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The Motivational Push of Games: The Interplay of Intrinsic Motivation and External Rewards in Games for Training
Abstract
Games for training aim to keep interest in training activities high by making them more enjoyable, yet interest and motivation often wane over time. Games frequently employ rewards to halt waning motivation; however, research suggests that although this approach may work for less motivated players, it may backfire for players who are already enjoying a game. To explore changing motivation patterns over time, we conducted an 11-day study of a game for training executive functioning with players who were split into two groups that reflected their intrinsic motivation induced through a manipulation of identification with an in-game avatar. Although motivation waned over time, both effort and enjoyment waned more rapidly for players who identified less. After one week, when we delivered a reward (payment), the less-identified group respond positively -- increasing their effort and improving performance; however, the more identified group responded negatively -- decreasing their effort and declining in task performance.
... The Interest/Enjoyment subscale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) is a self-report measure of how interesting or enjoyable a participant found an activity and is widely used as a measure of Intrinsic Motivation in both videogame and life contexts [Birk et al. 2016;McAuley et al. 1989]. Interest/Enjoyment was measured using 7-items on a 1 ("Not at all true") -7 ("Very True") likert scale [McAuley et al. 1989;Ryan et al. 1983]. ...
... Interest/Enjoyment was measured using 7-items on a 1 ("Not at all true") -7 ("Very True") likert scale [McAuley et al. 1989;Ryan et al. 1983]. The items have been validated for slight variations in wording and prior research has used videogame related variations [Birk et al. 2016;Johnson et al. 2018]. ...
... In their research, participants who were rewarded for in-game prosocial behaviour were not significantly different from participants who were not rewarded in terms of post-game prosocial behaviour or prosocial attentional bias. This aligns with other research that suggests the provision of rewards operates through psychological processes, such as Intrinsic Motivation [Lepper et al. 1973], self-perceptions [Batson et al. 1978;Zuckerman et al. 1979], enjoyment and presence/immersion [Birk et al. 2016;Johnson et al. 2018], and affect [Carnagey and Anderson 2005] among others, rather than directly on behaviour itself. ...
... This added value then "trickles down" or transfers to the activity, thus boosting its interest value or appeal (Fishbach et al., 2004;Kruglanski et al., 2018; for a computational approach, see Melnikoff et al., 2022). The same applies to the use of gamification, when learning content is wrapped up in game elements that are enjoyable and offer added value that can be carried over to the learning activity (e.g., Birk et al., 2016). ...
... Also, in gaming contexts, state-based personalization, which considers patterns in players' motivation over time and can involve gamebased rewards, has been discussed as a promising route for engaging learners (e.g., Birk et al., 2016;Dumas Reyssier et al., 2023) that needs further investigation. Overall, before any practical implementation, we need to gain clarity on how to tailor rewards to learners' motivational states and the stages of the internally rewarding knowledge acquisition process. ...
... A considerable number of studies focuses on users' relation to their own avatars and their identification with their avatars. Several studies found that a higher self-similarity with one's avatar can increase one's identification with the avatar [4,[13][14][15]. Higher identification with one's avatar can also positively affect learning [15]. ...
... A positive effect of avatar identification on enjoyment was also found in a range of studies. Birk et al. [14] found that enjoyment and effort in gameplay decreased faster for participants who identified less with their avatars. A study by Ng et al. [15] showed strong effects for creating a custom avatar on feelings of engagement and presence, and modest effects on measures of learning. ...
In virtual environments, avatars are used to represent users. Previous research focusing on video games has found that similarity of self and avatar leads to higher satisfaction with one’s avatar. We extend the existing research by examining avatar use in a real-world professional training setting. We asked 472 participants in a full-time online training program about their avatars in their 3D learning environment, i.e., about their satisfaction with their avatars, how similar their avatar was to them, reasons for avatar choice and switching, modifications, and suggestions for improvements. We found that higher self-similarity with one’s avatar leads to greater satisfaction with the avatar and that this effect was partly related to participant gender, with women considering avatar self-similarity as more important than men. Moreover, we found differential patterns for avatar use for female and male participants. Based on our findings, we argue that avatars should represent the diversity that exists in the users to allow for greater identification and for the resulting benefits, since having an avatar that is similar to oneself might improve the experience for all users and help to close a gender fairness-gap that exists regarding a positive learning environment.KeywordsAvatarsStereotypesOnline trainingEmpirical study
... According to the findings in the literature [52,53], in-game rewards (such as badges, leaderboard position, points, unblocking game contents, and so forth) seem to be bestsuited for target users who are intrinsically motivated, while the use of external rewards or economic incentives seems to be best-suited to foster behavior change for those gamified activities that are mandatory, or designed to be long term: hence, those users motivated by the inherent enjoyment of the activity itself (intrinsic) may respond poorly to the external, tangible and economic rewards [52]. Hence, external rewards or economic incentives which are badly implemented could provide a loss of motivation. ...
... According to the findings in the literature [52,53], in-game rewards (such as badges, leaderboard position, points, unblocking game contents, and so forth) seem to be bestsuited for target users who are intrinsically motivated, while the use of external rewards or economic incentives seems to be best-suited to foster behavior change for those gamified activities that are mandatory, or designed to be long term: hence, those users motivated by the inherent enjoyment of the activity itself (intrinsic) may respond poorly to the external, tangible and economic rewards [52]. Hence, external rewards or economic incentives which are badly implemented could provide a loss of motivation. ...
The primary objective of the AIR-BREAK mobility campaigns is to disseminate information to the general public and increase their awareness of the sustainable mobility services available. This is intended to promote the adoption of alternative, more environmentally friendly, mobility practices. Due to human heterogeneity, different individuals are motivated by different factors and for this reason the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards vary from subject to subject. Depending on the citizen’s personality and preferences, specific rewarding mechanisms can have different impacts in terms of behavior change. The goal of this article is to report the rewarding mechanisms developed in the context of the project to raise citizens’ awareness, encourage participation, break bad habits and promote behaviour change towards more sustainable lifestyles. It also presents an analysis assessing the impact of the implemented rewarding systems to evaluate their real influence on eco-sustainable behaviors. The results indicate that every campaign successfully achieved its objective of modifying user behavior. Furthermore, the implementation of incentivizing mechanisms proved to be a pivotal factor in attaining this goal, exerting an impact on both the experienced fun and the behavioral outcome.
... Participants in the later stages of change appreciated the use of Self-monitoring strategy (using a health bar) in COVID Pacman because it helped them persist in their behavior in following precaution measures. The effectiveness of self-monitoring was unsurprising as it has been successfully deployed in various mHealth apps (Birk et al., 2016). It is also one of the most common strategies in mHealth domain. ...
... Many discussions have occurred within the gamified, game for change, and persuasive games community on the use of competition and reward to motivate behavior change. Research has suggested the possibility of the competition strategy to discourage some people who are not competitive and people who are not skilled enough (Orji, Nacke et al., 2017;Preist et al., 2014) and reward could undermine the main purpose of behavior change and has the potential of redirecting the intention of a particular activity (Birk et al., 2016;Colineau & Paris, 2010;Gneezy & Rustichini, 2000). This paper shows that rewards and competition can be effective strategies for motivating behavior change if well matched to the individual's stage of change. ...
ABSTRACT
Persuasive games are widely implemented in the healthcare domain to promote behaviour change among individuals. Previous research shows that using persuasive games increases motivation and awareness, leading to a positive change in behaviour. However, there is little knowledge on which persuasive strategies will motivate people at different Stages of Behaviour Change and whether tailoring persuasive games to match users’ stages of change will increase their effectiveness with respect to their motivational appeal towards promoting disease awareness and prevention using the ARCS motivation scales and their intention to adopt the precautionary measures. To address this gap, using COVID-19 as a case study, we designed two different versions of a persuasive game, called COVID Pacman, using different persuasive strategies. The two versions of the game target the same goal of motivating the adoption of precautionary measures. We conducted a quantitative study (N=127) followed by semistructured interviews of 18 participants. The results of conducting an ANOVA on the quantitative data and thematic analysis on the qualitative study show that tailoring the persuasive games to individual’s stages of change by using appropriate persuasive strategies increased their effectiveness with respect to their ability to motivate people to adopt the precautionary measures towards disease prevention compared to the non-tailored version.
... Rather, it focuses on users, whereby the game mechanics in a gamified software system simply exist to provide them with meaningful learning progress and enjoyment (Kappen and Nacke 2013;Deloitte 2019). When designed correctly through carefully organised learning quests and tasks, gamification might help learners to develop problem-solving skills and progress their learning step by step at their own pace (Wood and Reiners 2014;Hinton et al. 2019;Birk et al. 2016). There are many tools that can be used to design and develop gamified solutions, such as authoring tools (e.g., Moodle, Blackboard, eClass) for creating online courses in educational environments and institutions (Kim and Werbach 2016). ...
Gamification, when properly implemented in education and training, can increase the engagement and motivation of learners and inspire them to change aspects of their behaviour to support learning. Although the use of gamification in the learning process might have a positive impact, its potential to strengthen education and training has not yet been confirmed. The descriptive literature review presented in this article synthesises studies and findings on the use of gamification in the education and training context. The authors used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model to select and analyse 46 publications from six bibliographic databases. They investigated the gamification theories, frameworks, models, elements and mechanics that can support learning. In addition, research was conducted to identify constraints, challenges and organisational impediments that may arise in gamified education and training programmes, to answer the question of how gamification can be implemented to achieve better learning outcomes. Findings show that further studies need to be conducted into this evolving learning approach. Overall, gamification is most likely to be effective when instructional design principles are used to ensure training content meets learners’ needs and expectations.
