Index

Since the science-fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” in his novel Snow Crash, a portmanteau of “meta” (Greek for beyond) and “universe”, people have been dreaming of realizing his vision of a virtual reality-based three-dimensional (3D) successor to the Internet, in which people interact with each other, virtual agents and objects in the form of avatars. This virtual universe is envisioned to exist in parallel to reality, has its own economy, culture, organizations, rules, and laws, and, similar to the Internet, is considered to be an open, distributed, and collectively created space where anyone can become a content creator and can shape this collectively created virtual world.

Driven by recent cultural and societal developments − such as the increasing popularity of digital games and the acceptance of remote collaboration − as well as technological advances − such as AR and VR, 5G, blockchain technologies, cloud computing, streaming technologies, or artificial intelligence − various big technology companies have started developing platforms from which a potential metaverse could emerge soon. Metaverse-like platforms such as Roblox, Fortnite Creative, The Sandbox, VR Chat, Meta Horizon Worlds, and Minecraft are already attracting millions of users to design and jointly experience virtual worlds.

This seminar aims to understand how the metaverse may shape the future of research, education, business, healthcare, and society as well as what current and future challenges the topic entails. In this seminar, students explore the ongoing scientific discourse on the topic and strive to understand what socio-technological trends may support the further development of the metaverse. To this end, the students create immersive 3D content on popular and emerging metaverse-like platforms and investigate relevant research questions related to the topic in empirical studies. The seminar is positioned at the intersection of Information Systems and Human-Computer Interaction and strives to create knowledge by implementing and evaluating prototypes, interactive experiments, and case studies.

This project seminar applies a research-based learning approach, in which students learn how to read and understand scientific papers, develop, and evaluate hypotheses by using scientific methods, and think critically and creatively. Students learn how to solve scientific problems, challenges, and dilemmas. Further, the course trains skills for communicating in the field of science through writing and discussion and thus prepares writing a master thesis.

Prerequisites

Profound English skills are required. Further, creativity, experience in software design, user experience, prototyping, and software engineering are very helpful.

All participating students should be motivated to work in an international and interdisciplinary group on a challenging topic.

In-depth game design knowledge, e.g. from participation in the course Designing Gamified Systems, is helpful and recommended.

Most of our projects require knowledge of software development. Willingnes to code is a prerequisite to participate in this course.

Topics

In the winter semester of 2024, we will be offering topics related to:

– INFLAMMANIA 3D – The Inflammation World: Several topics related to how we could use Roblox games as a media in medical education and science communication (see: https://gamification.rw.fau.eu/courses/student-projects/inflammania-3d/)

– PRIME – Privacy in the Metaverse (see: https://gamification.rw.fau.eu/research-gamification-and-digital-customer-engagement/research-projects/)

– Industrial Metaverse – Understanding the potential of the metaverse to increase situational awareness in dynamic decisions

– Metaverse meets Healthcare – Designing and understanding solutions for including the virtual self in transformative healthcare

Method of examination

Seminar paper and presentation

Lecturers

Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser

Tutors

Runjie Xie & Jonathan Stief (Roblox development)

Course details

Block lectures + Group work + Seminar Project

ECTS-Credits: 5 as team project, 10 as individual project (by arrangement)

Dates

Announced in StudOn and Campo

Registration

Via the official IIS seminar registration process.
Link to StudOn: https://www.studon.fau.de/crs5986405_join.html

Seats are limited.

Additional information

More details on the seminar, materials, technical requirements, and other information will be announced in StudOn.

Keywords: Metaverse, Interactive Information Systems, HCI, Web3, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Gamification, Games

In collaboration with STABILO International GmbH, we developed a text-based adventure for the STABILO DigiPen. STABILO Dungeon is a gamified crowdsourcing approach that aims to engage people in writing words with the IoT device Digipen, a classic ballpoint pen equipped with sensors to detect movement and pressure of a person’s handwriting. The aim of this project is to collect handwriting data for further developing the Digipen’s machine learning algorithms.

The core game mechanism of STABILO Dungeon is primarily driven by a narrative: At predefined points in the game, the player controlling the protagonist can decide the story’s progression by writing down an actionable activity on standard paper. The possible activities are a set of pre-defined actions in the game, which makes it easy for the DigiPen to recognise the handwritten word and thus to further train the handwriting recognition.

While the benefits and potential of gamification have been consistently demonstrated in various research, it is crucial to acknowledge that gamification approaches are not always effective and vary in their success, possibly because standard gamification concepts such as one-size-fits-all (OSFA) approaches commonly lack the consideration of the diversity of users. However, with adaptive gamification, this issue can be addressed by adapting the system to the individual user’s preferences.

