Psychological interventions of virtual gamification within academic intrinsic motivation: A systematic review

Background: Students constantly seek ways to improve productivity within academia. With the advancement of technology in the recent decade, virtual implementations may provide additional support for student productivity, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic with online learning. One of the virtual realms for motivation include gamification, which has potential as an effective tool to further bolster an individual's source of intrinsic motivation.

Methods: Qualitative and quantitative studies were extracted from APA PsycInfo, ProQuest, and IEEE for relevance to virtual gamification and intrinsic motivation. Studies were reviewed based on a pre-determined and piloted screening tool. Included studies were published between 1990 and 2020 in English within Asia, North America, or Europe. Only systematic reviews, randomized control trials (RCTs), meta-analysis, and grey literature were included. Study screening, extraction, and quality appraisals using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) were performed independently among two authors. Disagreements following reconciliation between two authors were settled by a third author. Heterogeneity in study designs, outcomes, and measurements precluded meta and statistical analyses; thus, a qualitative analysis of studies was provided.

Results: Based on the appraised articles, gamification improves intrinsic motivation through badges, social interactions, points, and leaderboards. Experimental studies also displayed a correlation between learning behaviour.

Conclusion: The data exhibited an increase in intrinsic motivation due to gamification features, which can be integrated within a virtual context to enhance motivation with potential for application towards online learning settings.