... Rewards may even increase the Player-Learner's confidence and tolerance of failure (Lameras et al. 2017). It is important to note, however, that external rewards have been shown to sometimes lead to a decrease in intrinsic motivation for already highly-motivated Player-Learners (Birk, Mandryk, and Atkins 2016;Richter, Raban, and Rafaeli 2015;Deci and Ryan 2000). 3 For this reason, it's best to use intrinsic rewards: 4 rewards that are themselves part of the experience, that empower the Player-Learner and carry meaning within the context of their tasks. ...
The game master (GM) in a tabletop roleplaying game serves many roles, from planning and directing a game to teaching other players how to play. In many ways, this role mirrors that of an instructor in the classroom who plans, orates, and directs a lesson. There are several game design tools and techniques which good GMs use to successfully engage their players, and these design principles parallel how good teachers lead a class. This article serves three purposes: first, to highlight the parallel relationships between the GM-Teacher and the Player-Learner; second, to propose this comparison as a lens to understanding the art of designed playful learning experiences; and finally, to offer a practical guide (in the Appendix) to GMs and teachers alike in interaction design, emphasizing the Player-Learner’s experience as a critical factor for enjoyable play and effective learning.
... Interest/Enjoyment was measured using 7 items on a 1 ("Not at all true") -7 ("Very True") Likert scale [McAuley et al. 1989;Ryan et al. 1983]. The scale has been validated for slight variations in wording and prior research has used videogame-related variations [Birk et al. 2016;]. Using the anchor "For each of the following statements, please think about the game you just played and indicate how true it is for you, using the following scale:", the items included "I enjoyed doing this activity very much", "I would describe this activity as very interesting.", ...
... Over the last decades, Games User Research (GUR) has formalized game design and developed a substantial understanding of components in games that provide enjoyable experiences in games [37,86,101,102]; i.e., Player Experience (PX), which is defined as "the qualities of the player-game interaction and is typically investigated during and after the interaction with games" [113]. PX derives from User Experience (UX) and takes motivation [10,67], emotion [6,15,44], and personality [87,106,118] into account. Harnessing player enjoyment of games and the desire to play, game design has been widely studied and applied to motivate people to engage in activities they otherwise find difficult to do, such as exercising [60], learning [38,95], or adhering to a therapy program [55,88]. ...
The games research community has developed substantial knowledge on designing engaging experiences that draw players in. Surprisingly, less is known about player disengagement, with existing work predominantly addressing disengagement from the perspective of problematic play, and research exploring player disengagement from a constructive designer perspective is lacking. In this paper, we address this gap and argue that disengagement from games should be constructively designed, allowing players to exit play sessions in a self-determined way. Following a two-phase research approach that combines an interview study ( n =16) with a follow-up online survey ( n =111), we systematically analyze player perspectives on exiting play sessions. Our work expands the existing notion of disengagement through a characterization of exit experiences, a lens on disengagement as a process, and points for reflection for the design of games that seek to address player disengagement in a constructive way.
... In addition, an important issue for multiple-session training experiments is the sustainment of participants' motivation and attention throughout the testing sessions. Often, as individuals engage in training activities, their motivation tends to diminish over time, leading to reduced effort in the training situation and even to drop outs (Birk et al., 2016). Thus, maintaining a reliable level of task commitment of participants can be more challenging in online compared to laboratory settings, primarily due to the reduced intensity of contact between experimenter and participants. ...
Introduction
The literature on dual-task training suggests reductions in task-coordination costs with extensive practice, yet such regimens are resource-intensive. This study investigates the feasibility of online assessments for cognitive training studies by comparing training and transfer effects on task-order coordination (TOC) skills in laboratory versus online settings.
Methods
We conducted a 5-day training regimen including pre-and post-test. Sixty-two participants completed training either in our laboratory or online via Pavlovia. They were assigned to one of two training order conditions, either practicing two visual-manual tasks in a dual-task situation with fixed task order or with random task order. Performance metrics included reaction time (RT) and error rates for trained and untrained tasks to assess TOC costs before and after the training. Data from both setting conditions (laboratory vs. online) were compared.
Results
Firstly, data of both settings revealed training-order specific training and transfer effects for TOC costs on RT level. Random task order training improved TOC for trained and untrained tasks, whereas fixed order training did not. Secondly, cross-setting analyses, both frequentists and Bayesian, confirmed these effects and revealed no reliable impact of setting on outcomes.
Discussion
This research carries two significant implications. Our findings demonstrate the acquisition of task-order coordination skills, extending prior research on improving task-coordination in dual-task situations. Additionally, the robust effects for such improvements were independent of specific tasks and setting (whether investigated online or in the laboratory), supporting the use of online testing in cognitive training regimens for resource savings without compromising quality.
... • Competition and collaboration: The game can be in a competitive or collaborative model or both, widely used as motivation vehicles. If designed properly, extrinsic motivators in games can activate intrinsic motivation (Birk et al., 2016). • Connection and motivation: Learners can bond with an in-game character or team using their learning scores, which also power up their character or team. ...
This study builds on previous work investigating the efficacy of a novel framework for the design of interactive learning activities based on Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL). The work presented here provides further explanation of the setup from the previous experiment with the novel framework, DGBL-AA, by considering the provision of a game that a learner can ‘observe’ as an audience, with parameters related to a linked learning activity. Using a quasi-experimental approach, we analyse children’s reactions and perceptions of a game they observe as spectators. While the previous work was grounded in the same principles, this paper finalises the name DGBL-AA and elaborates on the details of the framework. It articulates the underlying principles that facilitate the framework's generalisation across traditional classroom education, GBL, DGBL, and life scenarios, typically phenomena seen in sports. The paper identifies the primary challenges in DGBL and sets specific goals for the framework to address these issues. The experiments and the Frogs game, developed specifically for this study, illustrate the framework's adaptability and offer insights into its potential for widespread implementation. This study evaluates the framework's impact on learning outcomes and student engagement. Our findings suggest that the framework significantly enhances the educational experience, as evidenced by quantitative and qualitative data from the experiments. The experimental group demonstrated higher engagement and better performance compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the competition and collaboration modes of the Frogs game. Future research directions include developing additional games with various progress visualisations to further assess the framework's efficacy. We also aim to explore the long-term effects of the framework on student achievement and motivation. Eventually, a virtual world that allows people to observe and motivate their learning could be created. This could involve implementing the framework in different subjects, age groups, and educational settings to validate its versatility and robustness.
... Over the last decade, Games User Research (GUR) has formalized game design and developed a substantial understanding of components in games that provide enjoyable experiences in games (Player Experience (PX)) [37,86,101,102], which is defined as "the qualities of the player-game interaction and is typically investigated during and after the interaction with games" [113]. PX derives from User Experience (UX) and takes motivation [10,67], emotion [6,15,44], and personality [87,106,118] into account. Harnessing player enjoyment of games and the desire to play, game design has been widely studied and applied to motivate people to engage in activities they otherwise find difficult to do, such as exercising [60], learning [38,95], or adhering to a therapy program [55,88]. ...
The games research community has developed substantial knowledge on designing engaging experiences that draw players in. Surprisingly, less is known about player \textit{dis}engagement, with existing work predominantly addressing disengagement from the perspective of problematic play, and research exploring player disengagement from a constructive designer perspective is lacking. In this paper, we address this gap and argue that disengagement from games should be constructively designed, allowing players to exit play sessions in a self-determined way. Following a two-phase research approach that combines an interview study (n=16) with a follow-up online survey (n=111), we systematically analyze player perspectives on exiting play sessions. Our work expands the existing notion of disengagement through a characterization of exit experiences, a lens on disengagement as a process, and points for reflection for the design of games that seek to address player disengagement in a constructive way.
... Past research has revealed that identifying with a game character can increase players' autonomy, immersion, empathy, and intrinsic motivation [8,10,52,127]. It is also a predictor of the general play experience [36,69,70], the time spent in a game [9], and the experienced enjoyment [40]. ...
Virtual reality (VR) games intensify storytelling experiences by letting players take the role of a character. However, in contrast to films, novels, or games, VR experiences often remain centered around one single character without using the potential of complex multiprotagonist plots. Our work engages in this critical topic by investigating the design of immersive and natural transitions between different characters. First, we conducted a scoping review to identify existing multiprotagonist VR games (N=18) and grouped their used transition techniques into four categories. Based on these findings and prior research, we designed two transition techniques (Static Map vs. Rebodying) and conducted a between-participants (N=36) study to explore their effect on user experience. Our results show that Rebodying outperforms Static Map regarding the perceived realism, acceptance, and spatial understanding of the character transitions. Both conditions do not differ significantly in terms of cybersickness. Finally, we provide future directions for developing, improving, and exploring of multiprotagonist transition techniques in VR games.
... Games provide real-time feedback for every action undertaken by the player. The feedback includes points, badges, and leadership boards (Berkovsky et al., 2010;Birk et al., 2016). Active and meaningful feedback activates brain regions associated with memory and emotions, which can strongly reinforce learning (Avoyan & Schotter, 2020;Kefalis et al., 2020). ...