Between January and May 2022, the experiment was presented on two consecutive weekends at JOSEPHS, an open-innovation laboratory in the city-centre of Nuremberg, as well as at the “Long Night of the Sciences” in Nuremberg. In total, the study resulted in a collection of 8,563 crowdsourced handwritten words. 135 participants completed the experiment by playing the game as well as filling out two questionnaires which measured the players’ enjoyment and intention for future play, amongst others.

The public-service radio and television broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk released a short video in German showcasing the experiment as well as the DigiPen as part of the Frankenschau at 28.02.2022.

For more details, see: https://www.br.de/mediathek/video/erste-testlaeufe-intelligenter-stift-digitalisiert-handschrift-av:621d14290b569700085cde93

We thank Jens Barth, Tim Hamann and Peter Kaempf of STABILO International GmbH for the exciting collaboration.

The study was presented as a conference paper at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2023  in January 2023. Please see the paper for full details:

Weber, M., Riar, M., & Morschheuser, B. (2023). Is adaptive gamification just a theoretical fairytale? An experiment in a text-based adventure game for data crowdsourcing. In Proceedings of the 56th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Maui, HI, USA, pp. 1126-1136. DOI: https://doi.org/10125/102768

Challenge: In recent years, exploring space has become a trending topic again. Various private organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, or Virgin Galactic and government organizations from the USA, China, India, Europe, or Russia compete for supremacy in space. Besides the exploration of new dimensions, this trend paths the way for innovations that will also change our life on earth. For example, an increasing number of satellites orbiting our earth, offer new possibilities for earth observation and high-speed internet anywhere on earth. This offers new challenges and opportunities, which can be tackled with approaches from game design and gamification. Thus, the task of this semester’s course on Designing Gamified Systems was to:

Design an innovative game or gamification approach in which gaming, space technology and mobility meets in order to either A) improving life on earth or B) improving life in space.

Date: Winter semester 2021

Lecture: Designing Gamified Systems

Result: 

CUBEness

Team: Heschu Qarani, Jonathan Stief, Sherwet Galal, Cem Karatasan, Gerrit Sußner

Abstract:

The interest in space is constantly increasing: From space agencies planning longer projects, such as NASAs’ Artemis mission, to private companies such as SpaceX planning to put humans on Mars. Overall, the private sector of space tourism is projected to reach a total of US$1.7 Billion by 2027. The market will expand much further in the future, with long-term missions becoming increasingly frequent.
Yet these long-term missions pose significant strains on both the human body and the mind. First among them is the deterioration of muscles, muscle atrophy, and the cardiovascular system through microgravity. These effects are so severe that even short missions (< 30 days) can cause a muscle volume loss of 5.5 to 15.9 percent. In order to combat these effects, most space agencies employ in-flight exercises of about 2.5 hours six days a week. Secondly, space missions represent the “perfect boring situation” and can invoke mental health issues.
Our VR solution addresses both aspects equally, as it gamifies the required exercise to avoid physical consequences, as well as challenge the players mentally and provides opportunities for experiencing social relatedness. For this, it uses both state-of-the-art VR equipment, as well as a Teslasuit, to not only make the experience feel even more immersive through haptic feedback, as well as the possibility to enhance training effects. The main game consists of resource collection during the exercise and a base-building type game in the phases between workouts. Both take place in VR.
In order to overcome the dullness of the monotonous environment, the game features a story putting the players in a scenario in 2075, where Mars has been colonized, and it is now their shared mission to defend and extend the colony. However, players need to collect resources through exercise to repair and build further modules, which is conducted within the VR game.
In the story mode, they are guided through their exercise by story-related messages, collecting resources while traversing the base and the landscapes of Mars. As voluntariness represents an important point in the acceptance of gamified approaches, however, players also have the option to avoid the story. While exercising, they collect resources by swiping them to the side with their controller. From the collected resources they then have the possibility to build three different types of buildings: (1) shelter domes, which set the defense for the whole colony, (2) windmills, which produce electricity for the colony, (3) greenhouses, which produce oxygen. To increase complexity, create fun, and challenge players mentally, the electricity and oxygen stats must match the shelter, or the colony will be dysfunctional, and the defense will receive a debuff. Players will have to ready their bases for increasingly difficult challenges, such as further alien attacks, sand storms, and similar difficulties that life on Mars would bring. This aims to create a long-time engagement in the player, relying on the immersion and social interaction between the crewmates of the space mission to defend their shared colony.

We use a Teslasuit, a smart textile two-piece full bodysuit, to make the experience immersive and interactive. The suit provides haptic feedback, captures motion and biometric functions. Further, a full-body haptic feedback system is built into the suit with 80 electrostimulation channels, which could be used to provide instant feedback on the players’ performance within the game. It can be functionalized in response to motion capture comparison at any time. No additional equipment will be need. The approach may be used with existing training equipment in space stations such as the ISS.

 

Challenge: The use of digital technologies in rehabilitation processes is constantly increasing. In particular, studies show the advantages of telemedical assistance systems in rehabilitation and aftercare. Such cyber rehabilitation can support patients individually and at home. The aim of the project is to develop an gamified solution for assisting and motivating patients in hand rehabilitation.

