Gamification and players profiling as an educational strategy within pharmaceutical technology

Gamification consists of applying typical elements of game playing to other areas of activity. This is used as a technique to encourage engagement and positive behaviours towards those situations. Gamification can be used to make certain fields appealing and attractive, taking advantage of people's psychological predisposition when playing games. This piece of work is focused on applying gamification within the scope of action of Pharmaceutical Technology University Teaching, hoping to define characteristics and criteria to be used to adapt gamification, as a teaching strategy, to students' profiles in order to encourage their dynamic participation when acquiring new abilities. Players' profiles were established following Richard Bartle's matrix, who identified 4 types of players and placed them on a matrix called SEKA: Socializer, Explorer, Killer, Achiever. For this purpose, a student survey was carried out and, considering the answers, it was possible to establish 4 player profiles classification. Certain game mechanics were laid down to be used ("Storytelling"): Already existing games or adjustments of known gaming mechanics and the creation of a new modus operandi. Work was focused on a specific gamification activity adapted for each type of player: Monopoly Killers, Trivial - Achievers, Pictionary - Socializer and Cluedo-Explorer. Possible causes of motivation for learning and acquiring new abilities were looked into from the perspective of intrinsic motivation instead of rewards from external sources. The method created to study intrinsic motivation was based on the concept of RAMP: Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. During this study it was noticed that the type of game selected by each student as best option for learning had direct correlation with the player profile they were given after the survey. In conclusion, the suggested player classification can be a useful tool to identify each individual's strengths and reinforcements. By taking under consideration the different player profiles, teachers can come up with activities that satisfy the majority of them or on the contrary strengthen a type of profile that is in a minority. The players' typology must be taken into account when designing games in order to be able to use them as gamification teaching tools.