A RECIPE for Meaningful Gamification
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The combination of points, badges and leaderboards (PBL) is the most used one.
“This is in line with the finding of other authors, e.g. (Nicholson, 2015) that the combination of points, badges and leaderboards (sometimes referred to as PBL) is the most used one (see Table 5).”
From Gamifying education: what is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: a critical review (2017) · cites this paper as Nicholson, 2015
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“This is where the long-term change can come into play, as it is the point where the behaviors learned in the gamification system are then taken outside of that system (Fanning & Gaba, 2007).”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sailer, M., Hense, J. U., Mayr, S. K., & Mandl, H. (2017) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.033 · Cited by 2,064 · see citing works
Gamifying education: what is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: a critical review
Dichev, C., & Dicheva, D. (2017) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-017-0042-5 · Cited by 1,451 · see citing works
“(Nicholson, 2015) that the combination of points, badges and leaderboards (sometimes referred to as PBL) is the most used one (see Table 5).”
The effect of gamification on motivation and engagement
Alsawaier, R. S. (2018) · The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology · doi:10.1108/ijilt-02-2017-0009 · Cited by 887 · see citing works
“It is important when designing a gamified course fully or partially to create a challenge, when possible, that is appropriate to the level of the students to maintain their engagement (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialBetween Level Up and Game Over: A Systematic Literature Review of Gamification in Education
Manzano-León, A., Camacho-Lazarraga, P., Guerrero, M. A., Guerrero-Puerta, L., Aguilar-Parra, J. M., Trigueros, R., & Alias, A. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13042247 · Cited by 512 · see citing works
“Most of the studies analyzed, as well as other studies of a qualitative nature [53], used different mechanics and dynamics, highlighting the points–badges– leaderboards (PBL) triad [54], even though other studies [55] varied their indiscriminate use, which may favor only working from extrinsic motivation, which ultima…”
ResultVirtual reality and gamification in education: a systematic review
Λαμπρόπουλος, Γ., & Kinshuk, K. (2024) · Educational Technology Research and Development · doi:10.1007/s11423-024-10351-3 · Cited by 486 · see citing works
Gamification in the Workplace: The Central Role of the Aesthetic Experience
Suh, A., Cheung, C. M. K., Ahuja, M. K., & Wagner, C. (2017) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2017.1297642 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
“deep engagement; rather, it should also create an avenue that enables individuals to find meaningful connections between their own interests and system use [66, 67, 79].”
BackgroundGamification and serious games within the domain of domestic energy consumption: A systematic review
Johnson, D. M., Horton, E. M., Mulcahy, R. F., & Foth, M. (2017) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.134 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
“One relatively well received notion is that of ‘meaningful gamification’ [8].”
BackgroundInfluentialEnhancing student learning experience with technology-mediated gamification: An empirical study
Tsay, C. H., Kofinas, A., & Luo, J. (2018) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2018.01.009 · Cited by 293 · see citing works
“Therefore, designing learning activities in a meaningful way that intrinsically motivates students becomes key for “meaningful gamification” (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialde‐Marcos, L., García‐López, E., & García‐Cabot, A. (2015) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.12.008 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
“Best practice theories like meaningful gamification (Nicholson, 2012, 2015) may provide the theoretical background to design engaging gamified experiences that produce long-term benefits.”
BackgroundLaine, T. H., & Lindberg, R. S. N. (2020) · IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies · doi:10.1109/tlt.2020.3018503 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
“This can happen by various means, such as providing alternative paths to reach a goal [82], [86], [94], providing various things to do and different methods for doing them [72], allowing the player to influence the game system [25], and allowing the player to control the pace of the game [82].”
BackgroundInfluentialExamining competitive, collaborative and adaptive gamification in young learners' math learning
Jagušt, T., Botički, I., & So, H. (2018) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2018.06.022 · Cited by 248 · see citing works
“Nicholson (2015) cautions the danger inherent in such an excessive use of reward-based gamification elements, namely badges, levels, leaderboards, achievements, and points (BLAP).”
BackgroundUsing Design-Science Based Gamification to Improve Organizational Security Training and Compliance
Silić, M., & Lowry, P. B. (2020) · Journal of Management Information Systems · doi:10.1080/07421222.2019.1705512 · Cited by 212 · see citing works
“An earlier study [72] predicted, but did not empirically show, that meaningful gamification should motivate and lead to long-term behavioral changes.”
