The Impact of Game Elements on Learner Motivation: Influence of Initial Motivation and Player Profile

Several studies have been conducted in recent years into the effects of gamification on learner motivation. However, little is known about how learner profiles affect the impact of specific game elements. This article analyzes the effect of a gamified mathematic learning environment on the motivation and the motivated behaviors of 258 learners in secondary schools in France. Overall, results indicate that randomly assigned game elements generally demotivate learners. A more thorough analysis revealed that gamification has a positive impact on the most amotivated learners to do mathematic although different effects were observed on learners. In particular, we noticed significant influences of their initial level of motivation and their player type on the variation in motivation during the study. We show that these influences vary according to the game element they used. These findings suggest that to increase efficiency, gamification should be tailored not only to the player profile but also to their level of initial motivation for the learning task.