investigate if they can help make rehabilitation more engaging for users. The underlying hypothesis is that the motivating qualities of games may be harnessed and embedded into a game-based rehabilitation system to improve the quality of user participation. We present here the PACT framework which has been created to guide the design of gamified rehabilitation systems; placing emphasis on people, aesthetics, context, and technology from the beginning of a design and development process. We discuss the evolution of PACT from our previous GAMER framework, which was used to develop a range of games for upper arm stroke rehabilitation with natural user interfaces. GAMER was established to guide the design of rehabilitation games from the viewpoint of a designer, whereas with PACT greater emphasis has been placed on an inclusive design process. We provide a detailed work flow illustration for the use of PACT in the development of rehabilitation systems and provide examples of practical design and analysis tools that improve the quality of workflow in PACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two key problems for crowd-sourcing systems are motivating contributions from participants and ensuring the quality of these contributions. Games have been suggested as a motivational approach to encourage contribution, but attracting participation through game play rather than intrinsic interest raises concerns about the quality of the contributions provided. These concerns are particularly important in the context of citizen science projects, when the contributions are data to be used for scientific research. To assess the validity of concerns about the effects of gaming on data quality, we compare the quality of data obtained from two citizen science games, one a “gamified” version of a species classification task and one a fantasy game that used the classification task only as a way to advance in the game play. Surprisingly, though we did observe cheating in the fantasy game, data quality (i.e., classification accuracy) from participants in the two games was not significantly different. As well, data from short-time contributors was also at a usable level of accuracy. Finally, learning did not seem to affect data quality in our context. These findings suggest that various approaches to gamification can be useful for motivating contributions to citizen science projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of games in education represents a promising tool to motivate and engage students in their learning process. Most of previous research on the topic has focused to develop theoretical frameworks or to conduct experiments as a means to analyse learning outcomes such as knowledge retention, problem-solving skills gains or attitudes toward game-based learning. Nevertheless, little research has focused on providing a comprehensive literature review, which will help researchers to better understand how this stream of research has evolved over the last years. In this study, we use a bibliometric, social network and text mining analysis in order to provide useful up-to-date information to picture the state of the art about current research and evolution of the topic. Analysis on a sample of 139 articles published in top journals over the last 5 years (2010-2014) allowed identifying relevant authors and institutions, key constructs and themes involved, and trends of knowledge development. Main findings suggest an increasing academic interest on the topic over the last 5 years and a wide variety of constructs that were clustered in four main themes that we named: (i) effectiveness, (ii) acceptance, (iii) engagement and (iv) social interactions. Future research lines are also addressed. Lay Description What is currently known about the use of games in education: Games can increase students' intrinsic motivation to learn., Games support active learning., Games facilitate scaffolded instruction based on each individual student's needs., What this paper adds to this: This study identifies the most relevant researchers in this research area., This study identifies the most relevant institutions involved in this research area., This study identifies the main topics and themes researched by researchers., This study identifies the main methodological approach used by researchers., Findings for practitioners: Relevant researchers and institutions to collaborate with., Topics and themes under research., Methods used to research the use of games in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networks and gamification are having an important and growing role in education. Social networks provide unknown communication and connection possibilities while games have the potential to engage students. This paper analyzes the structure of the social network resulting from a gamified social undergraduate course as well as the influence that student's position has on learning achievement. In a semester long experiment, a social networking site was delivered to students providing gamified activities and enabling social interaction and collaboration. Social network analysis was used to build the network graph and to compute four measures of the overall network and nine measures for each participant. Individual measures were then assessed as predictors of students' achievement using three different methods: correlation, principal component analysis and multiple linear regressions. The resulting social network has 167 actors and 2505 links, and it can be characterized as a small-world. All analyses agreed on the potential of structural metrics as predictors of learning achievement but they differ in the measures considered as significant. A moderate correlation was found between most centrality measures and learning achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective chronic disease management is essential to improve positive health outcomes, and incentive strategies are useful in promoting self-care with longevity. Gamification, applied with mHealth (mobile health) applications, has the potential to better facilitate patient self-management. This review article addresses a knowledge gap around the effective use of gamification design principles, or mechanics, in developing mHealth applications. Badges, leaderboards, points and levels, challenges and quests, social engagement loops, and onboarding