My keynote for the ICA 2017 Preconference "My So-Called Gamified Life" in San Diego, CA, May 25, 2017.

1. Image: JosephB
DESPERATELY
SEEKING THEORY
Gamification, Theory, and the Promise
of a New Science of Interaction Design
ICA 2017 Preconference
Sebastian Deterding
@dingstweets

2. chapter 1
A Fable

3. meet alberto linguini
I want to know how to
bake a delicious cake.

4. Interventions: Eating Research and Practice
EATING RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
The 67th Annual Conference of the International Eating Association
ABOUT #iea17
IEA
67th Annual Conference of the International Eating Association

5. Coating required?
The Impact of
Patisserieness on Taste
in Baked Goods

6. low patisserieness medium patisserieness high patisserieness

7. 12.2 Implications for Cooking
12.2 Implications for Cooking
… “For more tasty baked goods, consider a higher degree of patisserieness,
such as cupcakes or cakes.” …

8. Nutrition Science

9. Hi, I’m a chef and read your paper. Can I ask
you a question?
Sure, my pleasure.
How do I bake a delicious cake?
Our results show that people find high
patisserieness very tasty.
So how do I do that?
Have you thought about baking a cake?
Yes. I’m already making a cake. How do I
make a delicious cake?
Well, make it … very caky I guess?

10. Nutrition Science

11. How do ingredients, mixtures, and preparation
methods reliably create desired flavor profiles?

12. too abstract, coarse design constructs
too abstract, coarse effect constructs

13. enter
gamification

14. the theoretical question of gamification
how do cognitive
states
afford
behaviour
affect
design
features
?

15. This is a
grand question
inviting
a science of
experience design

16. So how are we
doing?

17. chapter 2
The Status Quo

19. we are stuck in groundhog day

20. “does gamification work?”

21. Mu.

24. “does medicine work?”

25. “A muddle of things we here call ‘gamification’ affect a
muddle of things we here call ‘engagement’, unless when they
don’t, in ways we assume but never tested.
More research is needed.”
the resultant default contribution

26. which doesn’t help our friend
I want to know how to
bake a delicious cake.

27. we need to ask better questions
Does medicine work?
What active substance in what dosage affects what
condition under what circumstances? HOW?
Do 500mg orally administered acetylsalicylic acid affect
migraine in adult chronic migraine patients? How?
Does gamification work?
Do public displays of achieved difficult goals support goal-
setting in achievement-oriented individuals? HOW?

28. To ask better
questions, we need
theory.

29. A set of statements expressing a
nomological network of constructs and their
relations, tied to observable phenomena
through operationalisations.
what is theory (quick refresher)
Whitney, Kite & Adams, 2013; Cronbach & Meehl, 1955

30. without theory, no science

31. chapter 3
The Issue

32. the current basic mediation model
design
element 2
magic
motivation! behaviour
design
element 1
design
element 3
e.g. Hamari, Koivisti & Sarsa 2014

33. the current state of gamification theory

34. our biblical texts

35. the issues with design elements
design
element 2
magic
motivation! behaviour
design
element 1
design
element 3

36. #1 when is “a badge” a badge?

37. #2 we have chinese encyclopedias
“… a certain Chinese encyclopaedia entitled ‘Celestial
Empire of benevolent Knowledge’. In its remote pages it
is written that the animals are divided into: (a)
belonging to the emperor, (b) embalmed, (c) tame, (d)
sucking pigs (e) sirens, (f) fabulous, (g) stray dogs, (h)
included in the present classification, (i) frenzied, (j)
innumerable, (k) drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
(l) et cetera, (m) having just broken the water pitcher,
(n) that from a long way off look like flies.”

38. Hamari, Koivisti & Sarsa 2014

39. badges
points
leader
boards
levels
feedback
cleargoals
reward
progress
challenge
story/
theme

40. #3 all exegesis, no new species

41. #4 stuck on low-level design instantiations
where the
action is today
Deterding et al., 2011

42. the issues with processes
design
element 2
magic
motivation! behaviour
design
element 1
design
element 3

43. #1 motives are multiple

44. “Motivation’s new paradigm is one in which
behavior is energized and directed not by a single
grand cause but, instead, by a multitude of
multilevel and coacting influences.”
johnmarshall reeve
Reeve, 2009

45. design element 1
design element 2
design element 3
behaviour
competence
autonomy
relatedness
meaning
curiosity
...

