Index
CUBEness

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.

reHAND

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:
reHAND − Cyber Rehabilitation for hand injuries
Team: D. Braun, E. Alekseenko, V. Rincon, A. Patoary
Abstract: The human hands have a complex structure. Hand injuries, therefore, have a significant negative impact on multiple life aspects. This project presents a Virtual Reality (VR) Exergame to help medical practitioners receive information on improvement rates and make exercising more attractive to patients. The game has been developed in Unity 3D game engine for the HTC VIVE Focus 3. The reHAND system performs an error calculation of the user’s hand movements and then provides feedback on the accuracy with which a user can perform an exercise. While playing, a user should protect their garden from the angry jealous neighbor, who throws trash in it. Accordingly, the patient performs certain hand movements to break thrown objects. Further, reHAND covers such motivational affordances as points (intrinsic game score), levels, and storytelling.
GitLab Repository: https://gitos.rrze.fau.de/hex-teaching-2021/exergames/exergames-group-3
Designing Gamified Systems (MA)


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
Tutor
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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Publications

Peer-reviewed publications
2023
Is adaptive gamification just a theoretical fairytale? An experiment in a text-based adventure game for data crowdsourcing
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) (Maui, Hawaii, 3. January 2023 - 6. January 2023)
In: Proceedings of the 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) 2023
DOI: 10125/102768
URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/102768
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2022
Understanding human factors in the metaverse - an autonomous driving experiment
European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) (Timișoara)
In: ECIS 2022 Research-in-Progress Papers 2022
URL: https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2022_rip/37
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Designing gamification for sustainable employee behavior: Insights on employee motivations, design features and gamification elements
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2022 (HICSS 2022) (Maui, HI, 3. January 2022 - 7. January 2022)
In: Tung X. Bui (ed.): Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2022
DOI: 10.24251/HICSS.2022.198
URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/79530
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Gamifying sustainable behavior at work: Results from an experiment with a corporate gamification app
30th International Conference on Information Systems Development (ISD2022) (Cluj-Napoca)
In: R. A. Buchmann, G. C. Silaghi, D. Bufnea, V. Niculescu, G. Czibula, C. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (ed.): Information Systems Development: Artificial Intelligence for Information Systems Development and Operations 2022
URL: https://aisel.aisnet.org/isd2014/proceedings2022/usability/3/
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Gamification of cooperation: A framework, literature review and future research agenda
In: International Journal of Information Management 67 (2022)
ISSN: 0268-4012
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102549
URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401222000834
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What do games teach us about designing effective human-AI cooperation? - A systematic literature review and thematic synthesis on design patterns of non-player characters
GamiFIN Conference 2022 (Tampere, FI, 26. April 2022 - 29. April 2022)
In: Mila Bujić, Jonna Koivisto, Juho Hamari (ed.): Proceedings of the 6th International GamiFIN Conference 2022
Open Access: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3147/paper10.pdf
URL: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3147/paper10.pdf
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2020
How game features give rise to altruism and collective action? Implications for cultivating cooperation by gamification
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2020 (HICSS 2020) (Maui, HI, 7. January 2020 - 10. January 2020)
In: Tung X. Bui (ed.): Proceedings of the 53rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2020
DOI: 10.24251/hicss.2020.086
URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/63825
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2019
Is it a tool or a toy? How user’s conception of a system’s purpose affects their experience and use
In: International Journal of Information Management 49 (2019), p. 461−474
ISSN: 0268-4012
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.07.016
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011167971
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The gamification of work: Lessons from crowdsourcing
In: Journal of Management Inquiry 28 (2019), p. 145−148
ISSN: 1056-4926
DOI: 10.1177/1056492618790921
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201911216163
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Cooperation or competition – When do people contribute more? A field experiment on gamification of crowdsourcing
In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 127 (2019), p. 7−24
ISSN: 1071-5819
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.10.001
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202011167972
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2018
First-hand experience of why gamification projects fail and what could be done about it
GamiFIN Conference 2018 (Pori, 21. May 2018 - 23. May 2018)
In: Jonna Koivisto, Juho Hamari (ed.): Proceedings of the 2nd International GamiFIN Conference 2018
Open Access: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2186/paper17.pdf
URL: http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2186/paper17.pdf
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How to design gamification? A method for engineering gamified software
In: Information and Software Technology 95 (2018), p. 219−237
ISSN: 0950-5849
DOI: 10.1016/j.infsof.2017.10.015
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201911216151
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2017
The gamification of crowdsourcing systems: Empirical investigations and design (Dissertation, 2017)
URL: https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000074115/5503157
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Gamified crowdsourcing: Conceptualization, literature review, and future agenda
In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 106 (2017), p. 26−43
ISSN: 1071-5819
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.04.005
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201911216147
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How to gamify? A method for designing gamification
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2017 (HICSS 2017) (Big Island, HI, 3. January 2017 - 7. January 2017)
In: Tung X. Bui, R. H. Sprague Jr. (ed.): Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2017
DOI: 10.24251/HICSS.2017.155
URL: https://hdl.handle.net/10125/41308
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Gamifizierung mit BPMN
In: Susanne Strahringer, Christian Leyh (ed.): Gamification und Serious Games: Grundlagen, Vorgehen und Anwendungen, Wiesbaden: Springer Vieweg, 2017, p. 31−42 (Edition HMD)
ISBN: 9783658167417
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-16742-4_3
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Designing cooperative gamification: Conceptualization and prototypical implementation
CSCW '17: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (Portland, Oregon, 25. February 2017 - 1. March 2017)
In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing 2017
DOI: 10.1145/2998181.2998272
URL: https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/17445
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How games induce cooperation? A study on the relationship between game features and we-intentions in an augmented reality game
In: Computers in Human Behavior 77 (2017), p. 169−183
ISSN: 0747-5632
DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.026
URL: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201911216148
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2016
Gamification in crowdsourcing: A review
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2016 (HICSS 2016) (Kauai, HI, 5. January 2016 - 8. January 2016)
In: Ralph H. Sprague Jr., Tung X. Bui (ed.): Proceedings of the 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2016
DOI: 10.1109/HICSS.2016.543
URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7427729
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2015
Outsourcing: Die Standardisierung gewinnt an Relevanz
In: Wilhelm Niehoff, Stefan Hirschmann (ed.): Aspekte einer effizienten Bankorganisation, die-bank, 2015, p. 98–103
ISBN: 9783865564276
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Increasing intranet usage through gamification – Insights from an experiment in the banking industry
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2015 (HICSS 2015) (Kauai, HI, 5. January 2015 - 8. January 2015)
In: Tung X. Bui, Ralph H. Sprague Jr. (ed.): Proceedings of the 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2015
DOI: 10.1109/HICSS.2015.83
URL: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:29-opus4-178761
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Gamifizierung mit BPMN
In: HMD : Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik 52 (2015), p. 840−850
ISSN: 1436-3011
DOI: 10.1365/s40702-015-0188-3
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2014
Interaction and reflection with quantified self and gamification: An experimental study
In: The Journal of Literacy and Technology 15 (2014), p. 136−156
ISSN: 1535-0975
Open Access: http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/uploads/1/3/6/8/136889/vr.pdf
URL: http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/uploads/1/3/6/8/136889/vr.pdf
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Banking 2020 - zwischen Individualisierung und Standardisierung.
2014
ISBN: 978-3-033-04538-5
URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benedikt-Morschheuser/publication/263444216_Banking_2020_-_zwischen_Individualisierung_und_Standardisierung/links/57c411cc08aee50192e87ce2/Banking-2020-zwischen-Individualisierung-und-Standardisierung.pdf
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2013
Gamifying quantified self approaches for learning: An experiment with the Live-Interest-Meter
The PLE Conference 2013: Learning and Diversity in the Cities of the Future (Berlin, 10. July 2013 - 12. July 2013)
In: Ilona Buchem, Graham Attwell, Gemma Tur (ed.): Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Personal Learning Environments 2013
Open Access: http://pleconf.org/2013/files/2014/10/v5.0_PLE_Conference2013_ResearchReport_BeuthUniversity_MonashUniversity.pdf
URL: http://pleconf.org/2013/files/2014/10/v5.0_PLE_Conference2013_ResearchReport_BeuthUniversity_MonashUniversity.pdf
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Patents
- Method for providing information regarding parking spots (Property Right: DE102015211051A1)
Inventor(s):
Open positions