Automate rehabilitation procedures with gameful simulations and make it accessible (at home)

Date: Winter semester 2021/2022

Lecture: Exergames

Result: 

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 in which students in a team select and apply design methods as well as techniques in order to create a prototype of a gamified or 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) to 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 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)

Dr. Jeanine Kirchner-Krath (Advice on psychological theories and study design)

Partners and guest lecturers in summer semester 2024:

Project partners:

Dr. Jens Barth − Head of Software Solutions at STABILO International GmbH
Dr. Christine Anstätt − Senior Manager Innovation Projects at adidas AG
Pascal K. Whiba − Entrepreneur Digital Health (Exergaming.org)
Ralf Nickel − Schön Klinik, München
Dr. Kathrin Fuhrmann − Head of the Green Office at FAU

Guest lecturers:

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 (Gamification Group Finland)

Course details

Lecture + Capstone Project, 4 SWS, ECTS-Credits: 5

Dates

Thursday, 09:45-13:00, LG 0.424

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 from 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF ICT-MA from 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)
WF EEI-MA from 1 (ECTS-Credits: 5)

ECTS

Credits: 5

Registration

Starts on 2024 February 25, 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 2023

Capstone project topics:

• Design a strategy game in which the players take over the role of the immune system, make strategic decisions in order to win and learn more about the role of the protein IL-33 and how the immune system is using inflammations to eliminate attackers (for instance, bacteria) and set repair mechanisms in motion.
• Design a cooperative gameful simulation in Roblox in which the players take over the role of the immune system of a patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) in the novel and revolutionary CAR T-cell therapy developed as part of this FAU research project
• Design a gamification approach that engages patients with lung diseases (e.g. Asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD) to participate in an app-based breath training for 20 days by using gamification elements to invoke competence satisfaction and an unique “game feel”.
• Design a gamification approach that engages patients with lung diseases (e.g. Asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD) to participate in an app-based breath training for at least 20 days by using a theme or narratives as a core games mechanic.

Focus:
Gamification, Heath, Science Communication, Games

Partners and guest lecturers:

Baturay Yalvac − COO (Breathment)
Sandra Jeleazcov − CEO SFB1181 (University Hospital Erlangen)
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 (Gamification Group Finland)

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)

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)

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)

Peer-reviewed publications

Patents

Are you interested in conducting research in the field of gamification, games, digital customer experience, eCommerce, crowdsourcing, AR/VR, Metaverse, eSports, Human-Computer Interaction, new media …?

Please take a look at our job offers or send us an unsolicited application:

Researchers

Thanks for your interest in joining our research group. We currently have no open vacancies. However, we are always interested in getting in contact with talented and motivated researchers who want to become part of our research group. We offer support in writing an application for international doctoral programs, e.g. in cooperation with the Finnish Gamification Group, as well as PhD scholarships.

For experienced researchers we offer support in writing an application for the attractive Marie Skłodowska-Curie scholarships from the European Union and other scholarship programs.

Research Assistants

We are constantly looking for research assistants who would like to support our research and teaching. Are you a student at FAU and interested in joining our team as a researcher assistant? Please send us an email with a CV, a summary of your grades and a overview of your skills and areas of interest.

Current Job Offers

Offers of Partners

Currently, no job offer.

We create impactful scientific knowledge about the ongoing penetration of society, technology, economy and everyday life with digital games and emerging phenomena of the gaming industry in order to better understand these developments and to support society and organizations in solving problems in a ‘gameful’ way

Selection of our research fields and interests:

Gaming meets Product & Service Design

• Designing gamified information systems
• Motivational design
• Game design patterns
• Game thinking
• Gamified crowdsourcing and co-creation
• Personalized gamification
• Gamification of future mobility and transportation (e.g. in-car gaming)

Gaming meets Marketing & Sales

• Digital customer engagement
• Customer steering in the omni-channel
• Loyalty programs
• Virtual goods and commerce in the Metaverse
• Customer insights, gamers/players as customers

Gaming meets Work & Collaboration

• Gamification in technology-mediated collaboration e.g. crowdsourcing, remote work
• Gamification for creativity and ingenuity
• Serious and educational games
• Gamification in organizational transformation initiatives
• Human-AI teaming and collaboration
• Work and education in the “Metaverse”
• Gamifying sustainable behavior at work

Gaming meets Sports & Health

• Gamification of exercise, sports & quantified-self
• Virtual and augmented reality in sports
• Location-based games
• eSports
• Gamification in corporate health
• Gamification of prevention, therapy and rehabilitation

Gaming meets Society and Culture

• Inclusive and accessible games and gamification
• Ethics of gamification
• Gamification to prevent and counter radicalization and extremism
• Data Privacy in the Metaverse
• Understanding the creator economy