What’s the point? How users functionalise points in gamified systems
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Lissillour, Océane
Deterding, Sebastian
Evans, Abigail
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Points are widely used design elements in gamified systems. Yet how they motivate is still unclear: what motivational meaning or functional significance do users ascribe to points and when? To answer this question, we conducted a semi-structured interview study with 27 users of two popular gamified platforms, Duolingo and Habitica. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we constructed six different types of functionalisation variously proposed in prior gamification and personal informatics work but often not empirically supported. We highlight the importance of functional design detail (such as points should proportionally reward effort) and derive design guidelines.
Date Issued
2026-04-13
Date Acceptance
2026-02-01
Citation
Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26), 2026, pp.1-17
ISBN
979-8-4007-2278-3
Publisher
ACM
Start Page
1
End Page
17
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26)
Copyright Statement
Subject to copyright. This paper is embargoed until publication. Once published the Version of Record (VoR) will be available on immediate open access.
License URL
Identifier
10.1145/3772318.3791849
Source
2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26),
Subjects
Motivation
Video Games
Duolingo
Functional Significance
Habitica
Points
Place of Publication
New York
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2026-04-13
Finish Date
2026-04-17
Coverage Spatial
Barcelona, Spain