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The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale Gustavo F The Gamification User Types Hexad Scale Gustavo F. Tondello1, Rina R. Wehbe1, Lisa Diamond2, Marc Busch2, Andrzej Marczewski3, Lennart E. Nacke1 1 HCI Games Group, Games Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada 2 AIT – Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna, Austria 3 Gamified UK, New Haw, Surrey, England [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT Personalizing gameful systems to each user is important Several studies have indicated the need for personalizing because personalized interactive systems are more effective gamified systems to users’ personalities. However, mapping than one-size-fits-all approaches. Gameful systems are ef- user personality onto design elements is difficult. Hexad is fective when they help users achieve their goals, which a gamification user types model that attempts this mapping often involve educating them about certain topics, support- but lacks a standard procedure to assess user preferences. ing them in attitude or behaviour change, or engaging them Therefore, we created a 24-items survey response scale to in specific topics [9]. The efficacy of personalization ac- score users’ preferences towards the six different motiva- cording to the user’s personality traits has been shown in tions in the Hexad framework. We used internal and test- user interface design [33], persuasive technology [24,25], retest reliability analysis, as well as factor analysis, to vali- and games [1,34,35]. As a consequence, we believe that date this new scale. Further analysis revealed significant personalized gameful systems will be more engaging if they associations of the Hexad user types with the Big Five per- adapt to personality traits or player types [14,15]. sonality traits. In addition, a correlation analysis confirmed the framework’s validity as a measure of user preference Bartle’s player typology for Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) towards different game design elements. This scale instru- [3] is popularly used in gamification. However, it was cre- ment contributes to games user research because it enables ated specifically for MUDs and it should not be generalized accurate measures of user preference in gamification. to other game genres nor to gameful design. To address this problem, Marczewski developed the Gamification User Author Keywords Types Hexad framework [27], based on research on human Gamification; Gameful Design; User Types; Hexad. motivation, player types, and practical design experience. ACM Classification Keywords He also suggested different game design elements that may H.1.2. User/Machine Systems: Human Factors. support different user types [28]. However, we still lack a standard assessment protocol for user’s preferences based INTRODUCTION on the Hexad framework. There is also no empirical valida- Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game tion, yet, that associates Hexad user types and game design contexts [12], has been operationalised to increase user en- elements. In this paper, we address these two gaps. gagement, activity, and enjoyment. Studies have shown that gamification can lead to positive behavioural changes; Our work contributes to the field of gameful design1 in hu- however, we currently do not understand the factors influ- man-computer interaction (HCI) with two related goals. encing user motivation in gamification. For example, Firstly, we propose and validate a survey measure for scor- Hamari et al. identified confounding factors such as the role ing user’s preferences towards different game design ele- of the context being gamified and the qualities of the users ments according to the Hexad framework. The questions [17]. To better understand user motivation and to personal- were contributed by experts in scale development, game ize the experience in gameful systems to each user, we pro- design, and HCI. We conducted an initial validation with pose a scale for preference assessment in gamification. 133 people, which confirmed the survey scale’s reliability is within the acceptable limits. Next, we analyzed the corre- Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for lations between the participants’ scores in each of the Hex- personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are ad user types with their scores on each Big Five personality not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for com- trait as measured by the BFI-10 [38]. Positive correlations ponents of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. were found for the pairs in which the theoretical back- Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to ground suggested them, which also contributes to validate post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission both the Hexad framework itself and the new survey scale. and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. CHI PLAY '16, October 16 - 19, 2016, Austin, TX, USA Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to 1 In this paper, we refer to gamification and gameful design indistinctively ACM. because they frame the same extension of phenomena through different ACM 978-1-4503-4456-2/16/10…$15.00 intentional properties [12]. Thus, the Hexad model can be used for both. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2967934.2968082 Secondly, we evaluate the potential of the Hexad frame- Conscientiousness is related to thought and organization; work as a model to personalize user experience (UX) in Extraversion or outgoing personality and Agreeableness gameful systems. We asked participants to score their pref- referring to the qualities associated with the person’s rela- erences regarding 32 design elements commonly employed tion to others; and finally, Neuroticism or level of self- in gameful design and analyzed their correlations with each security and confidence. We used a short, ten-questions of the Hexad user types. Overall, positive correlations were version of the Big Five survey scale (BFI-10, [38]). found between the Hexad user types and the corresponding Johnson and Gardner [22] have previously studied the rela- game design elements, confirming the usefulness of the tionship between the Big Five personality traits and the Hexad model to personalize gameful systems. fulfillment of psychological needs in video games. They RELATED WORK found positive correlations between agreeableness and Understanding an individual’s personality is a multifaceted competence; and openness to experience and autonomy; as endeavour. Theories of behaviour and personality are often well as a negative correlation between emotional stability employed to understand user behaviour and preferences in and presence. Yee et al. [45] studied how personality traits interactive systems because they provide some insight into affect player behaviour in World of Warcraft. They related motivating factors. Especially, Self-Determination Theory extraversion with the preference for group activities, agree- (SDT) [10,40] provides the theoretical background for the ableness with more frequent use of emotes and preference Hexad model concerning the expression of both intrinsic for non-combat activities, conscientiousness with the and extrinsic motivation. Thus, the Hexad user types are enjoyment of disciplined collections in non-combat set- expressions of these distinct motivating factors. tings, neuroticism with a preference for Player vs. Player Motivation activities, and openness with curiosity-driven gameplay, Within HCI research, the principles of SDT [10,40–42] are such as creating new characters or exploring the game often used as an explanation to provide insights into world. Jia et al. [21] studied the correlation between the Big behaviour motivation. SDT suggests that individual motiva- Five personality traits and individual gamification af- tion to engage in a task can be located within a range of fordance elements. They found positive correlations of ex- different grades of internalization. In a simplified model, traversion with points, levels, and leaderboards; agreeable- motivation can be intrinsic, i.e., afforded by the individual’s ness with challenges; and conscientiousness with levels and perception of a task as enjoyable by itself, or extrinsic, i.e., progress; as well as negative correlations of emotional sta- afforded by factors outside of the task, such as expected bility (the opposite of neuroticism) with points, badges, outcomes that may result from completing the task. progress, and rewards; and openness with avatars. Intrinsic motivation is supported in SDT by three compo- The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) nents. Competence marks the feeling of having the skills [36] is also often used in scale validation to evaluate peo- needed to accomplish the task at hand. Autonomy means the ple’s tendency to bias their self-reported answers in a so- more in control of a situation a person feels, the more likely cially desirable way. The BIDR measures two constructs: they are to succeed. Finally, relatedness is the feeling of self-deceptive enhancement (SDE), or the tendency to give involvement with others. Additional work in the field by reports that are honest but positively biased, and impression Ryan et al. [39] notes the importance of these three pillars management (IM), or the tendency to deliberately
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