It is increasingly recognized that exposure to severe stressors early in life can cause lasting cognitive and physiological effects, resulting in increased vulnerability to mental health disorders in adulthood. However, an emerging body of evidence has shown that moderate stress exposure in early life can cause the “steeling or strengthening effect” against the detrimental effects of adversities in later life. This paper explores whether game-based stressors can trigger and develop steeling effect. We propose the mechanism of exposing children and adolescents to modified stressors through game-based platforms that can initiate a coping process. Furthermore, the individual-level protective and promotive factors activated during the coping process may transfer to real-life hardships in later life. The method of learning and understanding one’s resilience during the coping process is critical to transferring these protective factors to later adversities.
... As Trepte & Reinecke (2010) suggest, higher customization on one's avatars, increases the level of identification and enjoyment. Birk et al. (2016), "reported that identification with an avatar in a game will increase the intrinsic motivation of the player. They showed that similarity ("My character is like me in many ways"), embodied ("I feel like I am inside my character when playing"), and wishful identification ("I would like to be more like my character") increases autonomy, immersion, invested effort, enjoyment, and positive affect as well as the overall playing time." ...
DOI: 10.4018/IJCICG.308810
This study examines virtual reality (VR) poker and how the platform affects poker players' experience. Players use a self-customized avatar and other features of a computer platform that differs from in-person poker. Data were collected through observations from in-game poker VR recordings and interviews with five professional poker players. Findings are analysed theoretically through proteus effects, social presence, ecological psychology, magic circle, and liminality. This demonstrates the interactive cues that poker players use when immersed in virtual reality and embodied in a digital avatar. The goals from this research are to learn about the influence avatars have on poker players: if players can still maintain their poker skills and read different cue signs from other players while embodied in an avatar and immersed in VR. This paper also explores the promise of poker in virtual reality and its environment, examples of existing applications, a discussion of the research to date, and also provides a vision for the future.
... systems can employ rewards to influence player engagement. For example, much of the literature surrounding 'gamification' considers whether the included gaming elements facilitate intrinsic motivation (e.g., [76]) or extrinsic motivation (e.g., [47]), and the interplay between them has also been explored (e.g., [8]). Further, there has been some effort among researchers to disentangle the different motivation regulations in the context of gamified applications [7] or frameworks of gamification [94]. ...
Many games use engagement rewards as incentives for players to engage, e.g., daily login rewards, repeatable challenges, or seasonal rewards like holiday skins. These rewards may serve players by facilitating enjoyment or motivation; however, they may also be considered differently by skeptical players, e.g., as dark patterns that do not benefit players, and may detract from-or even harm-player experiences. As they are widely prevalent in a variety of games, it is important to understand how such rewards are experienced by players to inform potential pitfalls, such as when they are negative for gaming experience or lead to unhealthy gaming behaviours. 178 participants completed a mixed-methods survey and described such rewards in games they play, the tasks required to acquire them, and their experience qualitatively and with validated scales of motivation regulation and passion orientation. We found that players perceived these rewards as beneficial (e.g., as motivation), as negative (e.g., by promoting fear of missing out), or even as an obligation or chore. Quantitative results further support the dualistic experience of such rewards. We contribute findings and design recommendations that are useful for understanding and designing widely used but potentially detrimental reward mechanics.
... Games provide real-time feedback for every action undertaken by the player. The feedback includes points, badges, and leadership boards (Berkovsky et al., 2010;Birk et al., 2016). Active and meaningful feedback activates brain regions associated with memory and emotions, which can strongly reinforce learning (Avoyan & Schotter, 2020;Kefalis et al., 2020). ...
... Thus, this negative relationship between depressive symptoms and avatar identification was observed, regardless of the level of customization and personalization within the app. This finding diverges from other research, suggesting that participants would form an attachment and identify with their virtual avatar [48,[60][61][62]. Although this finding may not support our hypothesis, it suggests that individuals with higher depression symptoms may have more difficulty in identifying with virtual self-representative avatars, regardless of aesthetics or similarity to themselves. ...
Background:
Mental health apps have shown promise in improving mental health symptoms, including depressive symptoms. However, limited research has been aimed at understanding how specific app features and designs can optimize the therapeutic benefits and adherence to such mental health apps.
Objective:
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of avatar customization on depressive symptoms and adherence to use a novel cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based mental health app. The secondary aim is to examine whether specific app features, including journaling, mood tracking, and reminders, affect the usability of the mental health app.
Methods:
College students were recruited from a university study recruitment pool website and via flyer advertisements throughout campus. A total of 94 participants completed a randomized controlled trial in which they were randomized to either customization or no customization version of the app. Customization involved personalizing a virtual avatar and a travel vehicle to one's own preferences and use of one's name throughout the app. Participants completed a 14-day trial using a novel CBT-based mental health app called AirHeart. Self-report scores for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress were measured at baseline and after the intervention. Postintervention survey measures also included usability and avatar identification questionnaires.
Results:
Of the 94 enrolled participants, 83 (88%) completed the intervention and postintervention assessments. AirHeart app use significantly reduced symptoms of depression (P=.006) from baseline to the end of the 2-week intervention period for all participants, regardless of the customization condition. However, no differences in depressive symptoms (P=.17) or adherence (P=.80) were observed between the customization (39/83, 47%) and no customization (44/83, 53%) conditions. The frequency of journaling, usefulness of mood tracking, and helpfulness of reminders were not associated with changes in depressive symptoms or adherence (P>.05). Exploratory analyses showed that there were 3 moderate positive correlations between avatar identification and depressive symptoms (identification: r=-0.312, P=.02; connection: r=-0.305, P=.02; and lack of relatability: r=0.338, P=.01).
Conclusions:
These results indicate that CBT mental health apps, such as AirHeart, have the potential to reduce depressive symptoms over a short intervention period. The randomized controlled trial results demonstrated that customization of app features, such as avatars, does not further reduce depressive symptoms over and above the CBT modules and standard app features, including journal, reminders, and mood tracking. However, further research elucidating the relationship between virtual avatar identification and mental health systems is needed as society becomes increasingly more digitized. These findings have potential implications for improving the optimization of mental health app designs.
Trial registration:
Open Science Framework t28gm; https://osf.io/t28gm.
... Cronbach's α is reported for IMI and CORGIS in Table I. IMI: Intrinsic Motivation was assessed using the 45-item Intrinsic Motivation Inventory [38], [39], which has been used to evaluate experiences of playing video games (e.g., [40], [41]). Each question was ranked on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (Not at all) to 7 (Quite a bit). ...
Who said that violent video games cannot promote calm behaviour? Could we reverse engineer the difficulty system of a horror game to encourage the player to stay calm as opposed to feeling under constant pressure? To explore the feasibility of the approach and its effectiveness, we created a horror game, Caroline, which uses the player’s biometric data to adapt the difficulty of the game – if the player is too stressed, the difficulty increases, and the opposite happens if the player is relaxed. We explored the effect of such an approach on players’ cognitive, emotional, performative and decision-making challenge as well as their intrinsic motivation by comparing it to the base game without any DDA. Our results showed that players felt more motivated when the gameplay was adjusted according to their heart rate. However, out of the four types of challenge, the only one affected by the DDA was the decision-making challenge. We discuss what these findings mean for video game design and research into affective computing and provide suggestions for future research.
... Extrinsic rewards are related to extrinsic motivation, which refers to pushing players to do or not do something through external force, such as a reward or punishment [8] . Extrinsic motivation depends on how well the activity aligns with our goals [9] . In contrast, intrinsic motivation is related to an individual's desires, interests, aspirations, and tastes. ...
The design of reasonable reward mechanisms in exercise games aims to increase people’s intrinsic motivation to participate in the games for training so that they can persist for a long time and achieve exercise results. This study developed two game modes based on a prototype of an exercises game for a Kinect interactive device. Two reward mechanisms, in-game rewards and extrinsic rewards, were included in one of the game modes respectively. Twelve older subjects and twelve younger subjects were recruited to test the game. They rated the game using an intrinsic motivation scale. The results showed that young people who played the in-game reward mode scored higher on the motivation scale. In contrast to young people, older people had higher motivation levels when playing the extrinsic reward mode. The results highlight the variability in the effects of in-game and extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation across age groups and can help people better design reward mechanisms when developing exercise games.
... These findings have revealed the technological diversity in gamification design on different platforms and echoed to the call for more meaningful gamification mechanics (Koivisto and Hamari, 2019;Liu et al., 2017). Finally, previous research has warned that where the intrinsic motivations of users play a major role in sustaining their participation, achievement-related gamification elements, if not properly designed, might be detrimental to users' intrinsic motivations and invoke discontinuance behaviours (Birk et al., 2016;Thom et al., 2012). Therefore, gamification designers need to carefully tune achievement-related gamification mechanics towards users' intrinsic motivations, while avoiding the potential side effects of extrinsic motivations. ...