BackgroundEffects of Gamification on Behavioral Change in Education: A Meta-Analysis
Kim, J.-H., & Castelli, D. M. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18073550 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
“This finding provides a practical implementation that learners possibly have more motivation for learning or participation in intensive, short-term scenarios than in extended education settings [57].”
BackgroundTsay, C. H., Kofinas, A., Trivedi, S., & Yang, Y. (2019) · Journal of Computer Assisted Learning · doi:10.1111/jcal.12385 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Studies of student engagement in gamified online discussions
Ding, L., Kim, C., & Orey, M. A. (2017) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2017.06.016 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
The effects of gamification on computerized cognitive training: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Vermeir, J. F., White, M. J., Johnson, D., Crombez, G., & Van Ryckeghem, D. M. L. (2020) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/18644 · Cited by 172 · see citing works
“However, their use is not without critique, with researchers arguing that reward-based systems are motivating extrinsically, yet not intrinsically [13,15] with associated concerns regarding the longevity of any effects.”
BackgroundInfluentialElements of Gameful Design Emerging from User Preferences
Tondello, G. F., Mora, A., & Nacke, L. E. (2017) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/3116595.3116627 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
“Furthermore, current gameful design practice often involves selecting design elements from a list to try and recreate patterns found in games, with little guidance regarding how each design element affects the user experience [13, 25, 28].”
BackgroundThe effects of player type on performance: A gamification case study
Lopez, C. E., & Tucker, C. S. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2018.10.005 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Main gamification concepts: A systematic mapping study
Rodrigues, L. F., Oliveira, A., & Rodrigues, H. (2019) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01993 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
“In the ‘ learning ’ theme are the concepts of behavior and learning showed how gami fi cation seeks to persuade employees and customers to change behaviors (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundHamari, J., Hassan, L., & Dias, A. (2018) · User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction · doi:10.1007/s11257-018-9200-2 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
“Furthermore, the gameful experience afforded bygamification (Huotari andHamari 2017;Nicholson 2015), may also be appreciated by these individuals, as they may wish to offset the perceived difficulty of their goals with gamefulness.”
BackgroundExperiences that matter? The motivational experiences and business outcomes of gamified services
Wolf, T., Weiger, W. H., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.058 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Using gamification to support learning in K‐12 education: A systematic literature review
Dehghanzadeh, H., Farrokhnia, M., Dehghanzadeh, H., Taghipour, K., & Noroozi, O. (2023) · British Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.1111/bjet.13335 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Antonopoulou, H., Halkiopoulos, C., Gkintoni, E., & Katsimpelis, A. (2022) · International Journal of Learning Teaching and Educational Research · doi:10.26803/ijlter.21.5.19 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
“Accordingly, game mechanics are frequently associated with learning experiences, such as assisting in the advancement of knowledge and developing collaborative abilities, such as decision making and collaboration with peers ( Nicholson, 2014 ) .”
BackgroundHeuristic Evaluation for Gameful Design
Tondello, G. F., Kappen, D. L., Mekler, E. D., Ganaba, M., & Nacke, L. E. (2016) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/2968120.2987729 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
“The RECIPE for Meaningful Gamification [24] Scott Nicholson”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialWemyss, D., Cellina, F., Lobsiger-Kägi, E., Luca, V. D., & Castri, R. (2018) · Energy Research & Social Science · doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.08.018 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Role of gamification in classroom teaching: Pre-service teachers’ view
Mee, R. W. M., Shahdan, T. S. T., Ismail, M. R., Ghani, K. A., Pek, L. S., Von, W. Y., Woo, A., & Rao, Y. S. (2020) · International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) · doi:10.11591/ijere.v9i3.20622 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
“The behavioural change through reward-based gamification tends to be conditional on the continuous provision of extrinsic rewards, unless the motivation for the behavioural change is internalized [17].”
BackgroundKhot, R. A., Aggarwal, D., Pennings, R., Hjorth, L., & Mueller, F. (2017) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3025453.3025980 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“We drew on Nicolson’s [63] suggestion to provide a variety of representations to raise the chances that each participant can find something meaningful in the data.”