are mechanics that comprise gamification. These mechanics are defined and explained from a design and development perspective. Health and fitness applications with gamification mechanics include: bant which uses points, levels, and social engagement, mySugr which uses challenges and quests, RunKeeper which uses leaderboards as well as social engagement loops and onboarding, Fitocracy which uses badges, and Mango Health, which uses points and levels. Specific design considerations are explored, an example of the efficacy of a gamified mHealth implementation in facilitating improved self-management is provided, limitations to this work are discussed, a link between the principles of gaming and gamification in health and wellness technologies is provided, and suggestions for future work are made. We conclude that gamification could be leveraged in developing applications with the potential to better facilitate self-management in persons with chronic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) facilitate the flow of information within a company by storing data in common databases. These systems offer a holistic view of the organization because they reduce information redundancy, offer information in real time, help with process standardization, and improve information flow and communication among employees. Nevertheless, the benefits attributed to an ERP implementation can be lost without an effective user training. Previous studies have observed that common training mechanisms don't provide meaningful learning to users, and that user satisfaction rates range from neutral to low. Therefore, in this paper we study the effects that gamification has on ERP training concerning user learning and user satisfaction. Gamification is the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-gaming environments. Several applications prove that gamified systems increase user engagement and performance. Our hypotheses were that a gamified system for ERP training improve user learning and user satisfaction levels during the training period. To test our hypotheses, we designed and evaluated a gamified system. The results showed that users trained using a gamified system performed better than those trained using a conventional, non-gamified, training mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification platforms as a strategy for the engagement of students from the 8th year of elementary school in Brazil. We chose two badging platforms – ClassDojo and ClassBadges – to be evaluated based on 7 different criteria. The main objectives were to generate involvement among individual and particular situations, increasing the interest, engagement and efficiency while performing a specific task. We observed the behavior of 61 students from an elementary public school in Brazil as part of our field research. Data were collected using observation, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Quantitative data were statistically analyzed using a multivariate technique known as cluster analysis. The results allowed us to classify students in 4 distinct groups and showed that students who received more rewards from the teacher got significantly better average performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine-grained recognition concerns categorization at sub-ordinate levels, where the distinction between object classes is highly local. Compared to basic level recognition, fine-grained categorization can be more challenging as there are in general less data and fewer discriminative features. This necessitates the use of a stronger prior for feature selection. In this work, we include humans in the loop to help computers select discriminative features. We introduce a novel online game called “Bubbles” that reveals discriminative features humans use. The player's goal is to identify the category of a heavily blurred image. During the game, the player can choose to reveal full details of circular regions (“bubbles”), with a certain penalty. With proper setup the game generates discriminative bubbles with assured quality. We next propose the “BubbleBank” representation that uses the human selected bubbles to improve machine recognition performance. Finally, we demonstrate how to extend BubbleBank to a view-invariant 3D representation. Experiments demonstrate that our approach yields large improvements over the previous state of the art on challenging benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a novel methodology to evaluate a social media application in its formative phase of design. Taking advantage of the experiences developed in the Alternate Reality Games, we propose to insert game mechanics in the test setting of a formative evaluation of a prototypical social system. As a use case, we present the evaluation of WantEat, a prototypical social mobile application in the gastronomical domain. The evaluation highlighted how the gamification of a field trial can yield good results when evaluating social applications in prototypical status. From a methodological point of view, gamifying a field trial overcomes the cold start problem, caused by the absence of active communities, which can prevent the participation of users and therefore the collection of reliable data. Our experience showed that the gamification of a field evaluation is feasible and can likely increase the quantity of both browsing actions and social actions performed by users. Based on these results, we then are able to provide a set of guidelines to gamify the evaluation session of an interactive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Many students may not respond strongly to instruction that they do not perceive as engaging. One pedagogical approach to help engage students involves the use of games. Educational games can provide students with a motivating and stimulating environment while providing them with immediate feedback to promote learning. Purpose This systematic review examines research focused on the implementation of games to teach undergraduate engineering students; it summarizes prevailing features and cites examples from a variety of engineering disciplines. Scope/Method The systematic review was conducted through a detailed search of Science Direct journals and the Scopus, Web of Science, Compendex/Inspec, and ERIC Education Research Abstract databases using terms pertinent