In recent years, gamification mechanics have been extensively adopted by crowdsourcing platforms to improve solvers’ participation and user experience. However, although gamified crowdsourcing on competitive platforms has frequently been investigated, gamified collaborative crowdsourcing platforms are poorly understood, especially platforms where solvers cooperatively contribute knowledge. It remains unclear how solvers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations mediate the relationship between gamification mechanics and solvers’ knowledge contribution. Based on self-determination theory and related literature, this study theorises the mediating roles of three intrinsic motivations (self-esteem, competence enhancement, and a sense of virtual community) and extrinsic motivations in the relationship between three typical gamification mechanics (immersion, social, and achievement) and solvers’ knowledge contribution. It then tests the hypotheses using survey data from 386 solvers from a large collaborative knowledge crowdsourcing platform. The empirical results show that self-esteem and competence enhancement positively mediate the impact of gamification mechanics on knowledge contribution, whereas extrinsic motivation negatively mediates this impact. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study are discussed.
... Gamifcation describes the method by which game design elements are used in non-game contexts [23]. Gamifcation has been applied successfully to design of applications intended to support behaviour change, learning, or habit formation [9,56,82,109]. There are various frameworks and approaches for describing engagement [48,78,103] and evaluating the efcacy of engagement-enhancing gamifcation elements [12,108]. ...
... All these endeavors could end up excluding as many players as are drawn in. Identification with protagonists drives continued play and enjoyment for some players, but those players then react negatively to being given external rewards (Birk, Mandryk, & Atkins, 2016). Acceptance of serious games is also related to what kind of gaming aptitude they require from their players, especially among (older) adults (Vidani, Chittaro, & Carchietti, 2010). ...
... By gamifying and using extrinsic rewards, the extrinsic rewards need to be given repetitively to keep the motivation level high. Research showed that people who from the beginning have had an intrinsic motivation could even be demotivated by the gamification and feel like a guinea-pig that had to respond to stimuli [9]. The use of extrinsic motivation could limit the focus and opportunity to gamify activities [10]. ...
Both academia and industry have shown an increased interest in gamification. To enhance the design and understanding of gamification there is a need to explore the negative aspects of the concept. Negative sides, “the darkness” of gamification is further explored in this paper. Through a systematic literature review the darkness of gamification is mapped and categorized into seven problem domains. This new information could help both industry and academia to acknowledge problem domains of gamification and develop better frameworks for designing gamification. It will also reignite the call to conduct more research about negative sides of gamification in order to improve the gamification experience.
... Gamification -the use of game elements in non-gaming settings to increase user engagement and improve performance [1] is widely applied to transfer the motivational pull of games and increase user engagement with otherwise monotonous tasks [2]. While there is growing empirical evidence of the general effectiveness of gamification [3], many studies only report small effect size or omit further statistical analysis [4]. ...
The engagement achieved from gamification is a phenomenon, as gamification is being seen nowadays in a lot of industries. One reason for the massive popularity of gamification is that the use can provide easy access to a sense of engagement and self-efficacy which otherwise may not deliver. By its nature, gamification present users with challenges to overcome and use narrative structure, visuals, strategic elements, and game rules to motivate the users. Gamification is widely applied to increase user engagement, but many empirical studies on effectiveness are inconclusive, and often limited to the integration of tangible game elements such as points, leaderboards or badges. In this article, we will discuss two different perspectives: (i) Ethics: Exploitation, Manipulation, Harms, and Character (ii) Diversity: Culture, Gender and Age. The discussion will lead to opportunities for professionals and researchers to acquire relevant knowledge, assess the mechanisms for the integration of gamification in the context of meaningful engagement, and outline challenges and opportunities for further research.
... Johnson et al. (2016) and Jones et al. (2014), have both investigated the impact of games through the psychological lens of the PERMA framework. Similarly, games user research by Birk, Mandryk, and Atkins (2016) explores the design of games through the psychological lens of the Self Determination Theory. has been a pioneer in closing this gap through applying Social Learning Theory in the design of a health change game for children with asthma. ...
Games designed for a purpose in addition to entertainment serious games is a relatively new and rapidly growing field (Laamarti, Eid, & Saddik, 2014). Industries including education, training, and health are all adopting new and novel approaches with video games in order to engage, teach, train, and positively change their target population through playing entertaining games with a purpose (Brand, Todhunter, & Jervis, Games for health is a subset of this larger serious games field. Utilising video games in health contexts has been successful in a number of promising ways, from improving cancer treatment (Kato, Cole, Bradlyn, & Pollock, 2008), increasing exercise motivation (Cowdery, Majeske, Frank, & Brown, 2015), and as an effective adjunct to psychotherapy (Eichenberg & Schott, 2017).
However, the field is young, and as yet there have been no comprehensive foundational frameworks to guide design teams in both the development and design processes of creating these games , and importantly the specific strategies of how to link psychological change principles with game design elements . Each game design team, often comprised of a broad range of skillsets and working languages , needs to reinvent the wheel with each game. Scholars in this area have recommended further foundational multidisciplinary research be undertaken (T. Baranowski, Buday, Thompson, & Baranowski, 2008; Dickey, 2005; Lu, Baranowski, Thompson, & Buday, 2012).
This body of research utilises a practice led research, research led practice methodological approach (Smith & Dean, to develop a comprehensive framework to design games for health behaviour change. The framework is grounded in evidence based research of the psychology of behaviour change utilising the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change (James O Prochaska & DiClemente, 1982)1982). It is further informed by an analysis of two existing games in Study 1: Deconstructing Design , in order to understand how psychological processes map with game design patterns . The framework is then further informed through a collective case study of expert game designers in Study 2: Designing for change, to understand how game designers approach the design of games for behaviour change.
The Rosetta Wheel Framework was developed through a practice led research and research led practice iterative approach. It has 10 Change Keys, assisting design teams to create game mechanics which foster the psychological processes of change. It has 19 Key Considerations which support the overall development process. The Rosetta Wheel Framework is not a finite or singular framework. It has been developed with the intention that it will continue to evolve. Change is an ongoing process, and so too is the process of research, practice, and growth.
... Gamification has been used in a variety of settings, such as in business [2] and education [3]. Serious games are also used in the context of health care education to support desirable behavior [1,[4][5][6][7]. The use of games or game-like tasks makes it possible to enhance voluntary engagement and decrease participant drop-out rates [8,9]; in fact, a recent study showed that the experience of playing digital games as compared with standard cognitive tasks was perceived as less stressful [10]. ...
BackgroundA lack of ability to inhibit prepotent responses, or more generally a lack of impulse control, is associated with several disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia as well as general damage to the prefrontal cortex. A stop-signal task (SST) is a reliable and established measure of response inhibition. However, using the SST as an objective assessment in diagnostic or research-focused settings places significant stress on participants as the task itself requires concentration and cognitive effort and is not particularly engaging. This can lead to decreased motivation to follow task instructions and poor data quality, which can affect assessment efficacy and might increase drop-out rates. Gamification—the application of game-based elements in nongame settings—has shown to improve engaged attention to a cognitive task, thus increasing participant motivation and data quality.
Objective
This study aims to design a gamified SST that improves participants’ engagement and validate this gamified SST against a standard SST.
Methods
We described the design of our gamified SST and reported on 2 separate studies that aim to validate the gamified SST relative to a standard SST. In study 1, a within-subject design was used to compare the performance of the SST and a stop-signal game (SSG). In study 2, we added eye tracking to the procedure to determine if overt attention was affected and aimed to replicate the findings from study 1 in a between-subjects design. Furthermore, in both studies, flow and motivational experiences were measured.
ResultsIn contrast, the behavioral performance was comparable between the tasks (P
... Although there is a large body of work on gamifying cognitive tasks for training and treatment (e.g., [10,26]), we focus our review on cognitive tasks for assessment, which measure cognitive functions and are not considered diagnoses. People are required to trace patterns, memorize sequences, and respond to visual cues, among other tasks. ...
With increasing research attention on game-based digital interventions for mental disorders, a number of studies have been conducted to explore the effectiveness of digital game-based interventions on mental disorders. However, findings from previous research were inconsistent. Thus, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of game-based digital interventions for mental disorders. By searching the articles in databases, we identified 53 studies in which 2433 participants were involved, and 282 effect sizes were extracted. Among the 53 studies, 14 employed within-group (pre/post) designs, and the remaining 39 utilized controlled trial designs. Using a three-level random-effects meta-analytic model, a medium effect size of gamebased digital interventions (g = 0.47, 95 % CI: 0.33, 0.61) was revealed in the controlled trial designs and a closeto- medium effect size (g = 0.45, 95 % CI: 0.32, 0.58) was found in the within-group (pre/post) designs, indicating close-to-medium-sized efficacy of game-based digital interventions for mental disorders. Moderator analyses showed that age in the controlled trial designs had contributed to the heterogeneity in previous studies, suggesting that interventions might be more effective for the elderly. However, given that only a limited number of studies were focused on the elderly, more studies with older participants should be conducted in the future to provide more robust evidence and explore the mechanisms of how digital gaming interventions can be more effective in improving mental disorders symptoms.
Self-determination theory (SDT), a psychological theory of human motivation, is a prominent paradigm in human-computer interaction (HCI) research on games. However, our prior literature review observed a trend towards shallow applications of the theory. This follow-up work takes a broader view – examining SDT scholarship on games, a wider corpus of SDT-based HCI games research (N=259), and perspectives from a games industry practitioner conference – to help explain current applications of SDT. Our findings suggest that perfunctory applications of the theory in HCI games research originate in part from within SDT scholarship on games, which itself exhibits limited engagement with theoretical tenets. Against this backdrop, we unpack the popularity of SDT in HCI games research and identify conditions underlying the theory's current use as an oft-unquestioned paradigm. Finally, we outline avenues for more productive SDT-informed games research and consider ways towards more intentional practices of theory use in HCI.
