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GAME ON®
2020
VII
CO-CREATING GAMIFIED SERVICE DESIGN –
CASE GAMIFIED AIRPORT SECURITY WORKSHOP
Pirita Ihamäki Katriina Heljakka
Prizztech Ltd. University of Turku
Siltapuistokatu 14,
28101 Pori, Finland Siltapuistokatu 14,
28101 Pori, Finland
E-mail: pirita.ihamaki@prizz.fi E-mail: katriina.heljakka@utu.fi
KEYWORDS
Gamification, Service Design, Human-Centred Design,
Customer Journey, Co-Creation, Participatory Design
ABSTRACT
We live in a world where co-creation with customers, partners
and stakeholders is increasingly common in complex
organizational development situations. In terms of
gamification, employee motivation, consumer involvement,
service design process and collaboration, people want to
influence and co-create environments, tasks and solutions
(Abril 2007). This case study used gamified service design by
employing gamification elements in the design process and
used a solution prototyping tool, Comicubes, as a gamification
and playification tool to design new airport security services.
In the case study described in this paper, 72 Finnish university
students of marketing participated in workshops organized in
October 2019. The co-creation workshops used the gamified
service design approach in combination with customer
journey visualization as participants envisioned and designed
new airport security services. Our study presents how the
students used game elements, such as aesthetics, theme and
story, and rewards by co-creating gamified security services,
which were envisioned to lead to successful security service
experiences.
INTRODUCTION
According to Nicholson (2012), meaningful gamification “is
the integration of user-centered game design elements into
non-game contexts”. This case study describes the design of
gamified service design processes, which employ
gamification elements in the design process and use a solution
prototyping tool, Comicubes, as a gamification and
playification tool to design and co-create new airport security
services. The case study invited Finnish university students of
marketing to participate in three groups during 3 case study
days, over which the workshops were organized. The duration
of each workshop including an introductory section was
approximately 3 hours.
Co-creation has been defined as the participation of end- users
in the process of developing a product or a service (Von
Hippel 1987). According to Koning et al. (2016) the co-
creation term has been approached by four different
models, which are: the co- creation spectrum, the co-creation
types, the co-creation steps and joint space of co-creation. The
types of co-creation define the process by identifying three
criteria: when the co-creation happens, the amount of direct
benefit or change is produced, and the level of collaboration
among the participants increases. Therefore, co-creation tends
to refer to the active involvement of end- users sharing ideas
with firms at various stages of the production process (De
Koning et al. 2016). Gamified service design process as the
core principle of co-creation means engaging people to create
valuable experiences together, while enhancing new product
development or new service design, or change existing
product or service. Employee engagement is the positive
feeling that employees have towards their jobs and the
motivation and effort put into it (Macey & Schneider 2008).
Burke (2014) has described that gamification is a method to
digitally engage rather than personally engage, meaning that
players interact with computers, smartphones, wearable
monitors or other digital devices. However, experience design
describes the journey players take, engaging with elements
such as game play, play space and story line (Burke 2014).
Gamification, as the definition suggests, will help
organizations to increase employee (in this case workshop
participants’) engagement and motivation. A gamified service
design process uses gamification elements in the design
process and solution prototyping tools, such as the Comicubes
as a gamification and playification tool to design and co-create
new services and products.
In this study, we present the results of three workshops, in
which (n=72) university students participated through co-
creation. The workshops used the gamified service design
process approach, when the participants envisioned and
developed concepts for new airport security services. This
paper presents gamified service design processes to improve
marketing students’ engagement through co-creation by:
1. Understanding the motivations of the participants in
relation to the gamified service design method and use of the
Comicubes tool. And:
2. Determining the game mechanics used to overcome to
identified challenges by brainstorming and co-creating new
5
services, which at the same time support the motivation of the
participants.
After defining gamified service design in section 2. the
authors will explain the co-creation and design process
engaging students with gamified service design processes. In
section 3. the authors present the research design and methods
of how the students first co-created new solutions for the
airport security services, and then narrated their envisioned
services with the help of the service design concept of
customer journeys. Section 4. shows the results of the study,
and section 5. presents a discussion and conclusions of the
study.
