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Shallow Gamification: Testing Psychological Effects of Framing an Activity as a Game
Abstract
This article experimentally dissociates the psychological impact of framing versus game mechanics, when presenting a serious activity as a game. Studies of game elements in nongame contexts tend to describe full packages, with no way of assessing their individual psychological and functional impact. To isolate the effects of framing, students ( N = 90) were assigned to either discuss study environment issues through a list of questions, via a competitive discussion board game, or though the same game artifacts but with no game mechanics. Task engagement and self-reported intrinsic motivation were compared between groups. Results demonstrate that the effects of simply framing the activity as a game though vernacular and artifacts holds almost as much psychological power as the full game mechanics. In both game conditions, interest and enjoyment were significantly superior to controls, but other intrinsic motivation variables remained unchanged. Implications for game design in nongame contexts are discussed, and a framework for differentiating “deep and shallow gamification” in terms of mechanics and framing is developed.
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“The outcomes indicate that engagement and enjoyment increased significantly due to the psychological effects of framing the task as a game. Furthermore, no actual increased interest or enjoyment was measured by adding actual game mechanics to the task, when it was already framed as a game.”
From Gamifying education: what is known, what is believed and what remains uncertain: a critical review (2017) · cites this paper as Lieberoth (2015)
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Hamari, J., Shernoff, D. J., Rowe, E., Coller, B., Asbell-Clarke, J., & Edwards, T. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.045 · Cited by 1,713
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“According to Lieberoth (2015), it might not be the game itself that stimulates individuals, but rather the packaging: the fact that an activity resembles a game.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lieberoth, A.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Lieberoth, Andreas
- ORCID
- Lieberoth, Andreas
- Venue
- Games and Culture
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2014-12-01
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 229-248
- ISSN
- 1555-4120 (ISSN-L)
- 1555-4139
- OpenAlex
- W2321348787
- Cited by
- 208
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11
- FWCI
- 28.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Games and Culture (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Aarhus Universitet
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports
- Keywords
- gamification, framing effects, game mechanics, intrinsic motivation, task engagement, student engagement, interest and enjoyment
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