Need for novelty has been proposed as a potential candidate to be a basic psychological need, in addition to autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the Self-Determination Theory literature. In this paper, we investigate the need for novelty in the video gaming domain, and examine whether it differentiates as a distinct construct from the other three basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness. To be able to test this, we examined whether novelty uniquely predicts context specific outcomes, such as concentration, satisfaction and commitment in games. We conducted an online survey with 390 online video game players. Regression analyses showed that need for novelty indeed emerges as a distinct construct, and uniquely predicts positive outcomes. This study provides initial support for novelty as a basic psychological need that is needed for players' intrinsic motivation, and shows the importance of novelty in online video gaming. We discuss new avenues for research related to need for novelty and how consideration of novelty may impact game design.
Video game play is remarkably ubiquitous in today's society given its recent emergence only in the late 1950s. While this fast evolution could exemplify the power of play, video games exploit but also extend other types of play. Here, we review a classification of the ecosystem of video games useful in the emerging field of the cognitive neuroscience of video games. We then discuss how video games may leverage different play types, considering first locomotor-rotational, object, and social play before highlighting the importance of role, rule, and pretend play in video games. With an eye toward comparative studies of the neural bases of play across species, we discuss whether video games may fulfil the five criteria from Burghardt (2005) to identify play. Finally, in line with play's possible preparatory role for adulthood, we review the positive impact on cognition and future learning of action-like video games. Highlighting that not all video games have this impact, we note more granular hypotheses about the biological functions of play are to be encouraged.
In this study we developed a concept for balancing extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation in gamified learning systems through the laws of levers. Although empirical findings around gamification studies remain largely inconclusive, it is still the go-to place for many who seek to improve motivation and engagement. The phenomenon uses game design elements and game principles to create better user experience on a system or activity. With the widespread of gamification across and beyond IS, the field of education and learning is one that has embraced it solemnly. Nevertheless, there is little to no consensus amongst researchers as to how to effectively apply it, and benefit from it. As such, the concept is yet entrenched; although popular. Hence, along the concept development, this study set out to review the setbacks of gamification in recent times, primarily focusing on the current inconsistencies of empirical outcomes and how these challenges can be mitigated. We discovered that the overreliance of developers on narrow models is a culprit for failed gamification. Shallow gamification design which centres around the so-called “BPL gamification” is a source of failure, as it has become a copy-and-paste cliché, rather than a deliberate contextual design. Inordinate selection, and application of game elements to a system/activity is toppling gamification too. This was found to also create imbalances in both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation thereby leading to what is known as “Overjustification effect”, which is a big killer of gamification today.
Background:
Self-administered paper or electronic surveys can create accessibility issues for people with language barriers and limited literacy, whereas face-to-face interviews can create privacy issues and give rise to reporting biases, particularly in the context of sensitive subject matters. An audio computer-assisted self-interview (ACASI) offers an alternative mode of survey administration, and its use has been tested against other survey modes to determine whether the presence of a background narration helps overcome literacy and privacy issues. There are still gaps with the ACASI survey administration because audio narration alone does not assist respondents with limited literacy in choosing response options. To overcome literacy issues, a few studies have used illustrated pictures for a limited number of response options.
Objective:
This study aimed to illustrate all the questions and response options in an ACASI application. This research is part of a larger study comparing different modes of survey administration (ACASI, face-to-face interviews, and self-administered paper surveys) to collect data on hepatitis B knowledge, attitudes, and practices among the Myanmar-born community in Perth, Australia. This study describes the 2-phase process of developing a web-based ACASI application using illustrated pictures.
Methods:
The first phase was the preparation of the ACASI elements, such as questionnaire, pictures, brief descriptions of response options, and audio files. Each element was pretested on 20 participants from the target population. The second phase involved synchronizing all the elements into the web-based ACASI application and adapting the application features, in particular, autoplay audio and illustrated pictures. The preprototype survey application was tested for user acceptance on 5 participants from the target population, resulting in minor adjustments to the display and arrangement of response options.
Results:
After a 12-month development process, the prototype ACASI application with illustrated pictures was fully functional for electronic survey administration and secure data storage and export.
Conclusions:
Pretesting each element separately was a useful approach because it saved time to reprogram the application at a later stage. Future studies should also consider the participatory development of pictures and visual design of user interfaces. This picture-assisted ACASI survey administration mode can be further developed and used to collect sensitive information from populations that are usually marginalized because of literacy and language barriers.
This study examines virtual reality (VR) poker and how the platform affects poker players' experience. Players use a self-customized avatar and other features of a computer platform that differs from in-person poker. Data were collected through observations from in-game poker VR recordings and interviews with five professional poker players. Findings are analysed theoretically through proteus effects, social presence, ecological psychology, magic circle, and liminality. This demonstrates the interactive cues that poker players use when immersed in virtual reality and embodied in a digital avatar. The goals from this research are to learn about the influence avatars have on poker players: if players can still maintain their poker skills and read different cue signs from other players while embodied in an avatar and immersed in VR. This paper also explores the promise of poker in virtual reality and its environment, examples of existing applications, a discussion of the research to date, and also provides a vision for the future.
Mental health apps have shown promise in improving quality of life in a variety of contexts; however, it is unclear how specific internal app features influence the effectiveness of such apps. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of app feature personalization, including avatar customization and naming, on depressive symptoms. A total of 59 students completed a 14-day trial utilizing a novel cognitive behavioral therapy-based app developed exclusively for this study. The study entailed a two-group experimental design with randomization to either a personalization or no-personalization version of the app. AirHeart successfully reduced depressive symptoms over the two-week period, but personalization of an avatar did not further this reduction.
One important aspect of cognitive control is the ability to stop a response in progress and motivational aspects, such as self-relevance, which may be able to influence this ability. We test the influence of self-relevance on stopping specifically if increased self-relevance enhances reactive response inhibition. We measured stopping capabilities using
a gamified version of the stop-signal paradigm. Self-relevance was manipulated by allowing participants to customize their game avatar (Experiment 1) or by introducing a premade, self-referential avatar (Experiment 2). Both methods create a motivational pull that has been shown to increase motivation and identification. Each participant completed one block of trials with enhanced self-relevance and one block without enhanced self-relevance, with block order counterbalanced. In both experiments, the manipulation of self-relevance was effective in a majority of participants as indicated by self-report on the Player-Identification-Scale, and the effect was strongest in participants that completed the self-relevance block first. In those participants, the degree of subjectively experienced that self-relevance was associated with improvement in stopping performance over the course of the experiment. These results indicate that increasing the degree to which people identify with a cognitive task may induce them to exert greater, reactive inhibitory control. Consequently, self-relevant avatars may be used when an increase in commitment is desirable such as in therapeutic or training settings.
Avatar identification is one of the most promising research areas in games user research. Greater identification with one's avatar has been associated with improved outcomes in the domains of health, entertainment, and education. However, existing studies have focused almost exclusively on the visual appearance of avatars. Yet audio is known to influence immersion/presence, performance, and physiological responses. We perform one of the first studies to date on avatar self-similar audio. We conducted a 2 x 3 (similar/dissimilar x modulation upwards/downwards/none) study in a Java programming game. We find that voice similarity leads to a significant increase in performance, time spent, similarity identification, competence, relatedness, and immersion. Similarity identification acts as a significant mediator variable between voice similarity and all measured outcomes. Our study demonstrates the importance of avatar audio and has implications for avatar design more generally across digital applications.
Statistical Significance Testing -- or Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) -- is common to quantitative CHI PLAY research. Drawing from recent work in HCI and psychology promoting transparent statistics and the reduction of questionable research practices, we systematically review the reporting quality of 119 CHI PLAY papers using NHST (data and analysis plan at https://osf.io/4mcbn/. We find that over half of these papers employ NHST without specific statistical hypotheses or research questions, which may risk the proliferation of false positive findings. Moreover, we observe inconsistencies in the reporting of sample sizes and statistical tests. These issues reflect fundamental incompatibilities between NHST and the frequently exploratory work common to CHI PLAY. We discuss the complementary roles of exploratory and confirmatory research, and provide a template for more transparent research and reporting practices.
Fostering intrinsic motivation with interactive applications can increase the enjoyment that people experience when using technology, but can also translate into more invested effort. We propose that identifying with an avatar in a game will increase the intrinsic motivation of the player. We analyzed data from 126 participants playing a custom endless runner game and show that similarity identification, embodied identification, and wishful identification increases autonomy, immersion, invested effort, enjoyment, and positive affect. We also show that greater identification translates into motivated behaviour as operationalized by the time that players spent in an unending version of the infinite runner. Important for the design of games for entertainment and serious purposes, we discuss how identification with an avatar can be facilitated to cultivate intrinsic motivation within and beyond games.
Performance-based financing becomes a common strategy to improve health sector quality. The findings of this paper imply that performance-based financing should take motivational effects and levels of provider capacity into account. Using a field experiment in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we find that financial incentives led to more effort from health workers on rewarded activities, without deterring effort on non-rewarded activities. We also find a shift from intrinsic to extrinsic motivation. Finally, the increased effort by health workers proved unsuccessful and led to a reduction in revenue, suggesting that health workers lacked the capacity to develop appropriate strategies to perform.