to games in engineering education. A total of 191 papers was included after application of the inclusion/exclusion criteria. After screening those to determine if assessment of student learning outcomes was performed, 62 papers were found suitable for more detailed analysis. Conclusions Research on the implementation of games in undergraduate engineering classrooms has shown that, despite diverse forms of assessment applied, there is a general trend that both student learning and attitudes are improved by game-based activities. However, since only a relatively small subset of the literature demonstrates a systematic, validated approach in assessment, significant opportunities remain for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the impact of flow (operationalized as heightened challenge and skill), engagement, and immersion on learning in game-based learning environments. The data was gathered through a survey from players ( N = 173) of two learning games ( Quantum Spectre : N = 134 and Spumone : N = 40). The results show that engagement in the game has a clear positive effect on learning, however, we did not find a significant effect between immersion in the game and learning. Challenge of the game had a positive effect on learning both directly and via the increased engagement. Being skilled in the game did not affect learning directly but by increasing engagement in the game. Both the challenge of the game and being skilled in the game had a positive effect on both being engaged and immersed in the game. The challenge in the game was an especially strong predictor of learning outcomes. For the design of educational games, the results suggest that the challenge of the game should be able to keep up with the learners growing abilities and learning in order to endorse continued learning in game-based learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study presented in this paper describes the pedagogical aspects and collected experience in using e-learning tool named IPA-PBL. Improving assessments in the preparation for AMET's (Air Medical Evacuation and Transport) complex task of transfer of injured or sick patients from the place of accident to the hospital or between hospitals represents the main motive for developing this tool. In IPA-PBL, the problem-based learning is applied as a pedagogical strategy as well as a set of concrete methods implemented in the software. Together with the pedagogical model, specific domain ontology is designed. This way, the learner's knowledge can be analysed in order to collect the data necessary for dynamical adaptation of system behaviour. The results collected during the exploitation of IPA-PBL are compared without using the system. Statistical analysis as well as considerations and conclusions about them are also presented in the paper. The predominant number of trainees who participated in the survey expressed positive attitudes about the new interactive type of questions. Therefore, it is considered to extend using such questions not only in assessments but in other parts of the training process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how the integration of a game-based learning strategy and a tangible user interface (TUI) device improves the learning achievement of fifth-grade students in studying Chinese idioms. By using the sifting, and sorting, features of Sifteo Cubes, learners, via a gaming situation, manually composed the cubes to the correct idioms, and the system also provided the origins of the idioms, facilitating meaningful learning. Aquasi-experimental non-equivalent control-group design was conducted. Both the experimental and control groups were administered a pre-test and post-test, the Idiom Learning Performance Test (ILPT), to investigate the variations between the treatment and groups. Furthermore, the Index of Learning Style for Youth (ILSY) survey was administered to determine how different learning styles and learning strategies affect learning achievement. The results showed that, after the CILS was used, the post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores in the experimental group. In addition, the post-test scores of active and visual learners were higher than the pre-test scores, and were significantly higher than reflective and verbal learners. The results suggested that the CILS is suitable for active and visual learners. Recommendations for using the CILS and Sifteo Cubes in instruction and further direction research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the hot issue of entrepreneurship education and describes the rationale behind the gamified and collaborative courses for university students conceived, developed and deployed in the framework of the eSG (stimulating entrepreneurship through Serious Games) project, funded under the EU lifelong learning (LLP) Programme. The project aims to help students becoming familiar, mainly through practice, with basic concepts of entrepreneurship and company management and to stimulate the emergence of their entrepreneurial attitudes. In the framework of the project specific courses mainly grounded on the concepts of gamification and collaboration were designed and carried out in three different partner countries: Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. The main objectives of the courses are presented in this paper and a theoretical model supporting the choice of Serious Games is shown which keeps into account usability, pedagogy and the entrepreneurship skills expressed by state of the art models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in a nongame context. While gamification is not a new concept, new dynamics are unfolding that may cause more businesses, educators, and librarians to consider the use of game-like elements into future endeavors. In addition to more generation Y or millennials entering higher education and the workplace, there has been a significant acceptance of routinely using smartphones and playing games. This column will explain what gamification is, provide an overview of the benefits and concerns surrounding gamification, and describe how and where it is currently being used. