Researchers

Marim Ganaba

Master's Student and UX Researcher

Projects

Affective Evaluation of Games & Interactive Media

Applied Game Design for Non-Entertainment Systems

Gamification of Social Recruitment Applications

Games User Research

Interactive and Multi-Modal Experience Research Syndicate (IMMERSe)

SWaGUR: Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research

Developing and Analysing Adaptive, Enjoyable, and Engaging Human-Computer Interfaces

Publications

Year 2019

Gameful Design Heuristics: A Gamification Inspection Tool

@inproceedings{Tondello2019a,
author = {Tondello, Gustavo F. and Kappen, Dennis L. and Ganaba, Marim and Nacke, Lennart E.},
booktitle = {{Human-Computer Interaction. Perspectives on Design. Proceedings of HCI International 2019. LNCS 11566}},
publisher = {Springer},
title = {{Gameful Design Heuristics: A Gamification Inspection Tool}},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-22646-6_16}
}

Despite the emergence of many gameful design methodologies in the literature, there is a lack of methods to evaluate the resulting designs. Gameful design techniques aim to increase the user’s motivation to interact with a software, but there are presently no accepted guidelines on how to find out if this goal was achieved during the design phase of a project. This paper presents the Gameful Design Heuristics, a novel set of guidelines that facilitate a heuristic evaluation of gameful software, with a focus on the software’s potential to afford intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the user. First, we reviewed several gameful design methods to identify the most frequently employed dimensions of motivational affordances. Then, we devised a set of 28 gamification heuristics that can be used to rapidly evaluate a gameful system. Finally, we conducted a summative empirical evaluation study with five user experience professionals, which demonstrated that our heuristics can help the evaluators find more motivational issues in interactive systems than they would without the heuristics. The suggested method fulfills the need for evaluation tools specific to gameful design, which could help evaluators assess the potential user experience of a gameful application in the early phases of a project.

Year 2017

Defining Gamification Video

@inproceedings{stocco2017defining,
  title={Defining Gamification Video},
  author={Stocco, Melissa and Ganaba, Mariam and Tondello, Gustavo F and Nacke, Lennart E},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  pages={472--472},
  year={2017}
}

Gamification is an emerging field that has developed and become popularized in recent years. Since the field of gamification is relatively new, there has been debate and confusion over the definition of the term and its use. This showcase seeks to inform researchers, designers, as well as the public about gamification, its application, and its relevance to current landscape of technology and innovation. Gamification is primarily used to improve users' motivations and engagement with non-game tasks.

Year 2016

ABOVE WATER: An Educational Game for Anxiety

@inproceedings{Wehbe2016,
Abstract = {We present Above Water - a digital/physical hybrid game to inform people about the available strategies to cope with two types of Anxiety Disorders - Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. The game teaches players about existing treatments. This hybrid game is designed to inspire players to share their experiences and develop their own personal narrative. The document also outlines an assessment strategy to study the game and determine its effectiveness as a game for health. The game is designed to educate non-institutionalized individuals with clinical anxiety and panic disorder. Potential players may be diagnosed, seeking intervention information, or a supportive friend.},
Address = {Austin, TX, USA},
Author = {R. R. Wehbe, D. K. Watson, G. F. Tondello, M. Ganaba, M. Stocco, A. Lee, and L. E. Nacke},
Booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 annual symposium on computer-human interaction in play extended abstracts - chi play ea '16},
Doi = {10.1145/2968120.2971804},
File = {::},
Img = {http://hcigames.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/anxiety.jpg},
Keywords = {Game for Health, Psychology, Mental Health},
Publisher = {ACM},
Title = {ABOVE WATER: An Educational Game for Anxiety},
Url = {https://hcigames.com/download/above-water-educational-game-anxiety},
Year = {2016},

We present Above Water - a digital/physical hybrid game to inform people about the available strategies to cope with two types of Anxiety Disorders - Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. The game teaches players about existing treatments. This hybrid game is designed to inspire players to share their experiences and develop their own personal narrative. The document also outlines an assessment strategy to study the game and determine its effectiveness as a game for health. The game is designed to educate non-institutionalized individuals with clinical anxiety and panic disorder. Potential players may be diagnosed, seeking intervention information, or a supportive friend.

CLEVER: A Trivia and Strategy Game for Enterprise Knowledge Learning

@inproceedings{Elm2016a,
Abstract = {Knowledge management (KM) includes the acquisition, sharing, and dissemination of knowledge within a company. The problem with many enterprise KM systems is that they are complex and hardly used, because workers lack motivation to engage in a collaborative process of knowledge sharing and learning. To address this, we developed a gameful learning component of an enterprise KM system (KMS). Our game features an innovative combination of trivia and strategy elements, put together to afford motivation within a KMS. It can be played by employees in the same organization to foster collaborative knowledge exchange and learning.},
Address = {Austin, TX, USA},
Author = {D. Elm, G. F. Tondello, D. L. Kappen, M. Ganaba, M. Stocco, and L. E. Nacke},
Booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 annual symposium on computer-human interaction in play extended abstracts - chi play ea '16},
Doi = {10.1145/2968120.2987745},
File = {::},
Img = {http://hcigames.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/clever.jpg},
Keywords = {Gamification, knowledge management, gameful design.},
Publisher = {ACM},
Title = {CLEVER: A Trivia and Strategy Game for Enterprise Knowledge Learning},
Url = {https://hcigames.com/download/clever-trivia-strategy-game-enterprise-knowledge-learning},
Year = {2016},

Knowledge management (KM) includes the acquisition, sharing, and dissemination of knowledge within a company. The problem with many enterprise KM systems is that they are complex and hardly used, because workers lack motivation to engage in a collaborative process of knowledge sharing and learning. To address this, we developed a gameful learning component of an enterprise KM system (KMS). Our game features an innovative combination of trivia and strategy elements, put together to afford motivation within a KMS. It can be played by employees in the same organization to foster collaborative knowledge exchange and learning.

Heuristic Evaluation for Gameful Design

@inproceedings{Tondello2016a,
Abstract = {Despite the emergence of many gameful design methods in the literature, there is a lack of evaluation methods specific to gameful design. To address this gap, we present a new set of guidelines for heuristic evaluation of gameful design in interactive systems. First, we review several gameful design methods to identify the dimensions of motivational affordances most often employed. Then, we present a set of 28 gamification heuristics aimed at enabling experts to rapidly evaluate a gameful system. The resulting heuristics are a new method to evaluate user experience in gameful interactive systems.},
Address = {Austin, TX, USA},
Author = {G. F. Tondello, D. L. Kappen, E. D. Mekler, M. Ganaba, and L. E. Nacke},
Booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2016 annual symposium on computer-human interaction in play extended abstracts - chi play ea '16},
Doi = {10.1145/2968120.2987729},
File = {::},
Img = {http://hcigames.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ratings.png},
Keywords = {Heuristic Evaluation, Gamification, Gameful Design},
Publisher = {ACM},
Title = {Heuristic Evaluation for Gameful Design},
Url = {https://hcigames.com/download/heuristic-evaluation-for-gameful-design},
Year = {2016},

Despite the emergence of many gameful design methods in the literature, there is a lack of evaluation methods specific to gameful design. To address this gap, we present a new set of guidelines for heuristic evaluation of gameful design in interactive systems. First, we review several gameful design methods to identify the dimensions of motivational affordances most often employed. Then, we present a set of 28 gamification heuristics aimed at enabling experts to rapidly evaluate a gameful system. The resulting heuristics are a new method to evaluate user experience in gameful interactive systems.