Applied Gamification in Self-guided Exhibitions: Lessons learned from theory and praxis

This paper contributes to the current understanding of applied digital gamification by providing insights from two design cases from the Danish aqua zoo, the North Sea Oceanarium, concerned with self-facilitated exhibitions. Grounded in a short review of the current state of art, we provide two empirical case examples, concerning a mobile augmented reality design and an Instagram service. Analyzing the design process behind these cases, we identify some of the challenges arising from applying gamification in practice, and whether these insights verify, extents or contradicts current examples of applied gamification research.

Specifically, the cases provide insights to the challenge of on-boarding visitors into participating and using the designed products during their visit. In both cases, providing certain incentives for using the app or participating in the Instagram challenge, seemed to activate and engage more visitors and motivate them to participate in the activities as well as downloading the app and preparing for the activities on their own volition prior to their visit. By looking closer at what might have triggered the motivation with the visitors, a connection could be made to gamification and serious games, pertaining to the applied game design arena, in that there is something about extrinsic motivational properties at play, that persuaded the visitors to use the digital experience layers.