Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts such as learning, innovation, and business, has become one of the most significant techno-social trends of the last decade. It is used in numerous settings ranging from protein structuring to space research. Gamification integrates game elements to elicit a unique set of ‘gameful experiences’ and consequently enhances the overall value to the intended user. The focus of the current thesis is on gameful experience. A systematic literature review (SLR) undertaken as part of the thesis work highlighted that understanding the mechanism of gamification by examining gameful experience is an essential research requirement. So, this thesis focuses on the same through four interrelated studies.

Gameful experience, the collective embodiment of experiential outcomes, is central to gamification, yet there is little consensus on its conceptualization and constituents. Study one addressed this problem by synthesizing scholarly literature and consequently proposing a definition for the gameful experience. Thereafter, study two was conducted to understand the constituents of gameful experience through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with fourteen experienced gamification designers. Studies one and two identified flow as one of the key components of gameful experience; hence, to gain further insights on the mechanism, studies three and four focused on the role of flow in gamified learning. Through a within-subject experimental design, study three found that gamification influences learning engagement through flow by increasing learners' emotional and behavioral engagement. Thereafter, study four found that during gamified learning, flow is influenced by learners’ perceived autonomy, intrinsic motivation and introjected regulation through a paradoxical relationship.

The thesis contributes to the literature on gamification. It presents a definition and framework of gameful experience for practitioners as a ready reckoner and for researchers to enrich gamification studies further. The thesis brings evidence on the role of flow in gamification, recommends focusing on creating the flow for better learner engagement with the help of gamification, and suggests specific ways to achieve it.