Engineering software-based motivation: A persona-based approach

Software-based motivation refers to the use of technology to enhance the engagement and efficiency of people in performing tasks and following a certain behaviour. Instances of such paradigm include gamification, persuasive technology and entertainment computing. Despite its potential, an ad-hoc introduction of software-based motivation to a business environment may lead to detrimental effects such as creating pressure and tension, and also reducing quality and authenticity. Hence, we advocate the need for a systematic engineering process to develop software solutions for motivation requirements. One of the challenges is in the high diversity in users' perception and acceptance of motivation strategies and their software-based incarnations. In this paper, we propose the use of personas as an intermediate step which increases efficiency in the engineering process for both engineers and users. We conduct an empirical research and identify elements which describe people with regard to their perception and preferences towards software-based motivational techniques and create a set of exemplary personas to aid the engineering process. We also present guidelines and challenges related to using persona-based engineering methods for software-based motivation.