SERVICE DESIGN AND THE GAMIFIED SERVICE
DESIGN PROCESS
Moritz’ (2007) definition of the concept of service design
follows: ”Service design helps to innovate (create new) or
improve (existing) services to make them more useful, usable,
desirable for customers and efficient as well as effective for
organizations. Service design is a new holistic, multi-
disciplinary, integrative field” (Moritz 2007). Service design
is an interdisciplinary approach that combines different
methods and tools from various disciplines. It is a new way of
thinking as opposed to a new stand-alone academic discipline.
“Service design as a practice generally results in the design
of systems and processes aimed at providing a holistic service
to the user”. Services are dynamic processes like games—
playing a game takes place over a certain period of time same
during which players experience certain moments to reach a
certain level. This service timeline is crucial to consider when
designing services, since the rhythm of a service influences
the mood of a customer or a player. We might get bored if
something progresses too slow (e.g. waiting in line at the
airport security check-in), or we might get stressed out if it
goes too fast (e.g. rushing through the airport security check).
Co-creation is a core aspect of the service design philosophy
(Stickdorn & Schnider 2011). Co-creation has emerged in
connection with the service design and human centered design
approaches, where the attention was focused on empowering
people for decision making processes and working practices.
In service design, people contribute to the design processes,
and for this reason the connection with co- creation is strong.
However, often in the service design approach, co-creation is
subordinated to co-design, to which a more relevant role is
assigned, representing the collaboration process. By applying
co-creative techniques, the focus should be on people as
proactive participants, rather than as passive consumers of a
service. In terms of gamified service design and co-creation
processes the participants also behaved as co-players.
The process of games is related to the engagements and for
this reason gamification can be implemented at various levels
with respect to integration of game mechanics with the
underlying activities being performed. The use of game
mechanics, such as rules and dynamics of the game intend to
make the gamified serviced design process more enjoyable
and engaging. For example, a scoring mechanism represents a
game mechanic that can be used to reward some action from
the user. In this way, and leaning on the seven elements of
games listed by Avedon (1971) gamified services require to the
least procedures of action, rules of governing the action,
patterns for participant interaction, and a pay-off, represented
in many cases by the scoring mechanism. The different levels
of gamification are presented in the following: At a superficial
level, the game mechanics are used independent of design
activity of being performed, for example 10 points for every
design activity undertaken. At an integrated level, the game
mechanics are integrated into the activity being performed, for
example, points are provided based on the progress, quality of
work etc. At the deepest level, embedded, the activity is
designed based on the mechanics, for example, an activity is
divided into multiple sub-tasks each providing a stage in a find
new solutions with collaboration work (Neeli 2012).
In this study, the gamified service design process approach
was used with the aim to co-create and make participation
more engaging in order to connect university students from
different backgrounds, bring them together by allowing them
to use a solution prototyping tool (Comicubes) that they found
meaningful and useful in envisioning and co-creating new
gamified airport security services. As the study demonstrates,
gamified service design can be seen as the glue between
different disciplines, which offers a shared, approachable and
neutral set of terms and activities for cross-disciplinary
cooperation (Stickdorn et al. 2018).
Co-Creation and Design by Engaging Students with the
Gamified Service Design Process
To understand service timing, researchers must start from a
value co-creation perspective. Lusch and Vargo (2006) argue
that “value can only be created with and determined by the
user in the ‘consumption’ process and through use or what is
referred to as value-in use” (Lusch & Vargo 2006, 284). In
this case study, all students who participated in the workshops
have their earlier experiences of airport security: They have
been traveling by flying and went through the airport security
system. Co-creation “involves the customer’s participation in
the creation of the core offering itself. The theme of the
workshops in this case study evolved from the pure interest of
the authors, who have observed that going through airport
security is normally a distressing experience, which is
boringly executed at all airports. Our aim is to prove that a
pleasant airport security experience could be one of the key
issues when choosing airports to use while traveling. If the
airport security would be developed into a more interesting
and enjoyable experience for travelers, many stressful
situations could be resolved. In our thinking, this can be
reached through shared inventiveness, co-design, or shared
service innovation through gamification, and can occur with
customers and any other partners in the future value network.
