SCOPE

Gamification can be defined as the use of game-design elements in non-game contexts in order to foster user satisfaction and, consequently, engage and motivate users to progress. At the same time Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) appeared as cloud computing platforms acting as a set of remote services and software development kits, allowing developers to connect their Web and mobile applications to validated services. The combination of gamification and those backend platforms has given rise to the appearance of game backend as a service platforms (GBaaS). This new type of backend platforms aims to deliver powerful real-time tools and services to be used, primarily, in games and, nowadays, with the evolution of gamification, are starting to being used for other domains such as medicine, marketing and education. Despite the tremendous success of gamification, this interesting shift unveils several issues regarding the design and implementation of gamification services. This process is still created from scratch and based on ad hoc methodologies. In fact, neither standards, specifications or frameworks regulate this hot topic.

This Special Issue tries to fill the gap between the evolution of BaaS in the cloud realm and the unregulated growth of game services. We invite designers, developers and users of gamification systems and services to present results of their work, share new trends, methodologies and best practices for the design and implementation of gamification services in the cloud context.

Topics

Application of software-based gamification to novel areas
Best practices for Gamification UI standardization
Big data and gamification
Conceptual/technical frameworks for implementing gamification in SW
Coordination of gamification services
Game data standardization
Gamification as a Service (both provider and user perspectives)
Gamification Backend as a Service
Models and architectures for gamified software systems
New concepts and techniques in gamification design and development
Open-source gamification tools and libraries
Procedures for user-testing of the gamification component
Reports on development and evaluation of innovative gamified software
Serious games for health and well-being
Player behavior modelling

This Special Issue is a follow-up of the 1st International Workshop on Cloud Gamification held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud 2018) 6–8 August, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. We invite both the authors who participated in the workshop to submit extended versions of their papers presented there as well as other authors with new contributions to this topic. Please note that the extended versions of conference papers must include a minimum of 30% of new content.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 850 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Dr. Ricardo Queirós
Dr. Jakub Swacha
Prof. Robertas Damaševičius
Guest Editors