The motivational GPS: Would a rat press a lever to get a badge?

Abstract

Gamification is a new industry that has blossomed around technologies that incorporate Motivational Design. This is a game design method based on creating truly engaging software that incites player motivations. There has been a lot of new research into motivation over the last decade, but to understand what we have learned about motivation we need to come back to the question about the rat and the badge, which is drawn from Skinner's classic experiment. More recent research shows that 'Wanting' is at the heart of what is considered motivation and approach behavior, while 'Liking' is the feeling of euphoria that is experienced when a challenge is overcome. Based on this research, we describe an application of The Motivational GPS framework which uses the metaphor of maps and directions related to 'Wanting' and 'Liking' to help create design artifacts that can be used to create engaging software. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.