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Gamification

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Handbook of Digital Games and Entertainment Technologies

Abstract

This article looks at the concepts, the historical roots, and the scope of gamification. The term Gamification has its roots in terms like game and game-based learning. Moreover, there exists a strong relation to the psychological background of playing, of using game elements and game mechanics. Also, the term game thinking is part of interpreting the term gamification. But what is gamification? Is it old wine in new skins? Or is it a brand new and bright idea? This plethora of things and interpretations related to the term gamification led to a broad set of application domains and pseudoknowledge. The term and the related fields are analyzed, and similarities and differences to games, edutainment, game-based learning, and serious games are shown in this chapter. Additionally, an overview of elements typically applied in gamification approaches is given. The intersection of gamification with edutainment and learning is focused, and empirical and other results on the effectiveness of gamification are analyzed and discussed. Finally, a summary and brief discussion of open questions and challenges in this field are presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 22, 18059, Rostock, Germany

    Alke Martens

  2. Media Education and Visualization Group (MEVIS), University of Education Weingarten, Kirchplatz 2, 88250, Weingarten, Germany

    Wolfgang Müller

Authors
  1. Alke Martens
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  2. Wolfgang Müller
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Correspondence to Alke Martens .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Interactive & Digital Media Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Ryohei Nakatsu

  2. Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Matthias Rauterberg

  3. Scienze dell'Informazione, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Paolo Ciancarini

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Martens, A., Müller, W. (2015). Gamification. In: Nakatsu, R., Rauterberg, M., Ciancarini, P. (eds) Handbook of Digital Games and Entertainment Technologies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-52-8_66-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-52-8_66-1

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