Abstract
Conference Title: 2014 IEEE/ACM 7th International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC) Conference Start Date: 2014, Dec. 8 Conference End Date: 2014, Dec. 11 Conference Location: London, United Kingdom User feedback is crucial to improve software quality. For example, it can be used to identify missing features and clarify user trends and preferences for future improvement. However, obtaining user feedback is not a 'one-off' process which requires that developers need to gather user feedback in an on-going approach. The problem lies here: the majority of users are generally lack motivation and interest in providing feedback, especially in a constant and frequent style. Moreover, studies have noted that the cultural difference also plays a key role in software designs which will affect how users would like to feedback requests to be designed. In this paper, we advocate that gamification is a powerful technique to maximize users' motivation and change their reaction to feedback requests. We conducted an empirical study and identified some key differences between Western and Middle Eastern users on what motivated them to provide feedback and what could have an influence on the feedback they gave. This also makes the case for the need for a culture-aware gamification in the context of feedback acquisition process.