From this perspective, a service provider does not design and
deliver service to customers at one or more specific points in
time. Rather, customers co-create value, for example, with the
airport security company through many interactions over time
– where both customers
6
and companies are a ‘source of competence’ (Prahalad &
Ramaswamy 2000, 2004). Customers and service providers
are dynamically adjusting their behavior as the service
experience evolves. The customers, in this case students of
marketing, engage in spontaneous, discretionary behaviors
over time that uniquely customize the service experience. The
nature and extent of their participation is influenced by their
goals, for example how fast they want to go through the airport
security service or which kind of fun elements they want their
experience to include, as role clarity and capabilities are
involved their roles (Bolton & Saxena-Iyer 2009). In the
tourism industry, to which airport security services also
belong, there are a many discrete service encounters that
create the (holistic) customer experience. Each encounter is an
opportunity to emotionally engage the customer often with a
human touch. For example, during the airport security check
“turned into a gamified service”, the experience might enfold
as a quickly experienced gameplay service in which one needs
to play in how fast one can go through the security service
(meaning that you optimize all the little details, for example,
traveling with simple hand luggage and not carrying any extra
items in the luggage). The timing of small details must match
the customer as in this case students’ needs to deliver a
superior experience. In this instance, customers enjoy a
special moment during the airport security service because
there is extra value and excitement for the travelers delivered
by gamification. In contrast, small details that contribute to
service excellence must fit with the user’s needs at a
particular moment in time – like in the series of workshops
presented here—and recognizing what has taken place
previously during the customer journey (Bolton et al. 2008).
The service timing– the gamified service design needs to fit
the student’s context–becomes critical. According to gamified
service design triggered by and designed with the Comicubes
solutions prototype, airport security services should be
designed and delivered based on how users are responding–
and will respond to–to their environment (the environment of
the airport security check point).
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
In order to clarify the relationship between gamification and
co-creation, a key research question is proposed: How does
gamification support co-creation, for example, the
participation, interaction and interchange of ideas among
multi-actors in the development of new gamified airport
security service?
Case study research was the method adopted to understand the
unexplored relationship between gamification and co-
creation-related collaborative innovation practices with the
Comicubes solution prototyping tool. This method is
appropriate as it facilitates a more comprehensive
understanding of such an emergent phenomenon. (Goffin et
al. 2018) The study reported in this paper comes out of the
scientifically-based interest to obtain a better and deeper
understanding of the airport security service and how related
systems could be gamified in terms of the service process in
respect to airport business and alignment between
gamification and business requirements (Bruman & Bell
2007). The methodology of this case study is inspired of the
interpretive and social thinking adopting a position
(Mathiassen & Nielsen 2008), and is predominantly
qualitative (Taylor 2002). This study has been developed
taking into account the characteristics of the airport security
services that can be generated by implementing gamified
elements for services. In this case study, co-creation has
emerged in connection with the human-centred design and
service design approaches, where the attention was focused on
empowering participation for gamified service design process
and using the solutions prototyping tool Comicubes.
The method applied in the study is based on service design
tool and solution prototype Comicubes, which has been
previously used in co-creation workshops, for example, for
envisioning customer journeys. We suggest that the
Comicubes could be used as a basis for creating performance-
based prototypes. The Comicubes is a creative prototyping
tool, a hybrid combining images with a physical, three-
dimensional cardboard cubes. Hybridity means that the cube
as physical artefact can be given a digital layer or digital
elements. Hybridity may occur in many ways in a plaything
and in the prototyping. For example, the Comicubes can be
given a digital layer, through information embedded in
images, through which sound, pictures or video material can
be added. (Heljakka & Ihamäki 2016) We describe the use of
the Comicubes solution prototype as a method in which users
are observed engaging in planned activities around prototypes
of proposed solutions. There are two types of solutions
prototypes that are used in this method: 1) Appearance
Prototype, which simulates the appearance of the intended
offerings, and 2) Performance Prototype, which primarily
simulates the functions of the intended offerings. Through the
observation on these prototypes, user experiences are revealed
to validate or invalidate assumptions about proposed solutions
(Kumur 2013). In our study, it is important to note that the
solution prototypes co-created with the Comicubes are tested
and validated in a simulated environment of an airport security
service in a university classroom, not at an actual airport.
Information is gathered through observing the interaction in
the groups of students and is recorded with video and by
taking photographs. The observations are then analyzed to
understand students’ design experiences and the impact they
might have on proposed solutions.