You are 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
We are seeking two PhD students (m/f/d) for research on gaming in mobility
In cooperation with our gamification research group at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), CARIAD SE is seeking two PhD students (m/f/d) for research on gaming in mobility:
PhD position 1: Exploring the demographic, cultural, social, and psychological factors of gaming in mobility (m/f/d):
In this role, you will empirically investigate the demographic, cultural, social, and psychological characteristics of potential users of digital games in cars and mobility services through an international cross-sectional study. Further, the project conducts a systematic literature review and experiments to examine relevant design patterns of such solutions.
Apply here: https://cariad.technology/de/en/careers/jobdetail.jobid3751.html
PhD position 2: My car is my studio: Motivating, designing, and understanding gameful solutions for digital content creation in mobility (m/f/d):
In this role, you will investigate how the creator economy could use cars to generate and share virtual goods (e.g. as NFTs), which socio-psychological uses and gratifications could be satisfied with digital mobility-based content creation, and how such innovation can shape the future of mobility, in-car entertainment, and value creation.
Apply here: https://cariad.technology/de/en/careers/jobdetail.jobid3781.html
Both candidates will be employed at CARIAD SE as doctoral students and supervised by Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, as well as Dr. Steffen P. Walz, Dr. Stefan Mayer and further colleagues at CARIAD.
If you have any questions regarding these two PhD positions, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Dr. Benedikt Morschheuser via email or contact form.
Further, 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.
External Researchers
We are open to external doctoral candidates who would like to join our team. If you are interested please check the WISO and FAU guidelines for external PhD students. When all criteria are met, please contact us!
Research Assistants
The start-up of a chair for gamification and digital customer engagement offers space for a wide range of tasks. Are you a student at FAU and interested? Please write us an email with a résumé, an overview of grades and a summary of your skills, your motivation and areas of interest.
Current Job Offers
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Offers of Partners
Currently, no job offer.