Gamification for Mobile Crowdsourcing Applications: An Example from Flood Protection

In recent years, the application field of mobile crowdsourcing has developed and expanded. Mostly volunteers take on small tasks to reach a larger goal or solve a problem using a mobile device. Mobile crowdsourcing applications exist in many different areas and are also used in environmental protection and disaster control. One of the biggest challenges of mobile crowdsourcing is to win volunteers for a project and keep their motivation high in the long run. Gamification is a concept that is often used to increase motivation. It uses game-typical elements in non-game contexts to address different motivators. The application possibilities of Gamification are versatile and various application areas have not yet been developed. In this paper, the motives of volunteers in mobile crowdsourcing projects are analyzed and gamification as a possibility to increase motivation is investigated. In doing so, different game design elements are analyzed with regard to their motivational influences on motives of mobile crowdsourcing. Finally, the findings will be used to develop a concept for the gamification of a mobile crowdsourcing application.