This paper brings together the results of a series of three
workshops conducted in association with gamified service
design workshops for participants/students of marketing
(n=72) from a university in Finland, where the School of
Economics is based. The collection of qualitative case studies
presented in this paper present an approach to research that
facilitates exploration of interaction design within its context
using a variety of data sources, for example, the service design
method, gamification frameworks and the playful experience
model. This ensures that the issue is not explored through one
lens only, but rather a variety of lenses, which allows for
multiple facets of the phenomenon to be revealed and
understood. The design tasks and results of the workshops will
be discussed in the next part of the paper. The following Table
1. presents the number of participants who joined the three
workshops:
7
Table 1. Number of case study participants (three
workshops).
Class 1/ case
study 1
Class 2/ case
study 2
Class 3/case study
3
24
23
25
In our study, two researchers who are experts of gamified
(playified and toyified) service design, managed the
workshops by functioning as facilitators, empowering
students to make decisions for their gamified service
development process. The study includes material from three
workshops organized in October 2019, in which participants
(university students with a background in marketing) were
divided in 3 classes, having 23-25 participants joining each
workshop. As each workshop had more than 20 students
participating, we separated each class in 4-5 different groups.
Each group received a certain amount of Comicubes (5 to 7
pieces each), which are giant cardboard cubes, approximately
40-40-40cm by size. The workshops started with a 20 minutes
introduction to the basics of gamification and by giving
examples of gamified services. We explained the basics of
service design and introduced the concept of the gamified
customer journey. After the introduction, we showed a
commercial video for the security service at the main Finnish
airport and gave each group of students the assignment to
improve the current airport security service experience by
designing a gamified airport security service. The duration of
each session was approximately 2,5 hours and during the next
day we recorded and analyzed the developed gamified
customer journeys and re-designed the gamified customer
journey of the airport security service further. The student
groups used the Comicubes tool to communicate their
gamified customer journeys by storytelling. With the help of
the Comicubes prototyping tool consisting of the cardboard
cubes, they also made physical prototypes of the gamified
airport security service in which they designed activities
familiar from game play (see Figure 1-3).
RESULTS
Gamification has been increasingly used as a process of
enhancing the co-creation process with motivational
affordances to invoke gameful experiences and further
outcomes. Ultimately, a gamified service design process is
changing the way individuals view and experience the
process. This, in turn, is altering how gamified service design
processes are planned and operate for individuals and groups
of students. In other words, it is a total ‘game changer’. In fact,
findings demonstrate that gamification provides a more
structured and engaging platform for multi-actor dialogue,
mutual understanding, alignment of goals, creative experience
sharing and concept development. Regardless of how
meaningful gamification can be to the co-design of new
solutions, only a few studies have explored the relationship
between game approaches and co-creation. In fact, current
literature from the perspective of participatory design studies
describes scenarios where
designers and non-designers apply game elements to make
cocreation more ludic and accessible, typically supporting
visioning, storytelling and prototyping tasks. (Klapztein &
Cipolla 2016, Ihamäki & Heljakka 2017, Ihamäki & Heljakka
2019)
The main goal of the first step of the preliminary study
conducted as a series of workshops was to gather insight on
collaborative innovation practices from the students that
participated in a co-creating gamified security services and by
narrating the user experiences of different customer groups
using their envisioned gamified security services. The
observations contribute to a better understanding of the key
drivers and constraints of collaborative innovation practices
in the context of airport security services.
Service Design professionals have taken notice of the
gamification trend and have attempted to apply the
motivational potential of games to various non-gaming
contexts in order to foster user engagement by rewarding and
directing attention to particular touchpoints in the customer
journey. Klapztein and Cipolla (2016) have made an extensive
review about motivational concepts in game design, which
have been grouped into seven game activity components:
voluntariness, rules, control, objective, feedback, social
interaction and perception (Klapztein & Cipolla 2016). These
activity components were used as a theoretical starting point
for the workshop participants to use in thinking about how to
gamify their envisioned, new airport security services.
For a summary of the detailed findings, please see Appendix.
Table 2: “Synthesis of motivational factors with the result of
the gamified airport security service based on Klapztein and
Cipolla (2016)”, in which the authors have collected and
synthesized the main results of the series of workshops.
