Theory and Research into Practice: Using Self-Determination Theory to Analyze Gamification and Motivational Affordances in Serious Games for Health Education

Date
2016-04-08
Language
American English
Embargo Lift Date
Department
Committee Members
Degree
Degree Year
Department
Grantor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
Abstract

In serious games for health education, regulation styles in gamification help the player achieve goals through behavioral motivations that may not be apparent in an educational activity. These regulation styles are referred to as motivational affordances and might be widely employed in gamification or game-like systems that motivate users to engage in play a “gameful-type” experience. Gamification is defined as the application of game mechanics (point scoring, competition, rules, etc.) and game design techniques in order to engage and motivate players to achieve goals. Zhang defined affordance as “the actionable properties between an object and an actor” which determine how they can support one’s motivational needs. Are there common gamification and motivational affordances in serious games that prove to be effective in game play on the topic of diabetes? To answer this question, the authors explore the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation during game play by analyzing six serious games in health education on the topic of diabetes. The games selected for this study are: Carb Counting with Lenny, Dex: Your Virtual Pet, Pancreas!, I Got This, Packy & Marlon, and Captain Novolin. As a work-in-progress, the authors provide evidence using the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the constructs of motivational affordances. The characteristics in SDT were identified as competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In addition, the author’s research explores motivational affordances found in these health education games namely: psychological outcomes: motivation – keeping the player engaged, attitude – the effect of solving a problem or challenge, and enjoyment – a behavioral outcome produced by competition, play, and achievement. Behavioral outcomes: achievement – attaining success, learning evidence – gaining new knowledge (learning outcome), participation – player immersion in the game objective or story. The authors present their findings and identify, compare, and contrast gamification and the motivational affordances found in each game. Mentor: Joseph Defazio Ph.D., Department of Human-Centered Computing, IU School of Informatics and Computing, IUPUI; Indianapolis, IN

Description
poster abstract
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
Jacqueline Hill, Yuan Jia, and Joseph Defazio Ph.D. 2016, April 8. Theory and Research into Practice: Using Self-Determination Theory to Analyze Gamification and Motivational Affordances in Serious Games for Health Education. Poster session presented at IUPUI Research Day 2016, Indianapolis, Indiana.
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Source
Alternative Title
Type
Poster
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}