Gamification: A new paradigm for online user engagement

The trend of employing game mechanisms and techniques in non-game contexts, gamification, has dramatically increased in recent years. Gamification can be viewed as a new paradigm for enhancing brand awareness and loyalty, innovation, and online user engagement. With the novelty and potential of gamification, until now there is limited understanding and research in this area. Particularly, previous literature falls short in explaining the antecedents of engagement, the mechanisms, and the impacts of gamification. Hence, in this study, we attempt to achieve three objectives. First, we provide an initial review of concepts and example cases related to gamification and summarize sample applications based on their objectives, design elements, rewards, and outcomes. Second, we articulate potential theories that can be extended to understand the motivations, design mechanisms, and impacts of gamification. Last, we provide directions for future research in this area by outlining salient research questions on various aspects of gamification.