The findings from the workshop strengthen the view and
possibility to envision enjoyable, game-like experiences for
others, which of gamification enhances the co-creation
process by providing collective creative experiences for
participants. Representative quotes from the participants’
debriefing interview collected immediately after the
gamification of the customer journey workshop, reinforce the
importance of the structured approach and quality of the
solution theme gamified airport security service.
Figure 1. and Figure 2. Student groups brainstorm with the
Comicubes and co-create customer journeys for gamified
airport security systems.
8
To give examples, participants commented the task given in the
workshop, as follows: “the [Comi]cubes are enjoyable to work
with, and they fit well in group working”. Moreover, students
also experienced that collaborative working with the
Comicubes is playful: some of the groups even played with the
cubes as if they were a construction toy. They built and created
slide and ladder-like structures (vertically, see Figure 3.) with
the cubes. Some students commented that “creativity starts with
the Comicubes”, or “the Comicubes lubricate creativity”.
Another group of students employed the different sides of the
cubes horizontally, so that they were able to envision different
dimensions of the co-created airport security service. The use
of a physical tool, Comicubes, was experienced by the players
to provide assistance in approaching the given task through
rapid prototyping. For example, one student said that with the
cubes, the group “designed the different airport security check
lines by drawing trails how to move through the security check
point line and understood at the same time how easy the tool
was to use when designing their ideas onto the cubes”. Another
comment that was made about using Comicubes in playful way
was given by a student: “I started building a tower with the
[Comi]cubes and I felt the excitement brought in by the
creativity of our group to implement gamification in the
[envisioned] airport security service”.
Figure 3. A student group presents their idea of a gamified
airport security system.
As observed by the researchers, all participating students
quickly took over the Comicubes tool and gained momentum
in their brainstorming. Comicubes invited them to a creative
play situation, in which the students enthusiastically
embarked on helping them to come up with ideas for gamified
and improved security check services.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
A gamified service design process allows collaboration and
co-creation with students during the design and execution
phases. In our workshops, students ranged along a continuum
from those who prefer little participation to those who sought
to spontaneously co-create. The series of case studies
presented in this paper were prepared to work with students
who have diverse goals, resources and capabilities to generate
ideas for innovative gamified airport security services. This
also means that in the innovations and improvements to the
airport security services envisioned in
the three workshops require iterative learning as well as
adaptation as an individual customer’s envisioned service
experience unfolds.
The empirical data analyzed in the paper has been used to gain
insight into the link between gamification and value co-
creation in a service design workshop. As the workshops
described were conducted in a simulated environment and not
the real context of an airport, it is in place to consider the
conducted study as an exploratory one only investigating the
possibilities and potentialities of gamifying the described
security service, not the implications of actual use. However,
the findings of our study suggest that gamification plays a key
role in supporting the co-creation by using a physical tool like
the Comicubes for solution prototyping in order to co-create
new services, outlined in four building blocks: group
dialogue, structured approach, quality of the solution or
service development and creativity.
Finally, as our case study illustrates, gamification enhances
co-creation by providing groupwork and a peer-to- peer
structured approach that ensures close interaction between
different actors, encourages contributions from all
participants and support high-quality knowledge creation in
an open and creative environment. We believe the power of
play with materials to extend to the realm of envisioning and
designing new experiences in combination with using game
elements to brainstorm and co-create concepts. Furthermore,
in this study the value comes from the combination of the two
key factors, that is, the engagement with a (toy-like and large-
scale) solution prototyping tool like Comicubes in
combination with the co- creation of a service design concept
customer journey as a service design process. Play is an
essential trait of evolutionary success and one of the strongest
drivers of human behavior: In fact, it is constituent to almost
every aspect of creative work. As a result, fun-seeking tasks
together with the Comicubes prototyping tool facilitate
workshop participants to narrate their designs and to envision
motivational experiences to attract potential future users of
service design.
As shown in the paper, the use of gamification together with
a physical service design tool to solve a task to improve a
challenging system known to exist at most airports, our study
has shown positive results, which reinforce the notion that
gamification works particularly well when applied to a
situation where new airport gamified service is co-created by
university students, i.e. multi-actors with different roles,
backgrounds, and knowledge. Proper multi-actor engagement
comes from intangible factors like motivation and novelty, as
well as from more concrete ones, like successful narrations of
high-quality concepts based on use of a tangible ideation tool,
like the Comicubes.