BackgroundMethodApplying Basic Gamification Techniques to IT Compliance Training: Evidence from the Lab and Field
Baxter, R. J., Holderness, D. K., & Wood, D. A. (2015) · Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.2308/isys-51341 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
Towards design guidelines for virtual reality training for the chemical industry
Fracaro, S. G., Chan, P., Gallagher, T. J., Tehreem, Y., Toyoda, R., Bernaerts, K., Glassey, J., Pfeiffer, T., Slof, B., Wachsmuth, S., et al. (2021) · Education for Chemical Engineers · doi:10.1016/j.ece.2021.01.014 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
A Critique and Defense of Gamification.
Hung, A. C. Y. (2017) · Journal of interactive online learning · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Hassan, L. (2016) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/1046878116683581 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
“…solely relies on the external provision of rewards to influence behavior, and thus behavioral change through this method tends to be conditional on the continuous provision of extrinsic rewards, unless the motivation for the behavioral change is internalized (Bogost, 2015; Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialNadi-Ravandi, S., & Batooli, Z. (2022) · Education and Information Technologies · doi:10.1007/s10639-022-11048-x · Cited by 113 · see citing works
“Exclusion criteria Articles which were not based on the definition of gamification (Deterding et al., 2011; Kapp, 2012; Nicholson, 2015) (using game elements in non-game environments to change behavior and solve problems) and were not related to the use of Gamification in Education.”
BackgroundUz-Bilgin, C., & Gül, A. (2019) · TechTrends · doi:10.1007/s11528-019-00442-x · Cited by 95 · see citing works
“In addition, Nicholson (2015) argues that for long-term change to be ef-fectual, gamification systems should be used for the initial establishment and that the system should fade away so as to create an authentic transition from the gamification environment to a real-world setting.”
BackgroundHow to Use Game Elements to Enhance Learning: Applications of the Theory of Gamified Learning
Landers, R., Armstrong, M. B., & Collmus, A. B. (2017) · Serious Games and Edutainment Applications · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51645-5_21 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Active consumer participation in smart energy systems
Schweiger, G., Eckerstorfer, L. V., Hafner, I., Fleischhacker, A., Radl, J., Glock, B., Wastian, M., Rößler, M., Lettner, G., Popper, N., et al. (2020) · Energy and Buildings · doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110359 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Hsu, C. (2022) · Information & Management · doi:10.1016/j.im.2022.103602 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
To reward and beyond: Analyzing the effect of reward-based strategies in a MOOC
Ortega‐Arranz, A., Bote‐Lorenzo, M. L., Asensio-Pérez, J. I., Martínez‐Monés, A., Gómez‐Sánchez, E., & Dimitriadis, Y. A. (2019) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103639 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
“…literature reviews (Hamari et al., 2014; Dicheva et al., 2015; Ortega-Arranz et al., 2017), one of the most used game elements in online educational contexts are rewards, thus generating the so-called reward-based gamification (Nicholson, 2015) or incentive systems (Kyewski & Kr¨amer, 2018).”
BackgroundInfluentialXiao, Y., & Hew, K. F. (2023) · British Journal of Educational Technology · doi:10.1111/bjet.13361 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Hsu, C. (2023) · Decision Support Systems · doi:10.1016/j.dss.2023.114020 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Suppan, M., Catho, G., Nunes, T. R., Sauvan, V., Perez, M., Graf, C. E., Pittet, D., Harbarth, S., Abbas, M., & Suppan, L. (2020) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/24986 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
“We used Nicholson’s RECIPE mnemonic (reflection, engagement, choice, information, play, and exposition) for meaningful gamification to guide the development of the game mechanics [30].”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialMeaningful Gamification in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology Course
Stansbury, J. A., & Earnest, D. R. (2016) · Teaching of Psychology · doi:10.1177/0098628316677645 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
“, narrative) or connected via game mechanics such as a simulation (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialJones, S. M., Katyal, P., Xie, X., Nicolas, M. P., Leung, E. M., Noland, D. M., & Montclare, J. K. (2019) · Simulation & Gaming · doi:10.1177/1046878119882048 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
“…by incorporating popular video game tactics (e.g., points, leaderboards, and badges), which have been shown to allure and captivate millions of video game users (Cameron & Bizo, 2019; Ismail & Mohammad, 2017; Nicholson, 2015; Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010; Su, 2015; Whitton, 2007, 2010).”