46. #2 none of this is empirically tested

47. the underlying issues of both
design
element 2
magic
motivation! behaviour
design
element 1
design
element 3

48. #1 elements are multi-functional
goal-settinginstruction
group identification
status
reputation
Antin & Churchill, 2011

49. #2 function results from active appraisal
Deci & Ryan, 2001
feedback
appraised as
controlling
thwarts
autonomy
motivation
appraised as
informing
supports
competence
+
–

50. #3 appraisal and function are contextual
Reeve, 2006

51. #4 function is systemic-emergent

52. #4 function is systemic-emergent
aesthetics
Boring
end game
mechanics dynamics
Slow
poverty gap
+$ !+
-$ !-

53. #4 function is systemic-emergent
aesthetics
Boring
end game
mechanics dynamics
Slow
poverty gap
+$ !+
-$ !-
Function arises from this

54. #4 function is systemic-emergent
aesthetics
Boring
end game
mechanics dynamics
Slow
poverty gap
+$ !+
-$ !-
Not this

55. function is a dynamic person-situation relation e.g. in flow
difficulty
skill/time
frustration
boredom
flow
Csikszentmihalyi, 1990

56. e.g. in curiosity
Silva, 2006

57. Wong, 2012
points badges leaderboards
Progress Goal-setting Achievement
we focus on concrete yet underspecified instantiations …
… when we should look at what features in relation to what
dispositions and contexts afford what motivational functions

58. Simon, 1996
“Fulfillment of purpose involves as relation
among three terms: the purpose, the character
of the artifact, and the environment in which the
artifact performs.”
herbert simon

59. functions emerge from functional mechanisms …

60. … that can be instantiated in many ways.

61. locating functions in isolated surface instantiations is cargo cult thinking.

62. which results in design by copy & paste …

63. badges
points
leader
boards
levels
feedback
cleargoals
reward
progress
challenge
story/
theme
… conceptual muddles …

64. … and zero scientific progress.

65. we need different, mechanistic constructs and models
Deterding, under review
motivational affordance
The complex of necessary and
sufficient relations of actor
dispositions and environment
features that render an action or
event functionally significant for a
specific motive

66. fuelling different kinds of questions
Do badges (on average) drive engagement
(via achievement motivation)?
What complex of necessary and sufficient
environmental features and actor dispositions
reliably gives rise to achievement motivation?

67. and then we need a linné

68. an empirically grounded, well-operationalised, well-formed taxonomy

69. this is a massive undertaking

70. • Gamification research takes the design elements of
early industry literature for granted, testing their
average effects
• “Design elements” as analytic units are both over-
determined and under-specified
• We need theory modeling and testing functional
mechanisms behind specific motives a.k.a. affordances
• We need systematic bottom-up empirical work identifying
affordances underneath and beyond industry literature
in summary

71. chapter 4
The Opportunity

72. Kramer,Guillory&Hancock,2015

73. “Facebook has created a laboratory of
human behavior the likes of which we’ve
never seen.”
jad abumrad
NPR, 2015

74. At any moment, software companies
are running
millions of a/b tests
to optimise user engagement, each
an experiment in waiting.

75. ( )

76. fuelling the automation of design

77. the scale for a massive undertaking

78. But to know what to test and
how to automate, you need
theory.

79. LOMAS, 2015
“Online hypothesis testing can accelerate both applied
and basic Interaction Design Science by making it fast
and easy to obtain ecologically-valid measures of the
effects of designs on user behavior. Online controlled
experiments can help build practical, generalizable, and
scientifically-validated theories of how and why designs
affect human interactions.”
derek lomas

80. LOMAS, 2015

81. an example

83. basic theory
difficulty
skill/time
frustration
boredom
flow
Csikszentmihalyi, 1990

84. basic question: what’s the optimal curve?
difficulty
skill/time
Alexander, Sear & Oikonomou,
2013; Sampayo-Vargas et al.,
2013; Brazil & Blau, 2014

85. practical application: crowdsourcing

86. practical challenge: ordering unknown, immutable tasks
difficulty
skill/time
?
?
? ?
?
?
?
?
?
?
? ?
?
?
?
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?
?
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?
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?
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?
?
?

87. Performance data
Improvement suggestions
Task length design
Task descriptions
Initial balancing theories
Initial indicators of skill
Optimal difficulty curve
Indicators for skill, difficulty
researcher
designeruser
Task sequence &
task support & feedback
Engagement &
performance data
data/ai

88. chapter 5
Summary

89. gamification could seed a grand new science of design …
how do cognitive
states
affect
behaviour
affect
design
features
?

90. … but is stuck in groundhog day.

91. to begin systematically building knowledge …

92. … we need to start asking better questions.

93. To ask better
questions, we need
theory.

94. we need to replace industry scholasticism …

95. and cargo cult design …

96. … with better constructs and mechanistic models …
Deterding, under review
motivational affordance
The complex of necessary and
sufficient relations of actor
dispositions and environment
features that render an action or
event functionally significant for a
specific motive

97. … and empirical, bottom-up taxonomies.

98. this is a massive undertaking …

99. ( )
… with a matching massive opportunity.

100. we can be at the forefront of design evolution …

101. … if we loop industry and research together.

102. sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
thank you.

103. Hide-and-hint
We are curious about potentially relevant
information and resources that are hinted at
but hidden. If we know about something, but
not its content, we wonder: "What is there?"
▪ What information or resources are relevant to
players at this point?
▪ How might you hide their specific content away?
▪ How might you hint at their existence?
▪ How might you signal their potential relevance?
▪ How might you help players feel that they can
follow that hint safely?
Instantiations: Cliffhanger, Fog of War, Hidden
Information, Locked Abilities, Locked Content,
Locked Items, Skill Tree, Tech Tree.
CU

104. command & conquer: fog of war

105. upworthy: curiosity gap

106. linkedin: teaser