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On the basis of the conducted analysis of course books it can be concluded that games are in fact absent therein. In the broad spectrum of the methods that stimulate the intellect and the emotions the authors have chosen not to include this method. Games, however, relate to the primordial instincts, to competition, to the will to achieve a goal, which makes education more instinctive and, at the same time, more interesting. Human rights education leads to the challenging of stereotypes, it makes students confront the otherness that has a number of aspects: culture, race, religion, belonging, worldviews, etc. In the education in this area it is not enough to concentrate on knowledge acquisition. Undoubtedly the course books proposed by the authors relate to the emotional aspect and they do it on a high, professional level. Nevertheless, the introduction of games into human rights education could produce positive effects in the internalization of new values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate how a gamified learning approach influences science learning, achievement and motivation, through a context-aware mobile learning environment, and explains the effects on motivation and student learning. A series of gamified learning activities, based on MGLS (Mobile Gamification Learning System), was developed and implemented in an elementary school science curriculum to improve student motivation and to help students engage more actively in their learning activities. The responses to our questionnaire indicate that students valued the outdoor learning activities made possible by the use of a smartphone and its functions. Pre- and post-test results demonstrated that incorporating mobile and gamification technologies into a botanical learning process could achieve a better learning performance and a higher degree of motivation than either non-gamified mobile learning or traditional instruction. Further, they revealed a positive relationship between learning achievement and motivation. The correlation coefficient for ARCS dimensions and post-test shows that the ARCS-A (attention) is greater than ARCS-R, ARCS-C and ARCS-S. This means that the attention (ARCS-A) of this system is an important dimension in this research. The results could provide parents, teachers and educational organizations with the necessary data to make more relevant educational decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that game design can inspire the design of motivating, enjoyable interactive systems has a long history in human-computer interaction. It currently experiences a renaissance asgameful design, often implemented throughgamification, the use of game design elements in nongame contexts. Yet there is little research-based guidance on designing gameful systems. This article therefore reviews existing methods and identifies challenges and requirements for gameful design. It introduces a gameful design method that uses skill atoms and design lenses to identify challenges inherent in a user’s goal pursuit and restructure them to afford gameplay-characteristic motivating, enjoyable experiences. Two case studies illustrate the method. The article closes by outlining how gameful design might inform experience-driven design more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Disseminating scientific findings through journal publications is the very nature of every academic discipline. However, with the emergence of knowledge society and lifelong learning needs, there is a growing demand for alternative ways to enhance the dissemination of research findings to a broader audience than academics and young students. In this paper, we first introduce the concept of serious games as a well-acknowledged alternative method to discourse and delivering current engineering or management-related research findings to society. Then, considering the lack of a unified serious game design framework and the gaps in the extant literature, we illustrate our design rationale for the development and evaluation of serious games. The proposed framework contributes the following advancements to the body of extant literature and practices. It is strongly centered on a well-known knowledge transfer framework, and it is strongly based on a participatory design approach deliberately involving iterative and frequent testing and fine-tuning sessions that overcome the inherent limitations of traditional stage-gate or waterfall development models. We conclude by providing some insights gained during the development of the game and the framework, as well as by discussing the challenges associated with the design and use of serious games as an alternative genre for disseminating engineering- and management-related research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article defines gamification in relation to serious games through the identification of the theoretical commonalities between them using the game attribute taxonomy presented by W. L. Bedwell and colleagues. Topics covered include the definition of gamification in the theory of gamified learning, games with the purpose of affecting learning-related behaviors or attitudes and the development of a psychological theory of gamified learning.

Visual challenges for learners who are blind may lead to decreased learning effectiveness, motivation, and engagement in learning science-related courses due to accessibility issues. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to integrate the multi-sensory scaffolding gamification teaching model using mobile technology and card games to develop an accessible biology learning activity for totally blind students. The mobile technology provides cognitive scaffolding through the auditory sense. Moreover, the card games emphasize learners' collaboration process, which leads to more in-depth peer interaction. With the integration of mobile technology and card games, the researchers systematically investigated students' learning effectiveness, motivation, flow state, game acceptance, and behavioral patterns in the proposed gamification science course unit. Thirty-two middle school students with total blindness participated in this study. The findings indicated that the learning effectiveness of the learners within both groups (multi-sensory scaffolding teaching materials were applied) showed a significant increase. The results also showed that the design of the multi-sensory scaffolding met the learning needs of learners with total blindness in science education. These