BackgroundGamification in education and training: A literature review
Triantafyllou, S. A., Georgiadis, C. K., & Sapounidis, T. (2025) · International Review of Education · doi:10.1007/s11159-024-10111-8 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
“Furthermore, one of the main characteristics of gamification is that it tends to effectively combine intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, by providing continuous feedback to learners and reinforcement with specific rewards, to support the successful completion of learning tasks (Nicholson 2014).”
The gamification of risk: how health apps foster self-confidence and why this is not enough
Maturo, A. F., & Setiffi, F. (2016) · Health Risk & Society · doi:10.1080/13698575.2015.1136599 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“The idea of a reward is at the core of gamification practices, framing behavioural change in terms of points gained, levels achieved, places on leader boards, badges received and other similar markers in order to encourage users (Nichols, 2015, p. 1).”
BackgroundEffective Gamification of the Stop-Signal Task: Two Controlled Laboratory Experiments
Friehs, M. A., Dechant, M., Vedress, S., Frings, C., & Mandryk, R. L. (2020) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/17810 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“SDT has been mirrored in the gamification classification system developed by Nicholson [54], in which he proposed 2 types of gamification: reward-based gamification and meaningful gamification.”
MethodZhao, Z., Arya, A., Orji, R., & Chan, G. (2020) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/19968 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
How can gamification contribute to achieve SDGs?
Souza, V. S., Marques, S. R. B. D. V., & Veríssimo, M. (2020) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology · doi:10.1108/jhtt-05-2019-0081 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Al‐Zyoud, M. F. (2020) · Journal of Public Affairs · doi:10.1002/pa.2263 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Exploring the Impact of Gamification Elements in Brand Apps on the Purchase Intention of Consumers
Kaur, J., Lavuri, R., Parida, R., & Singh, S. V. (2023) · Journal of Global Information Management · doi:10.4018/jgim.317216 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
“Gamification may be used to engage, motivate and influence various groups and communities to generate desirable output (Xu, 2011; Glover, 2013; Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundHong, J., Hwang, M., Liu, Y.-H., & Tai, K. (2020) · Computer Assisted Language Learning · doi:10.1080/09588221.2020.1803361 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
“Gamifying approaches aim to achieve environments conducive to learning by providing fast feedback for learners with opportunities for knowledge acquisition (Nicholson, 2015) in which a sense of progress can be achieved (Wen et al., 2018).”
BackgroundAnálise de Gamificação no Simulador de Operações Cibernéticas (SIMOC)
Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada – IPEA, C. 7. 0.-9., Brustolin, F. J., Brandão, J. E. M. D. S., et al. (2017) · RISTI - Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação · doi:10.17013/risti.23.103-118 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
García‐Cabot, A., García‐López, E., Caro‐Álvaro, S., Martínez, J. M. G., & de‐Marcos, L. (2019) · Computer Applications in Engineering Education · doi:10.1002/cae.22186 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“It should be applied in the short term [39,44], to easily and effectively drive student behavior [39], as long term reduces the effect on user engagement [28,47].”
BackgroundThe Motivational Push of Games
Birk, M. V., Mandryk, R. L., & Atkins, C. (2016) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/2967934.2968091 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“Intentionally called pointsification [5] or exploitationware [6], thought leaders suggest that gamification is often a superficial application of trivial game elements – such as points, achievements, badges, and levels [40] – rather than the principled application of the mechanics, dynamics, or aesthetics [24] that cr…”
BackgroundGamification is not Working: Why?
John, D., Hussin, N., Zaini, M. K., Helda, L. I., Ametefe, D. S., & Aliu, A. A. (2024) · Games and Culture · doi:10.1177/15554120241228125 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Xu, Q., Lu, Y., Hwang, B., & Kua, H. W. (2020) · Energy and Buildings · doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2020.110621 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Gamified package: Consumer insights into multidimensional brand engagement
Syrjälä, H., Kauppinen‐Räisänen, H., Luomala, H., Joelsson, T. N., Könnölä, K., & Mäkilä, T. (2019) · Journal of Business Research · doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.11.089 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
A Review of Gamification Platforms for Higher Education
Goshevski, D., Veljanoska, J., & Hatziapostolou, T. (2017) · Balkan Conference in Informatics · doi:10.1145/3136273.3136299 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“It aims to engage users by increasing their intrinsic motivation instead of using external rewards [4, 5].”
