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Bahman Huseynli, Aypar Uslu: A Qualitative Study on the Definition And Concept of Gamification

Huotari and Hamari (2012) and Deterding et al. (2011a), in contrast, did not think of
gamification as a full-fledged game, but instead suggested that the focus should be on
the user experience, regardless of the final product. Therefore, Huotari and Hamari
(2012) defined gamification as “the process of developing a service for gamified
experiences to support the total value creation of users”.

Domínguez et al. (2013) defined gamification as “incorporating game elements into
a non-game software application to enhance user experience and engagement”.
Burke (2014) defines gamification as “the use of game mechanics and experience
design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals”.

JD Supra Buzz's business consultant has developed a glossary where he defines the
term gamification as “a business strategy that applies game design techniques to non-
game experiences to drive user behavior” (Pierce, 2014). The Wall Street Journal
identified the most important disruptive technology trends in 2014 (Burris, 2014) and
defined gamification as “a challenging, fast-moving trend of using advanced
simulations and skill-based learning systems to provide a self-identifying, interactive,
game-like, and competitive, immersive user experience”. Werbach (2014) defined
gamification as “the process of integrating game features into business websites and
making business activities more gamified to engage and bond with customers”.

Gamification has tried to be defined both theoretically and practically. Gamification
refers to service design that aims to provide users with game-like experiences, usually
with the ultimate goal of influencing user behavior (Huotari and Hamari, 2012). In
another approach, gamification can also be defined as a tool used to solve problems
or achieve organizational goals (Buckley and Doyle, 2017).

Definitions of Gamification
Five years after the definition of gamification research by Deterding et al. (2011),
Vermeulen et al. (2015) began to discuss the maturation of gamification as an
academic research object.
According to Seaborn and Fels (2015), gamification is used to define two concepts:

1) Creation or use of a game in any non-entertainment contexts and/or purposes;
2) Turning an existing system into a game.
3)
Current research considers gamification as a service or process that can take place in
three or more consecutive stages (Hamari, Koivisto, and Sarsa, 2014; Helmefalk,
2019):

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