Improving The Process of Gamified Systems Development By Emphasising Usability

Gamification of various processes is gaining recognition as an effective means of increasing motivation, engagement, and satisfaction of people involved in activities not associated with games, such as education, healthcare, or work. Gamified processes do not have to be computerized, but if they are, the software systems used during them typically share a host of specific characteristics putting them on a separate shelf, typically as a subtype of information systems. This creates the demand for specialised development methodologies that would merge traditional software life cycle with gamification processes. On the other hand, it is known that the level of user participation, which is highly critical for gamified systems, depends significantly on the usability of the system. In this paper, we present a generalised gamified systems development methodology and its extended version that emphasises high usability of the final product. To achieve it, actions must be taken both during the requirements specification, when the game components and usability requirements can be chosen based on the parameters of the given gamification project, and during evaluation of intermediate or final results of the development.