BackgroundInfluentialMogavi, R. H., Guo, B., Zhang, Y.-H., Haq, E.-U., Hui, P., & Ma, X. (2022) · ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale · doi:10.1145/3491140.3528274 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“In general, gamification implies using game design elements in non-game contexts [28, 100], and it is typically implemented via the BLAP system put forward by Nicholson, which encompasses using Badges, Levels/Leaderboards, Achievements, and Points [89].”
MethodGamification of E-Participation: A Literature Review
Hassan, L., & Hamari, J. (2019) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) · doi:10.24251/hicss.2019.372 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Play hard, study hard? The influence of gamification on students’ study engagement
Chen, J., & Liang, M. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.994700 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“These benefits must be swiftly swapped out with more worthwhile components, such as a story, the ability to pick which pathways to investigate, enjoyable activities, and chances to reflect (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundInfluentialA Conceptual Model of Analogue Gamification to Enhance Learners' Motivation and Attitude
Mee, R. W. M., Pek, L. S., Von, W. Y., Ghani, K. A., Shahdan, T. S. T., Ismail, M. R., & Rao, Y. S. (2021) · International Journal of Language Education · doi:10.26858/ijole.v5i2.18229 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“Thus, behavioural change through this method tends to be conditional on extrinsic rewards’ continuous provision unless the behavioural change’s motivation is internalised (Bogost, 2015; Nicholson, 2015).”
MethodMenéndez, J. D., Arberas, E. J., Ruiz-Fernández, M. L., et al. (2021) · BMC Medical Education · doi:10.1186/s12909-021-02973-5 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“Escape rooms are described by Nicholson [11] as “live-action team-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms, in order to accomplish a specific goal, usually escaping from the room, in a limited amount of time” (p.”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Evaluation of Potentials of Gamification in Tourism Marketing Communication
Sever, N. S., Sever, G. N., & Kuhzady, S. (2015) · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · doi:10.6007/ijarbss/v5-i10/1867 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
“ Gamification can helps to costumer engagement: Almost all definition have suggested gamification as an effective tool for engagement (Nicholson 2015; Rauch 2013; Cronk 2012; Zichermann and Cunningham 2011).”
BackgroundGamifying learning for learners
Dichev, C., Dicheva, D., & Irwin, K. (2020) · International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education · doi:10.1186/s41239-020-00231-0 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“Although several researchers (Hamari, Huotari, & Tolvanen, 2015; Huotari & Hamari, 2017; Nicholson, 2015; Rigby, 2014) have suggested that various contextual factors may modify gamification ’ s impact, little has been explored yet with regard to how other factors, such as the activity importance,…”
BackgroundEffectiveness of Gamification in Flipped Learning
Gündüz, A. Y., & Akkoyunlu, B. (2020) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/2158244020979837 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
“Among these combinations, the combination of scores, badges, and leaderboards (sometimes referred to as PBL) is the most used (Nicholson, 2015).”
BackgroundGao, F. (2024) · TechTrends · doi:10.1007/s11528-024-00968-9 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“For example, rooted in behaviorism, self-determination theory, and Mezirow’s model of transformative learning, Nicholson (2015) proposed two types of gamification: One is reward-based gamification , which creates immediate, short-term behavior changes by providing exter-nal rewards for desired…”
Segura, E. M., Wærn, A., Segura, L. M., & Recio, D. L. (2016) · Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play · doi:10.1145/2967934.2968099 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“He discusses how play emerges not only when mastering a challenge but when “having boundaries, bumping up against them, and occasionally crossing them” [46].”
BackgroundInfluentialAn interdisciplinary perspective on gamification: Mechanics, psychological mediators and outcomes
Helmefalk, M. (2019) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v6i1.262 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
“Hence, Nicholson [119] indicates a relation between meaningfulness, purposefulness and autonomy.”
BackgroundWhittaker, L., Russell‐Bennett, R., & Mulcahy, R. F. (2021) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.21476 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Gamified Learning Theory: The Moderating role of learners' learning tendencies
Zaric, N., Röpke, R., Lukarov, V., & Schroeder, U. (2021) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v8i3.438 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
“The meaningful gamification design manages to target curtain behavior, whose change results in the desired gamification outcome [38].”
