Abstract:

Gamification has been up and coming trend in educational technology. Its functionality has been predicted to reach beyond its normality; which is in the field of marketing and business. As many researches has looked into the direct usability and effects of gamification in learning, therefore this research looks at a different line of view when it comes to infusing gamification and its elements. The use of a game principle; Player motivation types, is a method proposed by researcher in other game based learning study intended to find out what game characteristics a player has or has a tendency towards. Thus by harnessing this element the researcher intends to maximize and fulfill the need in achieving a meaningful gamified learning method. Hence, a qualitative study was carried out to identify how a group of 28 students from the rural school fared when it came to player motivation. This was tested pre and post introduction to a gamification based learning platform that was used to help the students in learning a topic in Science, at the secondary school level. The findings showed that before the gamified intervention, the majority of the students were identified to be categorized as Achievement orientated whilst the results of the post intervention showed that the majority of the students Player Motivation shifted towards Social and Immersion. Based on the findings, it can be noted that the student’s tendency in learning using a gamified platform shifted towards interaction among themselves and interaction with the platform itself.

Keywords:

Gamification, game mechanics, player motivation, e-learning.