Conducted a field experiment with 3-5 yr old nursery school children to test the "overjustification" hypothesis suggested by self-perception theory (i.e., intrinsic interest in an activity may be decreased by inducing him to engage in that activity as an explicit means to some extrinsic goal). 51 Ss who showed intrinsic interest in a target activity during baseline observations were exposed to 1 of 3 conditions: in the expected-award condition, Ss agreed to engage in the target activity in order to obtain an extrinsic reward; in the unexpected-award condition, Ss had no knowledge of the reward until after they had finished with the activity; and in the no-award condition, Ss neither expected nor received the reward. Results support the prediction that Ss in the expected-award condition would show less subsequent intrinsic interest in the target activity than Ss in the other 2 conditions. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many MOOCs report high drop off rates for their students. Among the factors reportedly contributing to this picture are lack of motivation, feelings of isolation, and lack of interac-tivity in MOOCs. This paper investigates the potential of gamification with social game elements for increasing retention and learning success. Students in our experiment showed a significant increase of 25% in retention period (videos watched) and 23% higher average scores when the course interface was gamified. Social game elements amplify this effect significantly – students in this condition showed an increase of 50% in retention period and 40% higher average test scores.
People using wheelchairs face barriers in their daily lives, many of which are created by people who surround them. Promoting positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities is an integral step in removing these barriers and improving their quality of life. In this context, persuasive games offer an opportunity of encouraging attitude change. We created a wheelchair-controlled persuasive game to study how embodied interaction can be applied to influence player attitudes over time. Our results show that the game intervention successfully raised awareness for challenges that people using wheelchairs face, and that embodied interaction is a more effective approach than traditional input in terms of retaining attitude change over time. Based on these findings, we provide design strategies for embodied interaction in persuasive games, and outline how our findings can be leveraged to help designers create effective persuasive experiences beyond games.
Interest in the use of mobile technology to deliver mental health services has grown in light of the economic and practical barriers to treatment. Yet, research on alternative delivery strategies that are more affordable, accessible, and engaging is in its infancy. Attention bias modification training (ABMT), has potential to reduce treatment barriers as a mobile intervention for stress and anxiety, but the degree to which ABMT can be embedded in a mobile gaming format and its potential for transfer of benefits is unknown. The present study examined effects of a gamified ABMT mobile application in highly trait anxious participants (N = 78). A single session of the active compared to placebo training reduced subjective anxiety and observed stress reactivity. Critically, the long (45 minutes) but not short (25 minutes) active training condition reduced the core cognitive process implicated in ABMT (threat bias) as measured by an untrained, gold-standard protocol.
Persuasive games for health are designed to alter human behavior or attitude using various Persuasive Technology (PT) strategies. Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of such games, which treat players as a monolithic group by adopting a one-size-fits-all design approach. Studies of gameplay motivation have shown that this is a bad approach because a motivational approach that works for one individual may actually demotivate behavior in others. In an attempt to resolve this weakness, we conducted a large-scale study on 1,108 gamers to examine the persuasiveness of ten PT strategies that are commonly employed in persuasive game design, and the receptiveness of seven gamer personalities (gamer types identified by BrianHex) to the ten PT strategies. We developed models showing the receptiveness of the gamer types to the PT strategies and created persuasive profiles, which are lists of strategies that can be employed to motivate behavior for each gamer type. We then explored the differences between the models and, based on the results, proposed two approaches for data-driven persuasive game design. The first is the one-size-fits-all approach that will motivate a majority of gamers, while not demotivating any player. The second is the personalized approach that will best persuade a particular type of gamer. We also compiled a list of the best and the worst strategies for each gamer type. Finally, to bridge the gap between game design and PT researchers, we map common game mechanics to the persuasive system design strategies.
Biofeedback games help people maintain specific mental or physical states and are useful to help children with cognitive impairments learn to self-regulate their brain function. However, biofeedback games are expensive and difficult to create and are not sufficiently appealing to hold a child's interest over the long term needed for effective biofeedback training. We present a system that turns off-the-shelf computer games into biofeedback games. Our approach uses texture-based graphical overlays that vary in their obfuscation of underlying screen elements based on the sensed physiological state of the child. The textures can be visually customized so that they appear to be integrated with the underlying game. Through a 12-week deployment, with 16 children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, we show that our solution can hold a child's interest over a long term, and balances the competing needs of maintaining the fun of playing, while providing effective biofeedback training.
This study examines important developmental differences in patterns of activation in the prefrontal cortex during performance of a Go-No-Go paradigm using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eighteen subjects (9 children and 9 adults) were scanned using gradient echo, echo planar imaging during performance of a response inhibition task. The results suggest four general findings. First, the location of activation in the prefrontal cortex was not different between children and adults, which is similar to our earlier pediatric fMRI results of prefrontal activation during a working memory task (Casey et al., 1995). Second, the volume of activation was significantly greater for children relative to adults. These differences in volume of activation were observed predominantly in the dorsal and lateral prefrontal cortices. Third, although inhibitory processes have typically been associated with more ventral or orbital frontal regions, the current study revealed activation that was distributed across both dorsolateral and orbitofrontal cortices. Finally, consistent with animal and human lesion studies, activity in orbital frontal and anterior cingulate cortices correlated with behavioral performance (i.e., number of false alarms). These results further demonstrate the utility of this methodology in studying pediatric populations.
This article proposes a scale for measuring player identification in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Three dimensions have been derived from the literature, avatar identification, group identification, and game identification, whereby avatar identification is a second-order factor consisting of similarity identification, wishful identification, and embodied presence. Based on the results of a cross-sectional survey of 544 World of Warcraft players, the measurement instrument's proposed factorial structure was confirmed and the constructs were successfully tested for convergent validity. Subsequently, support for nomological validity was gathered by testing nine theoretically rooted hypotheses linking the identification constructs to motivations for playing MMOGs. The results show that avatar identification is positively associated with roleplay, customization, and escapism; group identification with socializing and relationship; and game identification with escapism, discovery, advancement, and mechanics. These findings indicate that the Player Identification Scale provides a reliable measure of identification in online games ready to be used and further validated in subsequent research.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a motivational sequence that integrates much of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation literature in sport. The proposed motivational sequence: “Social Factors → Psychological Mediators → Types of Motivation → Consequences” is in line with self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan. 1985. 1991) and the Hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Vallerand, 1997). Using the sequence, it is first shown that the motivational impact of social factors inherent in sport, such as competition/cooperation, success/failure, and coaches' behaviors toward athletes, takes place through their influence on athletes' perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (i.e., the psychological mediators). Second, recent results are provided with respect to a new multidimensional measure (i.e., the Sport Motivation Scale; Pelletier et al., 1995) to assess the different types of athletes' motives. Third, we review findings that suggest that such sport motives lead to various consequences for the athlete e.g.
Recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of mass-market consumer software that takes inspiration from video games. Usually summarized as "gamification", this trend connects to a sizeable body of existing concepts and research in human-computer interaction and game studies, such as serious games, pervasive games, alternate reality games, or playful design. However, it is not clear how "gamification" relates to these, whether it denotes a novel phenomenon, and how to define it. Thus, in this paper we investigate "gamification" and the historical origins of the term in relation to precursors and similar concepts. It is suggested that "gamified" applications provide insight into novel, gameful phenomena complementary to playful phenomena. Based on our research, we propose a definition of "gamification" as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts.
In this paper we present the MDA framework (standing for Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics), developed and taught as part of the Game Design and Tuning Workshop at the Game Developers Conference, San Jose 2001-2004. MDA is a formal approach to understanding games – one which attempts to bridge the gap between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research. We believe this methodology will clarify and strengthen the iterative processes of developers, scholars and researchers alike, making it easier for all parties to decompose, study and design a broad class of game designs and game artifacts.
Four studies apply self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) in investigating motivation for computer game play,
and the effects of game play on well-being. Studies 1–3 examine individuals playing 1, 2 and 4 games, respectively and show
that perceived in-game autonomy and competence are associated with game enjoyment, preferences, and changes in well-being
pre- to post-play. Competence and autonomy perceptions are also related to the intuitive nature of game controls, and the
sense of presence or immersion in participants’ game play experiences. Study 4 surveys an on-line community with experience
in multi-player games. Results show that SDT’s theorized needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness independently predict
enjoyment and future game play. The SDT model is also compared with Yee’s (2005) motivation taxonomy of game play motivations.
Results are discussed in terms of the relatively unexplored landscape of human motivation within virtual worlds.
How do extrinsic and intrinsic motives affect learning? We predicted that they would not be additive but rather that there would be interactive or curvilinear effects. Extrinsic and intrinsic goal orientation scales were administered to 13 classes—six psychology classes (two in Korea), three biology classes, three English classes, and one sociology class in a liberal arts college, a comprehensive university, and a community college. As predicted, students in the mid-third of the distribution in motivation for grades (extrinsic) who were high in intrinsic motivation achieved better grades than students with higher or lower extrinsic motivation.
The beneficial effects of brain training games are expected to transfer to other cognitive functions, but these beneficial effects are poorly understood. Here we investigate the impact of the brain training game (Brain Age) on cognitive functions in the elderly.