BackgroundJohn, D., Hussin, N., Zaini, M. K., Ametefe, D. S., Aliu, A. A., & Caliskan, A. (2023) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v10i3.633 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Quantifying Journalism? A Study on the Use of Data and Gamification to Motivate Journalists
Conill, R. F. (2017) · Television & New Media · doi:10.1177/1527476417697271 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“Even if the playful experience afforded by the game mechanics aims to create a meaningful experience (Nicholson 2015), the drivers chosen to motivate the journalist are mainly based on metrics, which can lead to an attempt to produce news and content for the sole purpose of performing better in the…”
BackgroundBertran, F. A., Segura, E. M., Duval, J., & Isbister, K. (2019) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3322276.3322325 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“At this stage, it is important to keep design interventions open-ended and semiambiguous, to afford user appropriation [[53],[54],[64]] in the following stage.”
BackgroundA personalized gamification method for increasing user engagement in social networks
Hajarian, M., Bastanfard, A., Mohammadzadeh, J., & Khalilian, M. (2019) · Social Network Analysis and Mining · doi:10.1007/s13278-019-0589-3 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“These elements of the meaningful gamification effect on the long-term user engagement (Nicholson 2015) and the results of our experiment in Figs.”
BackgroundInfluentialLi, M., Chau, P. Y. K., & Ge, L. (2020) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-02-2020-0094 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
The co.LAB Generic Framework for Collaborative Design of Serious Games: Development Study
Jaccard, D., Suppan, L., Sanchez, É., Huguenin, A., & Laurent, M. (2021) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/28674 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Indeed, it has been pointed out that gamification mechanisms purely based on rewards and on extrinsic motivators only bring short-term benefits and can be worthless or even harmful in the long run [58].”
BackgroundHow gamification elements benefit brand love: the moderating effect of immersion
Tsou, H., & Putra, M. T. (2023) · Marketing Intelligence & Planning · doi:10.1108/mip-04-2023-0143 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
An, Y., Zhu, M., Bonk, C. J., & Lin, L. (2020) · Journal of Computing in Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s12528-020-09256-w · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Gamification can be classified into two broad categories: (a) extrinsic reward-based gamification, and (b) meaningful gamification (Bunchball 2010; Nicholson 2015; Tan and Hew 2016).”
BackgroundAnalysing adaptive gamification design principles for online courses
Sezgin, S., & Yüzer, T. V. (2020) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2020.1817559 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“help researchers to understand ‘meaningful gamification’ (Nicholson 2015).”
BackgroundExploring Learners Experience of Gamified Practicing: For Learning or for Fun?
Dicheva, D., Irwin, K., & Dichev, C. (2019) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v6i3.299 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
“Given that the success of gamified learning depends largely on learners’ continuous engagement, addressing the challenge of how to sustain user engagement with a gamified activity is crucial [9, 18, 19].”
Dustman, W. A., King‐Keller, S., & Marquez, R. (2021) · Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education · doi:10.1128/jmbe.v22i1.2439 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Playbour and the Gamification of Work: Empowerment, Exploitation and Fun as Labour Dynamics
Conill, R. F. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76279-1_11 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Gamification Design to Increase Motivation in Online Learning Environments: A Systematic Review
Ertan, K., & Kocadere, S. A. (2022) · Journal of Learning and Teaching in Digital Age · doi:10.53850/joltida.1020044 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“Creating a story similar to a real-world setting (Nicholson, 2015) and appealing to students’ interest (Çağlar-Özhan & Arkün-Kocadere, 2020) motivates students.”
BackgroundThe quest for a better tailoring of gameful design
Mora, A., Tondello, G. F., Calvet, L., González, C. S. G., Arnedo-Moreno, J., & Nacke, L. E. (2019) · International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (Interacción) · doi:10.1145/3335595.3335625 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“On that regard, Nicholson [21], proposes using a light reward-based layer as the tutorial for explorations.”