findings can contribute to the future development of designing and teaching science-related courses by integrating an accessible multi-sensory scaffolding approach that enriches and increases the understanding of abstract science concepts of students who are totally blind. • A multi-sensory scaffolding gamified activity with mobile technology and card games for learners with total blindness. • Learners' learning effectiveness, motivation, flow state, game acceptance and behavioral patterns were investigated. • Learners' learning effectiveness and motivation significantly increased. • Learners had high flow and positive behavioral patterns of peer interaction and collaborative discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an upsurge in the number of mini-games on mobile commerce platforms. The emerging gamification phenomenon of e-commerce still requires theory and investigation in order to supplement its explanation. This study aims to explore the intention of users to play games on mobile commerce platforms, as well as the influence of gamification mechanisms on users' purchase intentions on these platforms. From the perspective of perceived value theory, data from 1586 mobile commerce shoppers in China were collected and analyzed using a structural equation model. The results of the study found that utilitarian value, hedonic value, and social value are positively correlated with game use intention, while spending less time/energy also positively affects game use intention. These games are more attractive to women. The usage rate of games and the average monthly spending amount on a mobile commerce platform are both positively correlated with users' purchase intentions on the platform. • Mobile commerce users play mini-games because they gain fun with less time spending. • Gamification has a positive impact on the purchase intentions of users who access mobile commerce platforms. • Utilitarian, hedonic, and social value positively influence users to play games on mobile commerce platforms. • Mini-games on mobile commerce platforms are more attractive to women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing scientific interest in explaining how gamification supports positive affect and motivation, behavior change and learning, there is still a lack of an overview of the current theoretical understanding of the psychological mechanisms of gamification. Previous research has adopted several different angles and remains fragmented. Taking both an observational and explanatory perspective, we examined the theoretical foundations used in research on gamification, serious games and game-based learning through a systematic literature review and then discussed the commonalities of their core assumptions. The overview shows that scientists have used a variety of 118 different theories. Most of them share explicitly formulated or conceptual connections. From their interrelations, we derived basic principles that help explain how gamification works: Gamification can illustrate goals and their relevance, nudge users through guided paths, give users immediate feedback, reinforce good performance and simplify content to manageable tasks. Gamification mechanics can allow users to pursue individual goals and choose between different progress paths, while the system can adapt complexity to the user's abilities. Social gamification elements may enable social comparison and connect users to support each other and work towards a common goal. • We performed a systematic meta-review of theoretical foundations in gamification, serious games and GBL research. • We identified 118 theories in the areas of motivation and affect, behavior, and learning used to explain gamification. • Self-determination theory, flow theory, experiential learning theory and constructivist learning theory are most popular. • The theories can be connected and interrelated in a theoretical landscape. • We derived ten theoretical principles that help explain how gamification works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, using game concepts for educational purposes in digital environments has become continually more popular and relevant. Games can be used to motivate and engage users in regular system use and, in the end, support learners in achieving better learning outcomes. In this context, different kinds of game concepts exist, such as gamification or serious games, each with a different perspective and usefulness in digital learning environments. Because developing and using with game concepts in digital learning environments has recently become more important, and developing them is still not fully established, questions arise about future research directions involving games in digital learning. Therefore, this study aims to identify the state of the field and determine what is relevant when using game concepts in digital learning. To achieve this goal, we present the results of a bibliometric analysis considering more than 10,000 articles between 2000 and 2019 and summarize them to develop a research agenda. This agenda supports researchers and practitioners in identifying avenues for future research. We contribute to theory by providing a detailed understanding of the relevance of game concepts in digital learning. We propose a research agenda to assist researchers in planning future approaches with and about gamification concepts in digital learning. Practical implications are proposed by demonstrating what should be considered when using game concepts in learning environments. • Summary of existing research about game concepts in digital learning considering more than 10.000 studies. • State-of-the-art analysis of how game concepts in relation to digital learning have developed from 2000 to 2019. • Detailed research agenda about how and what we can research about game concepts in digital learning. • Clarification of what is relevant and important when we consider game concepts in digital education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study presented makes an original, new and exhaustive analysis of the adaptation of a classical board game which has been named Binary Who is Who? This proposal shows a very useful tool for the consolidation of mathematical concepts related to the study of real-valued functions that are treated in the different levels of the teaching of mathematics (first