Thirty-two elderly volunteers were recruited through an advertisement in the local newspaper and randomly assigned to either of two game groups (Brain Age, Tetris). This study was completed by 14 of the 16 members in the Brain Age group and 14 of the 16 members in the Tetris group. To maximize the benefit of the interventions, all participants were non-gamers who reported playing less than one hour of video games per week over the past 2 years. Participants in both the Brain Age and the Tetris groups played their game for about 15 minutes per day, at least 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Each group played for a total of about 20 days. Measures of the cognitive functions were conducted before and after training. Measures of the cognitive functions fell into four categories (global cognitive status, executive functions, attention, and processing speed). Results showed that the effects of the brain training game were transferred to executive functions and to processing speed. However, the brain training game showed no transfer effect on any global cognitive status nor attention.
Our results showed that playing Brain Age for 4 weeks could lead to improve cognitive functions (executive functions and processing speed) in the elderly. This result indicated that there is a possibility which the elderly could improve executive functions and processing speed in short term training. The results need replication in large samples. Long-term effects and relevance for every-day functioning remain uncertain as yet.
UMIN Clinical Trial Registry 000002825.
User studies are important for many aspects of the design process and involve techniques ranging from informal surveys to rigorous laboratory studies. However, the costs involved in engaging users often requires practitioners to trade off between sample size, time requirements, and monetary costs. Micro-task markets, such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk, offer a potential paradigm for engaging a large number of users for low time and monetary costs. Here we investigate the utility of a micro-task market for collecting user measurements, and discuss design considerations for developing remote micro user evaluation tasks. Although micro-task markets have great potential for rapidly collecting user measurements at low costs, we found that special care is needed in formulating tasks in order to harness the capabilities of the approach. Author Keywords Remote user study, Mechanical Turk, micro task, Wikipedia.
Persuasive technologies can be useful to modify behaviors related to energy usage. In this paper, we present the PowerHouse
a computer game designed to influence behaviors associated with energy use and promote an energy-aware lifestyle among teenagers.
This prototype game aims to influence a set of target activities in the home using several persuasive techniques. Employing
the format of a reality TV show (docu soap), the game informs implicitly and explicitly about various energy-efficient actions.
We discuss our overall game design and its advantages and disadvantages in relation to the methods we have employed in the
game.
Persuasive games are a relatively new phenomenon, and hold promise as effective vehicles for persuasion. As yet, however,
there are few set rules guiding how to design persuasive games to be interesting, compelling, and effective. Furthermore,
little theory exists that guides their development from a persuasive technology (PT) perspective. The results of a recent
pilot test on Smoke?, our persuasive game about smoking cessation, highlighted several design issues related to persuasive games in general. In
this paper we discuss some of those issues, contextualizing them in terms of B J Fogg’s PT strategies, in order to both explain
underlying forces, and point towards potential design solutions. The five issues we discuss are: managing player attention, balancing “replayability” with reality, player control vs. system control, identity issues, and target audience.
Purpose
To examine the impact of financial incentives, communications strategy, and worksite culture on health risk assessment (HRA) participation rates.
Design
A cross-sectional study design was used to examine factors that influence employee participation, including incentive value, incentive design, communications strategy, and worksite culture.
Setting
Large private-sector and public-sector employers.
Participants
Thirty-six employers (n = 559,988 employees) that provided financial incentives to promote employee HRA participation.
Intervention
Organizations implemented the HRA as part of a more comprehensive worksite health promotion strategy that included follow-up interventions and a variety of other components. The primary outcome of interest was employee HRA participation.
Measures
Information on program design and structure, as well as on HRA eligibility and participation, was collected for each organization via standard client report and semi-structured interviews with account managers. General linear regression models were used to examine the extent to which factors influence HRA participation independently and when controlled for other factors.
Results
Incentive value (r² = .433; p < .000), benefits-integrated incentive design (r² = .184; p = .009), culture (r² = .113; p = .045), and communications strategy (r² = .300; p = .001) had positive bivariate associations with HRA participation rates. When all factors were included in the model, incentive value (p = .001) and communications strategy (p = .023) were significantly associated with HRA participation. Variance accounted for by all factors combined was R² = .584.
Conclusion
This study suggests that incentive value, incentive type, supportive worksite culture, and comprehensive communications strategy may all play a role in increasing HRA participation.
Executive functions, including working memory and inhibition, are of central importance to much of human behavior. Interventions intended to improve executive functions might therefore serve an important purpose. Previous studies show that working memory can be improved by training, but it is unknown if this also holds for inhibition, and whether it is possible to train executive functions in preschoolers. In the present study, preschool children received computerized training of either visuo-spatial working memory or inhibition for 5 weeks. An active control group played commercially available computer games, and a passive control group took part in only pre- and posttesting. Children trained on working memory improved significantly on trained tasks; they showed training effects on non-trained tests of spatial and verbal working memory, as well as transfer effects to attention. Children trained on inhibition showed a significant improvement over time on two out of three trained task paradigms, but no significant improvements relative to the control groups on tasks measuring working memory or attention. In neither of the two interventions were there effects on non-trained inhibitory tasks. The results suggest that working memory training can have significant effects also among preschool children. The finding that inhibition could not be improved by either one of the two training programs might be due to the particular training program used in the present study or possibly indicate that executive functions differ in how easily they can be improved by training, which in turn might relate to differences in their underlying psychological and neural processes.
This article has two purposes. The first is to describe four theoretical models of yes-no recognition memory and present their associated measures of discrimination and response bias. These models are then applied to a set of data from normal subjects to determine which pairs of discrimination and bias indices show independence between discrimination and bias. The second purpose is to use the indices from the acceptable models to characterize recognition memory deficits in dementia and amnesia. Young normal subjects, Alzheimer's disease patients, and parkinsonian dementia patients were tested with picture recognition tasks with repeated study–test trials. Huntington's disease patients, mixed etiology amnesics, and age-matched normals were tested by Butters, Wolfe, Martone, Granholm, and Cermak (1985) using the same paradigm with word stimuli. Three major points are emphasized. First, any index of recognition memory performance assumes an underlying model. Second, even acceptable models can lead to different conclusions about patterns of learning and forgetting. Third, efforts to characterize and ameliorate abnormal memory should address both discrimination and bias deficits.
A meta-analysis of 128 studies examined the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. As predicted, engagement-contingent, completion-contingent, and performance-contingent rewards significantly undermined free-choice intrinsic motivation (d = -0.40, -0.36, and -0.28, respectively), as did all rewards, all tangible rewards, and all expected rewards. Engagement-contingent and completion-contingent rewards also significantly undermined self-reported interest (d = -0.15, and -0.17), as did all tangible rewards and all expected rewards. Positive feedback enhanced both free-choice behavior (d = 0.33) and self-reported interest (d = 0.31). Tangible rewards tended to be more detrimental for children than college students, and verbal rewards tended to be less enhancing for children than college students. The authors review 4 previous meta-analyses of this literature and detail how this study's methods, analyses, and results differed from the previous ones.
This book offers a practical yet powerful way to understand the psychological appeal and strong motivation to play video games.
With video game sales in the billions and anxious concerns about their long-term effects growing louder, Glued to Games: How Video Games Draw Us In and Hold Us Spellbound brings something new to the discussion. It is the first truly balanced research-based analysis on the games and gamers, addressing both the positive and negative aspects of habitual playing by drawing on significant recent studies and established motivational theory.
Filled with examples from popular games and the real experiences of gamers themselves, Glued to Games gets to the heart of gaming's powerful psychological and emotional allure—the benefits as well as the dangers. It gives everyone from researchers to parents to gamers themselves a clearer understanding the psychology of gaming, while offering prescriptions for healthier, more enjoyable games and gaming experiences.
What if every part of our everyday life was turned into a game? The implications of “gamification.”
What if our whole life were turned into a game? What sounds like the premise of a science fiction novel is today becoming reality as “gamification.” As more and more organizations, practices, products, and services are infused with elements from games and play to make them more engaging, we are witnessing a veritable ludification of culture.
Yet while some celebrate gamification as a possible answer to mankind's toughest challenges and others condemn it as a marketing ruse, the question remains: what are the ramifications of this “gameful world”? Can game design energize society and individuals, or will algorithmicincentive systems become our new robot overlords?
In this book, more than fifty luminaries from academia and industry examine the key challenges of gamification and the ludification of culture—including Ian Bogost, John M. Carroll, Bernie DeKoven, Bill Gaver, Jane McGonigal, Frank Lantz, Jesse Schell, Kevin Slavin, McKenzie Wark, and Eric Zimmerman. They outline major disciplinary approaches, including rhetorics, economics, psychology, and aesthetics; tackle issues like exploitation or privacy; and survey main application domains such as health, education, design, sustainability, or social media.
Meaningful gamification is the use of gameful and playful layers to help a user find personal connections that motivate engagement with a specific context for long-term change. While reward-based gamification can be useful for short-term goals and situations where the participants have no personal connections or intrinsic motivation to engage in a context, rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation and the long-term desire to engage with the real world context. If the goal is long-term change, then rewards should be avoided and other game-based elements used to create a system based on concepts of meaningful gamification. This article introduces six concepts—Reflection, Exposition, Choice, Information, Play, and Engagement—to guide designers of gamification systems that rely on non-reward-based game elements to help people find personal connections and meaning in a real world context.
