Rewards
Reward systems play a central role in game design, but are by no means the primary means or focus of such an effort. One widely used means of reward systems are leaderboards. They added a social component to personal best scores (high scores). Other rewards include points, prizes, or awards (badges). No matter what type of reward you give, there are different viewpoints on how these rewards should be given:
1) Rewards should be easy to get in order to keep game players engaged in the game.
2) Rewards should not be easy to get and should not be tied to activities that are not rewarding in themselves.
1) Rewards should be easy to get in order to keep game players engaged in the game.
2) Rewards should not be easy to get and should not be tied to activities that are not rewarding in themselves.
(freely translated and paraphrased from Karl Kapp 2012, pp. 33-35)
Rewards are an important means of feedback. In the learning context, rewards can be given for special achievements or also provide feedback on having reached a certain milestone. Learn on the following pages which reward systems you can set up in which way with the learning platform ILIAS.Unmittelbares Feedback
Rewards that are directly related to an achievement, i.e. that directly follow the achievement of a goal, are particularly motivating. Such scenarios can be created especially with automatically evaluable tools. In games, for example, something like this becomes apparent when special items are obtained, or when the game character gains new skills.
Long-Term Rewards
However, rewards can also be set up for longer perspectives, for example, if they signal the achievement of an intermediate goal. For example, there might be an award for successfully completing a certain number of exercise sessions (silver medal). By holding out the prospect of another award (gold medal), one can additionally incentivize the achievement of further goals. Such rewards are often identified in the form of badges. Usually learners/players are aware that they can get such an award by achieving certain goals. Thus, they tend to be in the context of longer-term reward systems. In this chapter you will further learn how to implement reward systems with Badges, Points, and Rankings in ILIAS.
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