Abstract
Gamification has recently emerged as a strategy for applying game elements and techniques in non-game contexts to improve the user engagement, motivation, and learning. It includes key elements, such as progress bars, badges, levels, and rewards that can be applied on any type of application or website to enhance the learning experience of users. In this study, we examine the gamification design issues in the context of Arabic interfaces and focus on design considerations that are specific to language and cultures of educational software. Gamification elements in a selected sample of Arabic applications have been examined and classified based on an evaluation framework for gamification adapted from previous studies. And because gamification is an emerging strategy, the focus in the related literature is on its application in different contexts and on the anticipated outcomes of gamification. As far as the literature has been reviewed, not much research has been conducted to analyze the design, logic and dynamics of gamification elements. Our study comes to fill this gap by studying these aspects of applied gamification elements. We will discuss and investigate the characteristics and media types that are used to produce/present these elements and the logic and dynamics that are associated to each element, based on a proposed framework. Also, we will investigate the applied use of gamification elements in number of Arabic applications by utilizing the aforementioned framework. Furthermore, we will suggest guidelines for the design and application of gamification elements in Arabic applications based on Arabic cultural markers, Arabic multimedia design guidelines, and current trends in multimedia, driven by our observations on the Arabic gamification applications.