its own” (1951, p. 8). In contrary, the term “Game can
be defined as: A system in which players engage in
an abstract challenge, defined by rules, interactivity,
and feedback, that results in a quantifiable outcome
often eliciting an emotional reaction” (Kapp, 2012, p.
37). So game is, compared to play, a system where
rules are predefined to challenge the participant in a
pretended way. Guided by feedback a behavioural
change is the main and pre-set goal. But nevertheless,
game, as well as play, should be enjoyed by the
participant, should be able to transfer its content into
a fictional world and should activate. The evolution
of digital technologies and with it the evolution of
video games has lead to a “growing acceptance of
digital games as mainstream entertainment [and] has
raised the question of how to take advantage of the
promise of digital games for educational purposes”
(Plass et al., 2015, p. 258). This is the main idea of
Game-Based learning.
Kapp et al. define gamification as “Using game-
based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking to
engage people, motivate action, promote learning,
and solve problems […]” (Kapp et al., 2014, p. 410).
Whereas Deterding et al. use Gamification as “[…]
the use of game design elements in non-game
contexts” (Deterding et al., 2011, p. 9, italic in
original) and emphasize a design focus and equate
gameful design with gamification. As the proposed
Parcours aims to increase the use of game (design)
elements within educational institutions, both
definitions draw a frame around the topics educators
need to go through.
1.2 Not All that Glitters is Gold
In addition, as the Parcours on Gamification (PonG)
draws a holistic picture of its topic, it also highlights
possible side effects, e.g. the effect on the learner’s
motivation. Gamification is mostly focused on
positive effects, which makes the research gap on
negative effects visible (Koivisto & Hamari, 2019).
In a literature review of 386 papers, Majuri, Koivisto
and Hamari (2018) found that most studies on
Gamification are mainly positively oriented (297), 74
are null or equal positive and negative, and just 15 are
mainly negatively oriented. Most studies report on the
addorfance points, score, XP (52); leaderboards,
ranking (43); badges, achievements, medals, trophies
(39) and challenges, quests, missions, tasks, clear
goals (37), while the most negative quantitative were
leaderboards and ranking with 3 out of 43 (Majuri,
Koivisto & Hamari, 2018). In general, there are a lot
of studies on gamification design, but a big gap when
it comes to considering negative effects (Toda, Valle
& Isotani, 2018). There is only one study about
negative effects of gamification in an educational
context by a systematic mapping, which classifies the
negative outcomes and identifies the gamification
design (Toda, Valle & Isotani, 2018). Toda, Valle and
Isotani (2018) identified the four negative effects to
include loss of performance (identified in 12 studies),
undesired behavior (9), indifference (5) and declining
effects (5). The identified game elements influencing
negative effects are (Toda, Valle & Isotani, 2018):
Leaderboards (identified in 14 studies), badge (13),
point (12), level (9), progression (4), social status (4),
instant feedback (3), avatar (3), social interaction (2),
economy (1), challenge (1) and narrative (1). The
concentration on the Point-Badge-Leaderboard
(PBL) approach is visible and influences most of the
game designs, which makes the consideration of
individual profiles, instructional and motivational
design theories necessary (Toda, Valle & Isotani,
2018). This is what PonG has to consider as well, in
order to allow a realistic view on the potentials of
gamification in the classroom.
2 ARE EDUCATORS READY FOR
A ROLE-CHANGING GAME?
It is fundamental for educators to think about the
transition of their role before starting to gamify a
classroom. They need to be ready to gamify. This
term – Gamification Readiness – combines the
needed intrinsic motivation of educators for using
game elements, having the ability to think outside the
box and implement ideas creatively as well as the
knowledge on gamification. In a study by Mueller
(2019), four main competencies could be detected -
openness, creativity, holistic thinking and expertise -
and are explained in the following section.
Gamification Readiness relies on these competencies
as a foundation and works to expand them.
2.1 Knowledge is Power
Playful learning can create new demands in the field
of education while at the same time work to support
learning process. Therefore, educators are faced with
the challenge of designing creative game scenarios on
the one hand, and integrating the desired learning
contribution, as well as the overall educational
objective on the other. For the playful imparting of
learning content in order to keep the students
motivated and promote their learning process,
specific skills are required.