Chapter 3. Game Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics

Authors

  • Bohyun Kim

Abstract

Chapter 3 of Library Technology Reports (vol. 51, no. 2), “Understanding Gamification,” takes a close look at game design elements in order to understand better how gamification works. While common elements in gamification such as points, badges, feedback, levels, and achievement are often recognized and included as part of the account of gamification, not all of those elements function at the same level of abstraction. This chapter discusses the MDA framework, which breaks down a game designer’s design process into three parts: (1) mechanics, (2) dynamics, and (3) aesthetics. The MDA framework enables us to understand how game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics differ from one another and how they work together to create the overall gameful experience for users. This understanding can be of great help in designing one’s own gamification.

Author Biography

Bohyun Kim

Bohyun Kim is associate director for Library Applications and Knowledge Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Health Sciences and Human Services Library. She is the author of The Library Mobile Experience: Practices and User Expectations (Chicago: ALA TechSource, 2013). Her articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals and she has given invited and peer-reviewed presentations on a variety of topics related to emerging technologies, from the mobile web to biohackerspace, and their impact on libraries. She was one of the selected panelists for the “Top Technology Trends” program at the ALA Annual Conference in 2014. She regularly tweets at @bohyunkim, serves as the editor and writer of the ACRL TechConnect Blog (http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/), and also writes on her professional blog, Library Hat (www.bohyunkim.net/blog/). She holds a master’s degree in philosophy from Harvard University and another master’s degree in library and information science from Simmons College.

References

Sebastian Deterding, Dan Dixon, Rilla Khaled, and Lennart Nacke, “From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining ‘Gamification,’” in Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments (New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2011), 13, doi:10.1145/2181037.2181040.

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“Game Mechanics Types,” Gamification Wiki, Badgeville website, accessed November 3, 2014, http://badgeville.com/wiki/Game_Mechanics/Types.

Seth Priebatsch, “Welcome to the Decade of Games,” HBR Blog Network, Harvard Business Review, September 9, 2010, http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/09/welcome_to_the_decade_of_games.html.

Erick Schonfeld, “SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck,” TechCrunch, August 25, 2010, http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/25/scvngr-game-mechanics.

Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Qing Zeng, Venkata Rajasekhar Telaprolu, Abhishek Padmanabhuni Ayyappa, and Brenda Eschenbrenner, “Gamification of Education: A Review of Literature,” in HCI in Business: First International Conference, HCIB 2014, Held as Part of HCI International 2014, Heraklion, Crete, Greece, June 22–27, 2014, Proceedings, edited by Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, 401–9, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 8527 (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2014), doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07293-7_39.

Robin Hunicke, Marc Leblanc, and Robert Zubek, “MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research,” in Proceedings of the Challenges in Games AI Workshop, Nineteenth National Conference of Artificial Intelligence (San Jose, CA: AAAI Press, 2004), 2.

Andrzej Marczewski, Gamification: A Simple Introduction and a Bit More, 2nd ed. (self-published on Amazon Digital Services, 2013), Kindle edition, Loc 1119 of 1798.

Downloads

Published

2015-03-25

Issue

Vol. 51 No. 2 (2015): February/March

Section

Chapters