Intrinsic and extrinsic types of motivation have been widely studied, and the distinction between them has shed important light on both developmental and educational practices. In this review we revisit the classic definitions of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in light of contemporary research and theory. Intrinsic motivation remains an important construct, reflecting the natural human propensity to learn and assimilate. However, extrinsic motivation is argued to vary considerably in its relative autonomy and thus can either reflect external control or true self-regulation. The relations of both classes of motives to basic human needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are discussed.
Current surgical education curricula focus mainly on the acquisition of technical skill rather than clinical and operative judgment. SICKO (Surgical Improvement of Clinical Knowledge Ops) is a novel gaming platform developed to address this critical need. A pilot study was performed to collect validity evidence for SICKO as an assessment for surgical decision making.
Forty-nine subjects stratified into 4 levels of expertise were recruited to play SICKO. Later, players were surveyed regarding the realism of the gaming platform as well as the clinical competencies required of them while playing SICKO.
Each group of increasing expertise outperformed the less experienced groups. Mean total game scores for the novice, junior resident, senior resident, and expert groups were 5,461, 8,519, 11,404, and 13,913, respectively (P = .001). Survey results revealed high scores for realism and content.
SICKO holds the potential to be not only an engaging and immersive educational tool, but also a valid assessment in the armamentarium of surgical educators.
Published by Elsevier Inc.
Youth with cerebral palsy (CP) can experience social isolation, in part due to mobility limitations associated with CP. We show that networked video games can provide a venue for social interaction from the home. We address the question of how to design networked games that enhance social play among people with motor disabilities. We present Liberi, a networked game custom-designed for youth with CP. Liberi is designed to allow frictionless group formation, to balance for differences in player abilities, and to support a variety of play styles. A ten-week home-based study with ten participants showed the game to be effective in fostering social interaction among youth with CP.
Effective exergames should increase the proportion of time users regularly spend in moderate to vigorous physical activity. There are currently few studies of exergame systems which evaluate the impact on physical activity over time. Those which do, show increases in light intensity exercise which although valuable, do not increase the proportion of moderate to vigorous activity required for optimal health benefits. Furthermore, longitudinal studies to date have encountered a plateau effect in physical activity as the novelty of the game wears off. This paper suggests how exergame designs based on deeper understandings of player motivations could address these problems.
We report on longitudinal patterns of users' physical activity, motivations and behaviour when using exergames, based on case studies from a seven week long school based field trial. These new insights, interpreted through Bandura's theory of self efficacy, are of value to designers in the HCI community who wish to motivate users with a range of attitudes towards exercise to undertake regular moderate to vigorous physical activity.
The finding that extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation has been highly controversial since it first appeared (Deci, 1971). A meta-analysis published in this journal (Cameron & Pierce, 1994) concluded that the undermining effect was minimal and largely inconsequential for educational policy. However, a more recent meta-analysis (Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 1999) showed that the Cameron and Pierce meta-analysis was seriously flawed and that its conclusions were incorrect. This article briefly reviews the results of the more recent meta-analysis, which showed that tangible rewards do indeed have a substantial undermining effect. The meta-analysis provided strong support for cognitive evaluation theory (Deci & Ryan, 1980), which Cameron and Pierce had advocated abandoning. The results are briefly discussed in terms of their relevance for educational practice.
The foundation for a model of motivational synergy is presented. Building upon but going beyond previous conceptualizations, the model outlines the ways in which intrinsic motivation (which arises from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual) might interact with extrinsic motivation (which arises from the desire to obtain outcomes that are apart from the work itself). In a modification of the prevailing psychological view that extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation, this conceptualization proposes that certain types of extrinsic motivation can combine synergistically with intrinsic motivation, particularly when initial levels of intrinsic motivation are high. Such synergistic motivational combinations should lead to high levels of employee satisfaction and performance. Two mechanisms are proposed for these combinations: extrinsics in service of intrinsics, and the motivation-work cycle match. Personality and work-environment influences on motivation are discussed, and implications are outlined for management practice and management development.
Background
Fruit, juice, and vegetable (FJV) consumption among children is low. Innovative programs are needed to enable children to increase FJV intake. Psychoeducational multimedia permits the delivery of interventions as designed and capitalizes on known behavior change principles.
Can the workplace be redesigned to include avatars, three-dimensional environments, and a host of virtual rewards that form newly transparent reputations for you and your team? This grounded and thought-provoking book by Byron Reeves and Leighton Read argues that it is not only possible, it is inevitable. Massive multiplayer online games (MMOs) are a new cultural phenomenon at the intersection of electronic entertainment and social networking. Borrowing the key design principles from these games can address a host of classic challenges in the workplace including collaboration, innovation, leadership, and of course, boredom. No longer the sole domain of adolescent boys, today’s best complex social games capture countless of hours of attention from men and women across the age spectrum who are carrying out activities in these entertainment titles that look surprisingly like the same tasks being performed by enterprise information-workers. There is a lot to be learned from the context that makes this behavior engaging, for example: positioning tasks within compelling stories that matter to the player, providing the tools for internal marketplaces where economic behavior replaces command and control, and affordances that help solve the problem of “what do I get when we win” Reeves and Read show how to choose and implement the right elements for your business. Of course, the psychological power of game design can have both positive and negative consequences for the workplace. That’s why it’s important to put them into practice correctly from the beginning–and Reeves and Read explain how by showing which good design principles are powerful antidotes to the addictive and stress-inducing potential of games. Supported by specific case studies and years of research, Total Engagement completely changes the way you view both work and play.
This study examined the effects of delayed rewards on intrinsic motivation in tasks of low and high interest. Subjects were randomly placed into either a high- or a low-interest condition and received an immediate reward, a delayed reward, or no reward for playing a computer game. After playing the computer game for 10 min, the amount of free time spent playing the game was recorded as a measure of intrinsic motivation. Subjects then filled out a task questionnaire that also included a measure of intrinsic motivation. A significant interaction was obtained between task interest and reward condition in which subjects in the low-task interest condition spent more free time on the computer game in the immediate-reward condition and progressively less time in the delayed- and no-reward conditions. Subjects in the high-task interest condition did the opposite by spending the most free time on the computer game in the no-reward condition and progressively less time when rewards were delayed or given immediately. A significant Task Interest x Reward Condition interaction was also obtained in the self-report measure taken from the questionnaire replicating the behavioral measure. The results are consistent with other findings, which have shown that external rewards can undermine behavior that is intrinsically motivated.
Reviewed research on the issue of self-determination and its relationship to intrinsic motivation in sport using cognitive evaluation theory (E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan, 1985). It is argued that much of sport participation is a function of intrinsic motivation, and that such intrinsic motivation is facilitated by conditions conducive to autonomy or self-determination. The dynamics of self-determination have been explored in studies of the effects of external rewards, interpersonal contexts, and styles of self-regulation on intrinsic motivation. The implications of this body of work for sport psychology are discussed, as well as the relevant areas of sport motivation research that to date remain underexamined. (French, Spanish, German & Italian abstracts) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Presents an animal model of how learned helplessness may manifest itself as depression and anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Self-determination theory (SDT) maintains that an understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. We discuss the SDT concept of needs as it relates to previous need theories, emphasizing that needs specify the necessary conditions for psychological growth, integrity, and well-being. This concept of needs leads to the hypotheses that different regulatory processes underlying goal pursuits are differentially associated with effective functioning and well-being and also that different goal contents have different relations to the quality of behavior and mental health, specifically because different regulatory processes and different goal contents are associated with differing degrees of need satisfaction. Social contexts and individual differences that support satisfaction of the basic needs facilitate natural growth processes including intrinsically motivated behavior and integration of extrinsic motivations, whereas those that forestall autonomy, competence, or relatedness are associated with poorer motivation, performance, and well-being. We also discuss the relation of the psychological needs to cultural values, evolutionary processes, and other contemporary motivation theories.
The distribution of rewards in both variable-ratio and random-ratio schedules is examined with specific reference to gambling behaviour. In particular, it is the number of early wins and unreinforced trials that is suggested to be of importance in these schedules, rather than the often-reported average frequency of wins. Gaming machine data are provided to demonstrate the importance of early wins and unreinforced trials. Additionally, the implication of these distributional properties for betting strategies and the gambler's fallacy is discussed. Finally, the role of early wins and unreinforced trials is considered for gambling research that utilises simulated gaming machines and research that compares concurrent schedules of reinforcement.
The present study was designed to assess selected psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) (Ryan, 1982), a multidimensional measure of subjects' experience with regard to experimental tasks. Subjects (N = 116) competed in a basketball free-throw shooting game, following which they completed the IMI. The LISREL VI computer program was employed to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the tenability of a five factor hierarchical model representing four first-order factors or dimensions and a second-order general factor representing intrinsic motivation. Indices of model acceptability tentatively suggest that the sport data adequately fit the hypothesized five factor hierarchical model. Alternative models were tested but did not result in significant improvements in the goodness-of-fit indices, suggesting the proposed model to be the most accurate of the models tested. Coefficient alphas for the four dimensions and the overall scale indicated adequate reliability. The results are discussed with regard to the importance of accurate assessment of psychological constructs and the use of linear structural equations in confirming the factor structures of measures.