Page 44 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.81, # 1, 2024, pp. 40-50

• The first stage is mechanical: decisions, rules, and aesthetics to change non-
game contexts (Robson et al., 2015).

• The second stage is the psychological processes that mediate various
relationships (Hamari, Koivisto, and Sarsa, 2014; Dichev and Dicheva, 2017).

• The third stage is a domain-specific outcome or other context-specific
outcome, such as triggering a specific behavior (Cochoy and Hagberg, 2016).

Putting these three stages into context (Landers et al., 2018), although the ultimate
goal of a marketer is to increase sales, gamified marketing (mechanics) must evoke
positive emotions in consumers (means) and repeatedly motivate purchases
(outcomes) (Helmefalk and Marcusson, 2019).

Gamification differs from other parallel developments in several key ways:
1) Gamification, instead of providing direct hedonic experiences through audio-
visual content or economic incentives, as seen in loyalty marketing, generally
tries to provide experiences reminiscent of games (Huotari and Hamari, 2011;
2012).

2) Gamification tries to influence motivations rather than direct attitudes and/or
behavior as in persuasive technologies (Fogg, 2003; Oinas-Kukkonen and
Harjumaa, 2009).

3) Gamification means adding “gamefulness” to existing systems instead of
creating a completely new game, as is done in “serious games” (Deterding et
al., 2011c; Huotari and Hamari, 2012).

However, persuasive technologies also refer to interactive computer systems designed
to change user attitudes and/or behaviors (Fogg, 2003; Oinas-Kukkonen and
Harjumaa, 2009). Clearly, there is some overlap between gamification and persuasive
technology (Hamari and Koivisto, 2013). For example, some persuasion mechanisms,
such as feedback and rewards, can be considered similar to those used in gamification
(see Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa, 2008).

Depending on how we conceptualize the different approaches in persuasive design,
gamification can be seen as an overarching concept in the sense that it can be used in
various fields, or as a specific type of persuasive design within other approaches
(Hamari and Koivisto, 2013).

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