A Systematic Mapping Study: How Can UX Design Be Adapted to Improve the Design of Meaningful Gamified Solutions?

A meaningful gamified solution design is not limited to the use of points and rewards, but rather focuses on the intrinsic motivations for a more engaging user experience. Furthermore, the implementation of this concept is subject to difficulties given the lack of unified, effective, and efficient tools that are integrated into a process that covers the life cycle of a product or a service. Indeed, the existing gamification frameworks are limited to guidelines and recommendations that set up game elements for specific needs and contexts. However, the methods and the best practices that can lead to a meaningful gamified solution still cannot be concluded. Moreover, the user experience is currently a fundamental concept that has changed the focus on the processes of a generation of products and services; putting the user at the center of the design process. The main objective of this paper is to study the relevance of adapting or adopting UX design elements to improve the design of gamified products. To this end, a systematic mapping of the literature was carried out with a selection of 77 articles published between 2010 and March 2021. The results obtained enabled the identification of the adaptation or adoption proposals related to the following three levels: (1) UX design process and framework, (2) UX design process phases, in particular the phase of understanding the user need and usability testing, and (3) user’s research tools such as the persona, the journey map, and the questionnaire. The adaptation of these design elements was not systematic and depended on the context of the study.