and second year of superior secondary studies and the first years of some university degrees). The use of games as a means for learning is the authors' proposal. The aim is to offer teachers the chance of using the games as a method of teaching mathematical concepts, as well as a motivating instrument for them. This game has been created to be played face-to-face in the classroom and it has also been programmed to create a video game which allows the students to play virtually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the study and qualitative assessment of the relationships between motivators and game mechanics per the ratings of expert gamification consultants. By taking this approach, it is intended that during the design phase of a gamified system, decisions can be made about the design of the system based on the motivators of each of the profiles. These motivators can be determined from the information provided by the potential players themselves. The research presented starts from a previous analysis in which, based on the three most used gamification frameworks and through a card sorting technique that allows the user to organize and classify the content, a set of mechanics are determined. In the present study, each of the mechanics is analyzed, and a more precise motive is decided. As a result, a higher level of personalization is achieved and, consequently, approximates a higher level of gamification effectiveness. The main conclusions are implemented in the development of the Game4City 3.0 project, which addresses gamified and interactive strategies to visualize urban environments in 3D at an educational and social level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Games have become one of the most popular activities across cultures and ages. There is ample evidence that supports the benefits of using games for learning and assessment. However, incorporating game activities as part of the curriculum in schools remains limited. Some of the barriers for broader adoption in classrooms is the lack of actionable assessment data, the fact that teachers often do not have a clear sense of how students are interacting with the game, and it is unclear if the gameplay is leading to productive learning. To address this gap, we seek to provide sequence and process mining metrics to teachers that are easily interpretable and actionable. More specifically, we build our work on top of Shadowspect, a three-dimensional geometry game that has been developed to measure geometry skills as well other cognitive and noncognitive skills. We use data from its implementation across schools in the U.S. to implement two sequence and process mining metrics in an interactive dashboard for teachers. The final objective is to facilitate that teachers can understand the sequence of actions and common errors of students using Shadowspect so they can better understand the process, make proper assessment, and conduct personalized interventions when appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Cartographic design guidelines are traditionally grounded in the concept of work, striving for optimal efficiency and effectiveness when accomplishing tasks (Roth 2013a). Much like traditional maps, video game maps help players navigate through and make sense of complex and often realistic virtual geographies. While maps in video games have evolved with similar technology to traditional cartography (Ahlqvist 2011), these playful maps deviate from real-world maps in that they are designed to facilitate play and adhere to game design principles to create a challenging yet satisfying experience. My research investigates how the playful purpose of video game maps informs unique design choices in cartographic representation and interaction. Specifically, I examined how video game maps exhibit interactivity, immersiveness, incompleteness, and inclusiveness characteristics of playful maps through traditional cartographic frameworks and how video game maps utilize elements of interaction and representation as cartographic tools for play. Background: Playful maps are included in video games to achieve successful gameplay. These maps exhibit consistent characteristics of interactivity, immersiveness, incompleteness, and inclusiveness (Table 1). While playful maps can be considered unique due to these characteristics, they are still bound by traditional cartographic interaction and representation. Methods: I conducted a quantitative content analysis (QCA) of video game maps to highlight areas where video game maps conform to and diverge from cartographic conventions, as well as over- and underrepresented strategies for interaction and representation design. I included 71 maps from 50 popular video games released from 2012-2016. I applied 153 codes divided into four categories based on the interactive, immersive, incomplete, and inclusive characteristics of playful games and maps, drawing from cartography and game design. Each of these categories was further divided based on the cartographic tenets of interaction and representation, utilizing Roth's (2013b) interaction primitives and Bertin's (1983) visual variables as they apply to representation design in cartography (DiBiase et al. 1992, MacEachren 1992). Results/Conclusion: My research outlines areas where modern playful cartography conforms to and deviates from traditional cartography and where the latter could potentially gain new insight from the former. The unique interaction and representation strategies employed to foster the interactive, immersive, incomplete, and inclusive nature of video game maps could influence many disciplines such as traditional cartographic design, UI/UX design, gamification, and video game design. Interactivity in playful maps adds a player-controlled entity to the classic cartographic interaction dialogue between a human and a map, allowing the user to change the map display through a secondary interaction without a primary interaction with the map itself. This distinction between levels of interaction holds significance for designing interaction strategies in traditional cartography, particularly in mobile contexts. Immersiveness in playful maps manifests through on-screen maps of varying saliency and usability. Additionally, specific design choices for representation and interaction, such as color palette or metaphoric