Our aim is to take this design challenge into a real airport
environment and challenge the current providers of the
security service to think about what the kind of solutions could
be co-created with customers to improve the security checking
process by asking what kind of gamification of service design
and new types of interaction with the service could bring to
the future of airport security services, for example, by
providing game-like elements into the customer journeys.
9
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to express our gratitude to Dr. Kati Suomi at
Univeristy of Turku, School of Economics, Pori Unit this
opportunity to make this study and all student for their
participation in the workshops. Study is part of Gamecoast
Network’s workshop series in collaboration with Pori
Laboratory of Play, which tests the application of gamification
of service design real-life context.
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is Service Design Doing, Applying Service Design Thinking in
the Real World, A Practioners’ handbook, Published by O’Reilly
Media Inc., Canada.
Stickdorn, M., Schneider, J. 2011. This is Service Design Thinking,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Canada.
Taylor, L. 2002. Qualitative Communication Research Methods
(second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
BIOGRAPHIES
PIRITA IHAMÄKI International business developer and
researcher, PhD, currently works as the leader of the Gamecoast
Network (part of the Robocoast DIH consortium) developing
new gamified services to extend new technology innovations.
Previously, Ihamäki has worked as a researcher at different
universities, involved in product development and developed
new methods for the study of user experience. She is a leading
expert in the exploitation of geocaching, as well as the
utilization of developed models of user experiences of treasure
hunt games in tourism and educational contexts. Her research
interests include social robots, gamified service design, Internet
of Toys, toy tourism and co-creation.
KATRIINA HELJAKKA (Doctor of Arts) is a researcher at
University of Turku (digital culture studies). Her background is
in game design and research on toys and play. Previously, she
has worked in the Academy of Finland funded research projects
Ludification and Emergence of Playful Culture and Centre of
Excellence in Game Culture Studies, and the Business Finland
project Hybrid Social Play. Heljakka currently studies
connected toys, playful environments, tools and techniques in
the workspace, and the visual, material, digital and social
cultures of play with her research group at Pori Laboratory of
Play.
10
APPENDIX. Table 2: Synthesis of motivational factors with the result of the gamified airport security service
based on Klapztein & Cipolla (2016).
Motivational
components
Key Concept
Customer Perspective
Engagement
Reward
Voluntariness
Voluntary participation; the user
is willing to use the gamified
security service based on their
enjoyment when queuing for the
security screening.
Activities are set in
motion through customer
participation. Involved
voluntary activities
triggers people’s interest.
The idea of Group 2 (in
workshop 2) was that there
are four lines in the security
service, one is for families
with children, second is for
young people, third is older
people and the last line for
everyone. When using the
mobile security app, the
family app includes
different mascots and when
going through the security
line, the children see the
mascots appear, and can
download games and
movies featuring them
while waiting for their turn
in the security line. For
young people, the app
presents challenges, such as
Instagram competitions to
participate in, while they
are in line waiting for the
security service.
The more pleasurable an activity
is and the more voluntary aspects
it includes, the more engaging it
can become.
Group 3 (in workshop 2)
presented an idea for
gamification of removing any
bottles with liquids before
entering the security check. The
idea was that the security service
started with the task of ‘playing
basketball’ with the bottles,
which are required to be left
behind. There is, for example, a
basketball hoop, and by throwing
the bottles through the hoop, one
may score points, which can be
traded for example, for a free
refreshment or some other price.
Activities must be attractive and intrinsically
rewarding: participation must also be designed
as a reward in itself.
Group 4 (in workshop 2) designed a security
service, for which one can choose a certain
visual/thematic style for the gamified security
check line, such as medieval.
There is, for example, a kind of game in which
the players need to arrange their things in
different places so that a pickpocket will not
take your things. If the player arranges the
things in the right ways, s/he points with the
game. In the medieval style game, one arrives
to the security service and places his/her things
in the dragon’s mouth and receives prices based
on the success in the game.
Rules
Activities need to support
participants own goals, pleasure
and rewards. Some rules come
from action of gamified service
design workshop in general.
