How are gameful experience dimensions associated with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Results from an online vignette study

Abstract

Gamification is one of the leading behavioral change strategies whose central premise is to afford experiences that resemble those present in games to provide intrinsic motivation. At the same time, gamification has an underlying utilitarian purpose and therefore its use is additionally driven by expected benefits. However, while gamification designs can afford a wide range of experiences, the corpus needs studies that examine which of these experiences induce intrinsic motivation, and which are associated with extrinsic motivation related to the utilitarian outcomes. Therefore, this study deploys a vignette-based online study (n=937) to examine the relationships between gameful experience dimensions (i.e., accomplishment, challenge, social experience, immersion, competition, guided, playfulness), and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in a case study related to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the results, accomplishment, social experience, competition, and playfulness are positively associated with intrinsic motivation. Moreover, accomplishment, social experience, guided, and playfulness are positively associated with extrinsic motivation.