interaction, support different levels of immersion in maps, which can lead to increased memorability and user satisfaction (Alavesa et al. 2017). Incompleteness motivates exploration of the map and virtual world through cartographic representation and interaction, highlighting new design conventions for interactive map use. Inclusiveness of playful maps can occur across space and time, highlighting unique representation and interaction strategies for collaboration that can apply to traditional cartography through geocollaboration. If my abstract is accepted, I will discuss how the QCA highlighted these areas, the interconnectedness of these characteristics, and potential directions for future research and directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, digital game-based learning models with suitable teaching strategies have proved to be of great educational benefit. Two-tier tests are an effective diagnostic tool and can be used to diagnose misconceptions of students. This study therefore designed an educational game with two-tier testing mechanism to detect the misconceptions of students in the game and provide different kinds of feedback for the misconceptions. In addition, we used lag sequence analysis to analyze the behavioral patterns of students exhibited during gameplay to understand the influence of different types of feedback content and reading time on learning effectiveness. The results indicate that digital game-based learning with two-tier testing and general digital game-based learning exert no significant effects on learning effectiveness. However, we did find out from the results of the lag sequence analysis that students who are willing to spend time reading feedback for the misconceptions are likely to achieve better learning effectiveness. Furthermore, incorporating two-tier testing into digital games can effectively reduce mathematics anxiety and help learners learn well. • A digital-game-based learning with two-tier testing approach was proposed. • Two-tier tests can detect the misconceptions and provide feedback. • The approach has been applied to a mathematics courses. • A lag sequential analysis is applied to analyze the results. • The proposed approach can effectively reduce mathematical anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games and gamification are useful tools for learning and sustaining long-term engagement in the activities that are not meant to be entertaining. However, the application of game design in the participatory modeling context remains fragmented and mostly limited to user-friendly interfaces, storytelling, and visualization for better representation of the simulation models. This paper suggests possible extensions of game design use for each stage of the participatory modeling process, aiming at better learning, communication among stakeholders, and overall engagement. The proposed extensions are based on the effects that different types of game-like applications bring to the aspects of social learning and the contribution of gamification to engagement, motivation, and enjoyment of some activities. We conclude that serious games and gamification have a high potential for improving the quality of the participatory modeling process, while also highlighting additional research that is needed for designing particular practical gamified applications in this context. • Game-like applications contribute to different aspects of social learning. • Gamification increases engagement, motivation, and enjoyment of an activity. • Participatory modeling has been gamified mostly through interactive interfaces and role-play. • There is no ready-to-go solution for gamification of participatory modeling. • Gamified interventions should be customized to the context of participatory modeling stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loss of motivation is one of the most prominent concerns in programming education as it negatively impacts time dedicated to practice, which is crucial for novice programmers. Of the distinct techniques introduced in the literature to engage students, gamification, is likely the most widely explored and fruitful. Game elements that intrinsically motivate students, such as graphical feedback and game-thinking, reveal more reliable long-term positive effects, but those involve significant development effort. This paper proposes a game-based assessment environment for programming challenges, built on top of a specialized framework, in which students develop a program to control the player, henceforth called Software Agent (SA). During the coding phase, students can resort to the graphical feedback demonstrating how the game unfolds to improve their programs and complete the proposed tasks. This environment also promotes competition through competitive evaluation and tournaments among SAs, optionally organized at the end by the teacher. Moreover, the validation of the effectiveness of Asura in increasing undergraduate students' motivation and, consequently, the practice of programming is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation is a ubiquitous and beneficial behavioural trait despite being prone to exploitation by free-riders. Hence, cooperative populations are prone to invasions by selfish individuals. However, a population consisting of only free-riders typically does not survive. Thus, cooperators and free-riders often coexist in some proportion. An evolutionary version of a Snowdrift Game proved its efficiency in analysing this phenomenon. However, what if the system has already reached its stable state but was perturbed due to a change in environmental conditions? Then, individuals may have to re-learn their effective strategies. To address this, we consider behavioural mistakes in strategic choice execution, which we refer to as incompetence. Parametrising the propensity to make such mistakes allows for a mathematical description of learning. We compare strategies based on their relative strategic advantage relying on both fitness and learning factors. When strategies are learned at distinct rates, allowing learning according to a prescribed order is optimal. Interestingly, the strategy with the lowest strategic advantage should be learnt first if we are to optimise fitness over the learning path. Then, the differences between strategies are balanced out in order to minimise