Introducing GAMUT - A Game-based Assessment for Measuring User Types: Evaluation of Game Design for Satisfying Psychological Needs to Enhance User Engagement and Flow

Despite the growing relevance of game-based assessment in higher education, many approaches lack theoretical grounding and motivational design. This study introduces GAMUT, a theory-driven game-based assessment that embeds user type assessment into interactive, narrative gameplay. Based on the Self-System Model of Motivational Development and the Hexad model, GAMUT incorporates achievement, social, and immersion game elements to satisfy the core psychological needs: competence, autonomy, relatedness. Implemented as a mobile adventure simulation, it transforms the Hexad scale into decision-based scenarios for authentic self-assessment. Empirical evaluation with higher education students shows that social and immersive game elements significantly promoted autonomy, competence and relatedness, enhancing engagement and flow. Achievement game elements had limited effects, emphasizing the need for context-sensitive game design. GAMUT achieved an 85% accuracy rate in user type classification and was preferred over traditional questionnaires. These findings offer a systematic, motivational GBA approach, contributing to assessment validity, learner engagement and self-directed learning.