MethodThe discursive construction of the gamification of journalism
Vos, T. P., & Perreault, G. (2020) · Convergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies · doi:10.1177/1354856520909542 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Yang, Y., Hu, H., & Koenigstorfer, J. (2021) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2021.10.005 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Motivating Professional Student Behavior Through a Gamified Personal Branding Assignment
Robson, K. (2019) · Journal of Marketing Education · doi:10.1177/0273475318823847 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Gameful Design Heuristics: A Gamification Inspection Tool
Tondello, G. F., Kappen, D. L., Ganaba, M., & Nacke, L. E. (2019) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-22646-6_16 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Guillén, G., Quist, J., & Hamari, J. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126609 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
“This analysis (Appendix B) was followed by the study of gami fi cation ’ s elements suggested for motivating individuals to act in the real world (Nicholson, 2015), leading to the creation of the GAMEBACK framework ’ s fi rst draft.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialGamified Wearable Fitness Tracker for Physical Activity: A Comprehensive Literature Review
Cho, I., Kaplanidou, K. K., & Sato, S. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13137017 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
“Based on theoretical background regarding gamification and motivational affordances [12,23,25,26], we embarked on a thematic analysis to explore the types of WFT gamification.”
BackgroundMethodSystematic literature review on gamified professional training among employees
Mahat, J., Alias, N., & Yusop, F. D. (2022) · Interactive Learning Environments · doi:10.1080/10494820.2022.2043910 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Hommel, B. E., Ruppel, R., & Zacher, H. (2021) · International Journal of Selection and Assessment · doi:10.1111/ijsa.12362 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Are We Having Fun Yet? Misapplying Motivation to Gamification
Loughrey, K., & Broin, D. Ó. (2018) · IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference (GEM) · doi:10.1109/gem.2018.8516535 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“, 2012 [20] Conceptual Overview of Gamification 1, 3, 4 Kappen and Nacke, 2013 [21] Conceptual Model for Effective Gamification 2, 4 Lieberoth, 2015 [22] Experiment on the Motivational Effects of Framing an Activity as a Game 1, 3, 4 Nicholson, 2015 [23] Conceptual Model for Meaningful Gamification 2, 4 Sailer et al.”
BackgroundFostering Engagement with Gamification: Review of Current Practices on Online Learning PlatformsPreprint
Hansch, A., Newman, C., & Schildhauer, T. A. (2015) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2694736 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Alves, L., Faria, P. M., Cruz, E. F., Lopes, S. I., & da Cruz, A. M. R. (2023) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su15065398 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Gamification inducing creative ideation: a parallel mediation model
Nivedhitha, K. S., & Manzoor, A. K. S. (2019) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929x.2019.1635646 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Denden, M., Tlili, A., Essalmi, F., & Jemni, M. (2018) · Smart Learning Environments · doi:10.1186/s40561-018-0078-6 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“For instance, it provides the learning content in a narrative game story which can make learners more motivated to learn (Dickey 2006; Nicholson 2015).”
BackgroundZhou, F., Mou, J., & Kim, J. (2021) · Online Information Review · doi:10.1108/oir-10-2020-0464 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Gamification and English Learning: Innovative Strategies to Motivate Students in the Classroom
Chiriboga, S. P. J., Alvarez, J. H. V., Pozo, D. A. M., Caisalitin, J. A. T., Chingo, M. B. Y., Quinaucho, C. V. C., & Párraga, A. P. B. (2025) · Revista Científica de Salud y Desarrollo Humano · doi:10.61368/r.s.d.h.v6i1.549 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Seo, K., Fels, S., Kang, M., Jung, C., & Ryu, H. (2020) · Hum. Comput. Interact. · doi:10.1080/07370024.2020.1744145 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
“Nicholson (2015) demonstrated that good narrative(s) of game-play could help workers to easily understand why they played the game and created productive social behaviors at the workplace.”
BackgroundMethod
- Authors
- Nicholson, S.
- Affiliations
- Syracuse University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Nicholson, Scott
- ORCID
- Nicholson, Scott
- Venue
- Gamification in Education and Business
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing
- Published
- 2014-10-17
- Pages
- 1-20
- OpenAlex
- W193680646
- Semantic Scholar
- 006823e55fe51a29dc6161972e5fe542a8c5e63c
- Cited by
- 722
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 72 · 2025: 80 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 87 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 86 · 2020: 70 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 36.56
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Springer eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Keywords
- intrinsic motivation, reflection, exhibition, choice, information, play, engagement, long-term behavior change, gameful design
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