A Bird Matching Game: Difficulty, Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation

In this study the effects of several variables on intrinsic motivation and in-game progression are tested in a serious game that matches bird pictures to names. The first variables are ‘pointification’ rewards (badges and points) and educational rewards (learning materials and bird sounds). Finally, the effect of voluntarily increasing the difficulty of the game is investigated. The in-game analytics of 66 in game sessions are examined. In addition, the players Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) survey scores are calculated. The findings indicate that 'pointification' and educational rewards show no statistically significant difference in the in-game progression or IMI scores of players. Voluntarily increasing the difficulty is shown to increase the IMI scores of players. This study extends on the discussion of alternatives to 'pointification' and provides new insights on the optional difficulty systems in educational games.