The Group 3 (in workshop 2)
designed the following idea: in
the beginning, people start the
security service by playing by
throwing bottles through a
basketball hoop to get points. At
the end of the security service
player who scored points win
prices.
Customer experience and
engagement can be
positively influenced by
meaningful use of
technology.
The second idea of Group 3
(in workshop 2) employs
modern water technology
walls and floor, music, and
sounds of birds, which give
the users pleasurable
experiences of relaxation,
when they go through the
security service check, and
especially when they need to
wait in line,
Game rules have to be
designed to foster
pleasurable activities that
customers like to perform.
Group 5 (in workshop 2)
designed the idea of ‘the five star
security service’, in which the
pleasurable activity is to play the
game of speed to be as fast as
possible. The players are
accumulating points already at the
start of their customer journey,
when they arrive at the airport.
The rules are simple: players try
to optimize the size and amount
of all bags and goods they travel
with. The players can even
receive points for the weight of
their bag.
Fun and reward increase with well set rules
and game mechanics.
Group 3 (in workshop 2) designed the idea,
which combines music and water elements by
using new (AR) technology. There is the game,
for example, for children in which you jump on
virtual stones without hitting water.
If one doesn’t hit a stone and go under water
one loses points. More points for your
security service line experience means bigger
rewards for the participating players.
Control
Customers must feel in control
over the performed activities.
Group 5 (in workshop 2) designed
the ‘five start security service’.
Many want to go through a five
star security line, as it is the
fastest route, through the security
line. (The one star line is the
slowest route.) The player gets
points when arriving at the airport
and when not having the wrong
articles in your pockets or
suitcase. The more points the
players scores means making the
way faster through the security
check.
Activity demands have
to be compatible with
customer abilities and
wishes.
Group 5 (in workshop 1)
designed a gamified
security service check for
families. The main goals of
this approach was to raise
on information, enjoyment
and efficiency.
According to the idea, the
airport floor has printed
steps on it and there are
speech bubbles to remind
players what to do next, for
example, “do remember to
open shoe laces because
you will need to take shoes
off soon”.
There are also QR-codes,
through which more
information is given, and
mini games for children to
entertain them.
Focused activities: the more
focused a customer, the more
involved and motivated he/she
is.
The second idea of Group 3 (in
workshop 1) was the fast security
service game, where players are
competing about who is the
fastest to go through the security
service. This gamified approach
motivates players to compete
with others. Each day, a winner
of this game will received a price.
Sometimes one may even win
priority seating arrangements on
the flight.
Activities need to be designed as learning
experiences, prepared through pleasurable
actions in gamified security service.
The idea of Group 5 (in workshop 1) was that
there is also a virtual environment, in which
you can practice which things should be taken
into consideration at the security check
counter. This mini game for families functions
both as a learning game, as well as an
entertainment game, where the player receives
points in his or her airport app.
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Objective
Goals can strongly influence user
interest, commitment and desire.
Group 5 (in workshop 1) designed an
idea by seeing the airport like a mobile
labyrinth game, which the player starts
when arriving at the airport and ends
when s/he steps on the aircraft after the
security check. ‘The Labyrinth game’
also helps to reduce queuing time by
encouraging families to find the fastest
route.
Objectives must be clearly
defined and easily understood.
Group 4 (in workshop 1)
designed different themes for the
safety security checkpoint, such
as safety with themes (for
example, players can go through
a Moomin-themed gate etc. and
after passing there will be sound
effects or even soap bubbles). By
pressing a button, the players can
have a video made of their
journey through the security
check, or when they have made
their way through. The airport
can use these potentially funny
videos on terminal screen for the
enjoyment of their customers and
to show how to move through the
gamified security service.
The reasons proposed for doing a task
influence customer pleasure.
Group 4 (in workshop 1) designed a
security service with characters like
Moomin involved. The characters help
children to learn how to go through the
security check service.
Goal achievement is the game design element that most
often generates user pleasure.
Group 4 (in workshop 1) had an idea, where they
designed the airport into a Pokémon GO style of a
game, where children look for QR codes and when
waiting for the security check the line presents more QR
codes. The players gets new challenges to solve and
after solving one challenge, there will be others. Playing
the game turns the wait into a pleasurable user
experience.
Feedback
Feedback must be real time (if the
customer uses a mobile phone), frequent
and clear.
