Gamifying citizen science

Abstract

Citizen science projects increasingly incorporate the motivational affordances of games. However, the different user groups that gamified citizen science projects may attract are poorly understood. This project examines how two user groups, nature participants and gamer participants, experience Floracaching, a gamified mobile application for citizen science. Both groups enjoyed Floracaching, and were motivated by discovery, education, and social interaction; both were also motivated by competition, but in different ways. Gamer participants desired guidance while nature participants preferred autonomy. Nature participants saw the inherent value in the app; gamer participants needed to understand how the app could be integrated with their other life activities.