the effect of behavioural uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze the design characteristics of game-based learning environments in the research literature through a content analysis. Article text was coded in 194 sampled publications on six primary characteristics and 14 secondary characteristics from 2007 to 2017. The results revealed associations between four groups of primary characteristics for a framework including leveled games, problem solving games, open-world multiplayer games, and immersive multiplayer games. The framework of secondary characteristics included paired positive and negative game mechanics, immediate feedback with technology, reward mechanisms that track progress, supportive multi-sensory learning, team structures, and teams with personalization. We conclude the article with a discussion of primary and secondary characteristics in game-based learning, suggestions for reporting game-based learning research, and directions for future research. • Game design for game-based learning includes primary and secondary characteristics. • A content analysis of the design within194 research articles from 2007 to 2017. • Results include two frameworks of design characteristics. • We recommend that researchers provide more detail on game design in publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification has been a new trend in hiring and staffing influencing companies' selection procedures. To explore applicant reactions to this new trend two studies were conducted. First, following an experimental design, we explored whether applicants perceived a gamified assessment method (i.e., a gamified Situational Judgement Test-SJT) more favorably in terms of satisfaction, predictive validity and fairness, than its traditional version (i.e., text-based SJT), as well as their levels of organizational attractiveness (study 1). Second, to get further insight into the factors that might influence applicant reactions towards a gamified assessment method, we explored the potential impact of personality (i.e., openness to experience) (study 2). Our findings indicated that applicants report higher levels of process satisfaction and in turn, perceived fairness and organizational attractiveness when the gamified assessment method is used compared to its traditional version, whereas the role of openness to experience was not supported. The role of gamification in employee selection as well as the practical implications of enhancing the assessment methods with game elements are discussed. • By applying gamification to assessment, organizational attractiveness is increased. • The element of game fiction increases the satisfaction of employee selection process. • Gamification makes an assessment method look more pleasant and in turn, fair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A review of gamification and serious games' effects on children's eating behavior. • 43 studies, incl. physical and video games, were identified and presented across 4 behaviours. • Fruit and vegetable intake increased, and nutrition-related knowledge improved. • Advergames increased intake of both healthy and unhealthy snacks. • Gamification and serious games are promising approaches to healthier eating. Gamification and serious games have increasingly been used in dietary interventions for children. This review evaluates these game-based interventions by examining the following questions: Can game-based approaches change children's eating behaviour (positively or negatively)? If yes, what game elements are characterised among the effective interventions? and, What are the potentials of applying game-based approaches to improve children's eating behaviour? Medline (Ovid), Scopus and PSYCINFO were used to identify experimental studies. Forty-three studies, including video or physical games and gamification, were identified and presented in four topics according to the study aim and eating behaviour target: 1) increase fruit and vegetable intake, 2) modify snacking behaviour, 3) encourage food exploration, and 4) promote healthy eating. Both gamifications and serious games can enhance children's fruit and vegetable intake, and promote healthy eating behaviour by improving their nutritional knowledge and attitudes. They may also encourage children's food exploration to increase novel food acceptance and reduce picky eating behaviour. However, playing snack-promoting games (advergames) significantly increases children's subsequent snack intake, and profound effects were found for unhealthy snacks. As game elements, rewards were repeatedly used across studies to incentivise behaviour change. The combination of narrative context, feedback, progress and challenge was frequently used to motivate and engage children to establish healthy eating behaviour. In conclusion , game-based interventions have potential for increasing fruit and vegetable intake and educating children about healthy eating. Further research is needed to examine long-term effects and the underlying mechanisms for behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of rewards are applied in persuasive games to encourage play persistence of its users and facilitate the achievement of desired real-world goals, such as behavioral change. Persuasive games have successfully been applied in mental healthcare and may hold potential for different types of patients. However, we question to what extent game-based rewards are suitable in a persuasive game design for a substance dependence therapy context, as people with substance-related disorders show decreased sensitivity to natural rewards, which may result in different responses to commonly applied game rewards compared to people without substance use disorders. In a within-subject experiment with 20 substance dependent and 25 non-dependent participants, we examined whether play persistence and reward evaluation differed between the two groups. Results showed that in contrast to our expectations, substance dependent participants were more motivated by the types of rewards compared to non-substance dependent participants. Participants evaluated monetary rewards more positively than playing for virtual points or social rewards. We conclude this paper with design implications of game-based rewards in persuasive games for mental healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]