Group 3 (in workshop 1) designed the
idea for an interactive floor and mobile
application, through which a player can
receive useful information about his/her
gate number, where the closest
restrooms are located, and so on.
A user must always be aware of
their action options and the
rewards.
Group 4 (in workshop 1)
presented ideas on that players
receive straight feedback when
they go through the security
check: if they have a problem it
gives a normal beep sound, and
vice versa, if the customer is
okay, a sound appropriate to the
theme of the game will go on, for
example, communicated with the
voice of a cartoon character.
Uncertainty, curiosity and surprise are
powerful motivational elements, which
feedback will shows with the customers.
Group 5 (in workshop 1) designed a
mobile labyrinth game in which the
player receives feedback when solving
challenges at the airport and going
through the security system. After the
player has finalized the labyrinth game,
s/he is motivated to share their diploma
with friends and relatives.
Rewards elements are key factors to motivate players.
Group 3 (in workshop 1) designed a multidimensional
feedback sound on the floor, light on the floor system
that operates through the floor and is personalized
through a smart phone: It can guide the player to the
right gates or nearest restrooms. The floor will
recognize the player and can speak even different
languages depending on player’s needs.
Social interaction
Emotions in a social context are
generally more intense and pleasurable.
Group 3 (in workshop 1) designed the
idea that the airport floor has clouds on
it, which light up when stepped on and
there could be also sound. The idea is to
generate interaction with players, and at
the same time connect with an app. The
player receives personal information for
through the interactive floor and
through the app, as the app has all
details for specific players. Social
interaction happens with other players
through the game play and interaction
with the floor gives different challenges
that the players need to solve.
Certain emotions may arise only
through the social interaction.
Competition against real users is
almost always more engaging
than against virtual ones.
Group 4 (in workshop 1) had a
second design idea, where they
designed a Pokémon GO style of
a game for the airport. In this
game the player user can is
competing with others to solve
challenges and receives more
points, which give rewards, for
example, more comfortable
seating in the airplane or a free
cup of coffee in the cafeteria.
The possibility of embarking on a
collective freedom of self-expression
and experiencing new situations are
strong motivational aspects.
Group 4 (in workshop 2) the players
pass through the interactive thematic
security check gates, and may have a
video recorded of this experience,
which can be shared with friends and
family members. This gives more
possibilities for self-expression, for
example, by going through the security
checkpoint gates in a funny way, for
example, by making a somersault.
Social interactions are critical for pleasure and
engagement in gamified activities.
Group 5 (in workshop 1) designed a mobile labyrinth
game, which delivers pleasurable engagement through
challenges that help players pass through the security
gates. For example, there is a virtual platform on which
one can practice how to get through the security control
the fastest way, by collecting one’s own things on the
security check table in an optimal way.
Perception
In gamified experiences, such as the
gamified service design workshop
students’ experience, the focus needs to
be on entertainment and pleasure.
Students have successfully envisioned,
prototyped and narrated their designs of
gamifying the airport security service
by creating concepts with Comicubes,
which students describe as a tool that is
easy to use for idea creation, as well as
a gameful/playful tool, which can be
used for narrating the experience.
Activities should make users feel
like they are integrated in
gamified environment, or in this
case, an airport security service
environment.
In Group 3 (in workshop 2), the
second design idea was that they
use modern technology, like
water technology for walls and
floor to integrate users’ interest
more in the environment. The
water walls make strong
instruments and allow a gamified
environment by game challenges,
in which games and security
service are tied together.
Motivation should be stimulated by
positive and by the desire to participate
in successful and meaningful ways for
the customers.
Group 6 (in workshop 2) designed an
idea for an app in a movie theatre,
where one can scan and upload movies
from the walls and see them on the
smart phone to entertainment oneself.
This gives the player positive
experiences by making the waiting time
in the security control more meaningful.
Context and reason for doing an activity are
fundamental to the generation of pleasure.
Group 4 (in workshop 1) had the idea of making a
similar game as Pokémon GO, which allows a shared,
pleasurable gaming experience for players where they
have the possibility to play alone or in groups at the
airport. The idea follows the idea of a location-based
game and is pleasure and entertaining as well as useful
for players, as they receive advice through the game.
12