MMI725 GAMIFICATION AND PERSUASIVE GAMES

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the student will learn:

• To understand the definition of game elements, theory of games and game-based economic models, game-based incentives improvement structures,
• Become familiar with self-determination theory and its practice in game-based information system design, the business process and frameworks for gamification.
• To design and understand a gamification process and apply in IT projects, and how to measure their progress.
• The course allows students to develop a set of practical skills in using game elements using industrial case studies.
• Students will understand practical ways for improving an IT business particularly by understanding ways of creating an effective gamified solution (i.e. sustained engagement) in a strategic landscape and exploring its value in a competitive business ecosystem.

Course Content

The goal of the course is to teach students the practical usage of the game elements in the business context to engaging todays customers of computer applications. In addition, the course lays the basics of game design theory to solve real world problems in IT context such as customer engagement, user motivation and retention. The goal is to help students to design multi-dimensional interaction and feedback mechanism by using dynamics of games.
At the most basic level, gamification is a method to motivate users by using the game mechanics to drive game-like engagement and actions. In everyday life, however, most of them are often presented with job activities that are not attractive, i.e. boring chores or stressful tasks. To cope with this, the course will introduce game mechanisms into non-game tasks and activities to make them more game-like (i.e. fun, rewarding, desirable, etc.), so that customers or users would be motivated to take part in these tasks. In addition, the course covers the persuasive games and their applications, which is the art and science of persuasion through game-based representations and interactions of systems rather than the verbal form.

Course Learning Outcomes

After the successful completion of this course, the students will

• Define the game elements in IT context especially for building or improving a business process.
• Report substantial knowledge regarding the theory of games and its potential usage for creating business solutions.
• Gain hands-on experience to analyze IT based industrial business cases using a gamification framework
• Learn to assess a gamified system and measure its effectiveness by using qualitative and quantitative research techniques.