Study on the Potential of Videogames for Motivating People to Pursue Their Own Goals

Abstract

This document describes an experiment to learn more about the potential of videogames to motivate people to pursue their goals. Motivation is important for academic attainment, self-regulated learning, and to live a fulfilling life. Additionally, large amounts of research suggest videogames can teach about diverse topics and motivate people to pursue game related goals. In this experiment, 54 people filled a survey created to measure their motivation levels towards a certain medium-term goal of their own. Then, they were divided into two groups of 27. One was introduced to the videogame Habitica and told to play it at least every two days for two weeks. The other was left alone. After two weeks, both groups filled the survey again. Despite having similar scores initially, at the end, control group scores had decreased significantly more than those from the other, suggesting Habitica was able to motivate players to achieve their goals.