In this section
@inproceedings{Lissillour:2026:10.1145/3772318.3791849,
author = {Lissillour, O and Deterding, S and Evans, A},
doi = {10.1145/3772318.3791849},
publisher = {ACM},
title = {What’s the Point? How Users Functionalise Points in Gamified Systems},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791849},
year = {2026}
}
TY - CPAPER
AB - Points are widely used design elements in gamified systems. Yet how they motivate is still unclear: what motivational meaning or functional significance do users ascribe to points and when? To answer this question, we conducted a semi-structured interview study with 27 users of two popular gamified platforms, Duolingo and Habitica. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we constructed six different types of functionalisation variously proposed in prior gamification and personal informatics work but often not empirically supported. We highlight the importance of functional design detail (such as points should proportionally reward effort) and derive design guidelines.
AU - Lissillour,O
AU - Deterding,S
AU - Evans,A
DO - 10.1145/3772318.3791849
PB - ACM
PY - 2026///
TI - What’s the Point? How Users Functionalise Points in Gamified Systems
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3791849
ER -
Dyson School of Design Engineering
Imperial College London
25 Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
SW7 2DB
design.engineering@imperial.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7594 8888