A product to gamify other products; implementing gamification in existing software

Abstract

Gamification is the incorporation of game elements in non-game contexts. Gamified products are created by including gamification as part of the original product design. However, how is it to implement gamification in already existing products? This paper investigates gamification designers' and developers' attitudes and opinions on implementing gamification for already existing software products. The data consist of interviews with a team of gamification developers and designers. This study shows that the practice of designing gamification for already existing software products differs from designing gamified software products from the beginning. This outcome indicates that there might be a need for a separation between “traditional” gamification - designing gamified software products from the beginning - and what can be referred to as generic gamification applied in existing software products.