Index
Designing Gamified Systems @EELISA (MA)
Register now via StudOn until 08. October 2021!

Driven by the rising popularity of digital games, technology, business and society are increasingly influenced and penetrated by games and trends of the gaming industry. One of the probably most important phenomena of this multi-faceted development is “gamification”, which refers to the use of design principles and features from games in the design of information systems, processes, and services.
Gamification’s popularity stems from the notion that games are a pinnacle form of hedonic information systems and thus are particularly effective in invoking intrinsic motivation and experiences such as autonomy, mastery, flow, immersion, relatedness and overall enjoyment. Across industries, marketers, designers and developers are thus using gamification as a design approach when engineering digital products and services with the purpose of inducing gameful experiences, influencing human motivation and even change behavior in various contexts.
This course
- teaches the key concepts, design patterns, and approaches of motivational, hedonic (i.e. games and video games), social and gamified information systems.
- offers deep insights into advanced concepts and theoretical foundations of game design, motivational psychology, and information system design.
- introduces methods and frameworks for designing gamified systems and managing gamification projects.
- discusses latest research findings and the potential impact of gamification on society, economy and everyday life.
Course Overview
Capstone Project
The course is complemented with a practical design project, where students in a team select and apply design methods & techniques in order to create a prototype of a gamified / hedonic information system. Within this project, the students can apply knowledge and skills acquired in this lecture and their studies in a challenging context.
EELISA
In the winter semester, this course is offered as part of the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA – https://eelisa.eu). Thus, we have reserved seats for EELISA students. The EELISA cooperation will give the lecture an even more international setting and allow FAU students to collaborate in their projects with interdisciplinary students from all over Europe. Further, the course will have an adapted scope, focussing on engineering and the gamification of fields, such as mobility, production, cities, logistics, and technologies.
Learning Objectives and Skills
The students gain knowledge in understanding the underlying design principles of gamified and hedonic information systems and can analyze and discuss such systems. The students learn state-of-the-art methods, techniques, and tools for successfully conducting gamification projects and can select and apply them. The students can train their creativity, their prototyping skills as well as improve their collaboration and presentation skills.
Tutorials
The sessions are accompanied by tutorials, where students can learn the basics of developing games in Unity3D, as well as discuss current challenges in the implementation of their projects.
Prerequisites
Profound English skills are required. Further, creativity, experience in software design, user experience, prototyping, and software engineering are helpful. All participating students should be motivated to work in an international and interdisciplinary group on a challenging topic.
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser
Guest lecturers:
Alexander Satanowsky – Head of in-Car Gaming – Mercedes-Benz AG
Georgina Guillén-Hanson – Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group
Dr. Michael Reinhardt & Nicolas Butterwegge – OpenIT Studio – Siemens Healthineers
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Tutor
Course details
Lecture + Capstone Project, 4 SWS, ECTS-Credits: 5
Dates
Thursday, 13:15-16:30 , Zoom-Meeting
Module compatibility
Master International Information Systems (from 2018/19): Module in the section Information Systems – Architectures & Development (Elective)
Master International Information Systems (from 2016/17): Module in the section Information Systems – Extension Courses (Elective)
Master Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen (Elective)
Master Elektrotechnik-Elektronik-Informationstechnik (Elective)
Master Information and Communication Technology (Elective)
EELISA students please contact: eelisa@fau.de
ECTS
Credits: 5
Registration
30. August 2021, 14:00 – 08. October 2021, 12:00 via StudOn.
Additional information
More details on course updates, materials, technical requirements, and other information will be announced in StudOn.
Keywords: Gamification, Interactive Information Systems, HCI, Customer Engagement, Social Computing, Hedonic Systems, Games
Exergames (MA)

This course follows a challenged-based learning approaches and deals with the theory, design, and development of games for health, prevention, therapy and rehabilitation. In few sessions the course provides theoretical game-design and gamification foundations. Then the students start to work in small groups to realize working exergames.
The theoretical introduction include:
– Gamification and Game-Design foundations
– Social and motivation psychology
– Introduction on games for health, Exergames and Cyber Rehabilitation
Exemplary project themes could be:
– Location-based exergames that combine AR technologies with, sports and POIs in real world
– Designing gameful approaches for patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment, dementia, or depression
– Designing gamified nature-based therapy approaches
– VR supported rehabilitation procedures for patients with motor impairments
The course is designed in an interactive format. Based on initial discussions, students research, design, develop, and evaluate innovative gameful solutions in small groups following user-centered design and agile software engineering principles. Intermediate presentations of the project group members take place at regular intervals.
After participating in the module, students
- can explain the application of Serious Games and Exergames in the context of health.
- are able to understand the technical and theoretical foundations of interdisciplinary interfaces between games and health.
- are able to apply this basic knowledge to conceptualize methodical solutions and empirical studies with various tools.
- are able to interpret empirical findings from the literature in this field.
- they are able to apply game technologies for use cases in health, create applications, and collect empirical data based on learned methods.
- can implement software development projects in practice-oriented contexts.
- can apply fundamental project management principles, organize themselves in groups, work toward specific goals and consider relevant stakeholder needs.
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Daniel Roth (Human-Centered Computing and Extended Reality)
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser (Assistant Professorship of Information Systems – Gamification)
Course details
Lecture + Open Lab Sessions, 4 SWS, ECTS-Credits: 5
Dates
Thursday, 10:15-11:45 , EL 4.14, Building 11501.04.222, Cauerstraße 9, Turm A, 91058 Erlangen.
Module compatibility
Master International Information Systems (from 2018/19): Module in the section Information Systems – Architectures & Development (Elective)
Master International Information Systems (from 2016/17): Module in the section Information Systems – Extension Courses (Elective)
Master Medical Engineering (Medizintechnik)
Master Computer Science (Informatik)
ECTS
Credits: 5
Registration
01. September 2022 – 20. October 2022, 12:00 via StudOn.
Additional information
More details on course updates, materials, technical requirements, and other information will be announced in StudOn.
Designing Gamified Systems (MA)

Seats are limited. Register now via StudOn!

Driven by the rising popularity of digital games, technology, business and society are increasingly influenced and penetrated by games and trends of the gaming industry. One of the probably most important phenomena of this multi-faceted development is “gamification”, which refers to the use of design principles and features from games in the design of information systems, processes, and services.
Gamification’s popularity stems from the notion that games are a pinnacle form of hedonic information systems and thus are particularly effective in invoking intrinsic motivation and experiences such as autonomy, mastery, flow, immersion, relatedness and overall enjoyment. Across industries, marketers, designers and developers are thus using gamification as a design approach when engineering digital products and services with the purpose of inducing gameful experiences, influencing human motivation and even change behavior in various contexts.
This course
- teaches the key concepts, design patterns, and approaches of motivational, hedonic (i.e. games and video games), social and gamified information systems.
- offers deep insights into advanced concepts and theoretical foundations of game design, motivational psychology, and information system design.
- introduces methods and frameworks for designing gamified systems and managing gamification projects.
- discusses latest research findings and the potential impact of gamification on society, economy and everyday life.
Course Overview
Capstone Project
The course is complemented with a practical design project, where students in a team select and apply design methods & techniques in order to create a prototype of a gamified / hedonic information system. Within this project, the students can apply knowledge and skills acquired in this lecture and their studies in a challenging context.
EELISA
This course is offered as part of the European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance (EELISA – https://eelisa.eu). The EELISA cooperation will give the lecture an even more international setting and allow FAU students to collaborate in their projects with interdisciplinary students from all over Europe.
Learning Objectives and Skills
The students gain knowledge in understanding the underlying design principles of gamified and hedonic information systems and can analyze and discuss such systems. The students learn state-of-the-art methods, techniques, and tools for successfully conducting gamification projects and can select and apply them. The students can train their creativity, their prototyping skills as well as improve their collaboration and presentation skills.
Tutorials
The sessions are accompanied by tutorials, where students can learn the basics of developing games in Unity3D, as well as discuss current challenges in the implementation of their projects.
Prerequisites
Profound English skills are required. Further, creativity, experience in software design, user experience, prototyping, and software engineering are helpful. All participating students should be motivated to work in an international and interdisciplinary group on a challenging topic.
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser
Tutors
Sandra Birnstiel (Unity3D and programming support)
Lisa Nguyen (Advice on psychological theories and study design)
Partners and guest lecturers in summer semester 2023:
Breathment (Baturay Yalvac, COO)
University Hospital Erlangen (Sandra Jeleazcov, CEO SFB1181)
Gamification Group, Tampere, Finland
Georgina Guillén-Hanson – Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Daniel Fernández Galeote – Game Designer and Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Dr. Velvet Spors – Researcher on Gamification of Mental Health
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Course details
Lecture + Capstone Project, 4 SWS, ECTS-Credits: 5
Dates
Wednesday, 09:45-13:00, LG 4.156
Module compatibility
WF IIS-MA 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF IIS-MA 2 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF IIS-MA 3 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF IIS-MA 4 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF WING-MA ab 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF ICT-MA ab 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF EEI-MA ab 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
ECTS
Credits: 5
Registration
Starts on 25. Februar 2023, 14:00 via StudOn.
Additional information
More details on course updates, materials, technical requirements, and other information will be announced in StudOn.
Keywords: Gamification, Interactive Information Systems, HCI, Customer Engagement, Social Computing, Hedonic Systems, Games
Inspiration of previous semesters
Summer semester 2022
Capstone project topic:
Design and investigate a novel digital gamification solution for your favorite team sports in order to increase the athlete’s training experience and the social dynamics within teams.
Focus:
Gamification, team sports, collaboration, training, augmented reality, health
Partners and guest lecturers:
Burkhard Dümler – Director Program & Projects IT Innovation, adidas AG
Georgina Guillén-Hanson – Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Daniel Fernández Galeote – Game Designer and Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
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Winter semester 2021/2022
Capstone project topic:
Design of an innovative game or gamification approach at the intersection of gaming, mobility and space technology, which improve life on earth or travel in space.
Focus:
Gamification, crowdsourcing, satellite techonology, mobility, augmented reality
Event:
Billionaires start space tourism
Guest lecturers:
Alexander Satanowsky – Head of in-Car Gaming – Mercedes-Benz AG
Georgina Guillén-Hanson – Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Daniel Fernández Galeote – Game Designer and Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Dr. Michael Reinhardt – Head of OpenIT Studio – Siemens Healthineers
Nicolas Butterwegge – IT Strategy Manager – Siemens Healthineers
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Summer semester 2021
Capstone project challenge:
Design of an innovative game or gamification approach in which sports, gaming, and mobility meet as part of an unforgettable mixed-reality experience for potential visitors of the 2022 Olympic Asian Games in China, Hangzhou.
Focus:
eSports, sports, augmented reality, mobility, gamification
Event:
Asian games announced to have eSports as official discipline
Guest lecturers:
Alexander Satanowsky – Head of in-Car Gaming – Mercedes-Benz AG
Georgina Guillén-Hanson – Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
Daniel Fernández Galeote – Game Designer and Researcher on Gamifying Sustainable Consumption – Gamification Group Finland
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