MDA : A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

By Robin Hunicke, M. Leblanc, Robert Zubek. 2004

2,223 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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Citations in the corpus

From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification" (2011, methodology): “1): Interface design patterns [21]; game design patterns [7] or game mechanics [67]; design principles, heuristics or ‘lenses’ [62]; conceptual models of game design units [10,13,29,36]; game design methods and design processes [5,29].”
Gamification for Engaging Computer Science Students in Learning Activities: A Case Study (2014, background): “provoke emotional responses in players [13], [14].”
Calibration games: making calibration tasks enjoyable by adding motivating game elements (2011, background): “Most of these atoms are built on a formal game framework called MDA (mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics) [7].”
Dark patterns in the design of games (2013, background): “…a framework for understanding games and bridging the gap “between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research” [23], and Zagal et al. created an ontology “for describing, analyzing and studying games, by defining a hierarchy of concepts abstracted from an…”
Serious games and the gamification of tourism (2017, methodology): “Hunicke et al. (2004) define game mechanics as game tools which describe the specific components, which usually include achievements, collections, badges etc. Game dynamics connect the player with the system, such as the freedom of making choices, progression to the next level, team work or…”
The case for dynamic difficulty adjustment in games (2005, background): “framework (Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics) helps us accomplish this goal [7].”
Gamification Science, Its History and Future: Definitions and a Research Agenda (2018, background): “The fourth level is conceptual game models and describes the use of design methodologies, such as MDA, CEGE, challenge, fantasy, curiosity, and game design atoms (Brathwaite & Schreiber, 2008; Calvillo-Gámez, Cairns, & Cox, 2010; Fullerton, 2008; Hunicke et al., 2004).”
Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification (2015, methodology): “Specifically, our MDE framework is developed from an approach to design games that highlight the need to understand game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics (Hunicke et al., 2004).”
Using gamification to support learning English as a second language: a systematic review (2019, background): “Gamified learning environments apply game mechanics and dynamics (see Hunicke, LeBlanc, & Zubek, 2004; Werbach & Hunter, 2015; Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011) to non-game context to enhance learners ’ deep learning and critical thinking (Kapp, 2012) and to guide them follow specific behaviors…”
Serious games for higher education: a framework for reducing design complexity (2008, background): “There have been various efforts to produce co-ordinating frameworks for explaining and designing complex games (Hunicke et al. 2004; Salen & Zimmerman 2004; Björk & Holopainen 2005; Kiili 2005; Amory 2007).”
Between Level Up and Game Over: A Systematic Literature Review of Gamification in Education (2021, background): “The most studied is the MDE system (mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics) proposed by Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek [17].”
The Lens of Intrinsic Skill Atoms: A Method for Gameful Design (2015, background): “In game design, the emergent, systemic quality of game enjoyment has been formalized in the mechanics, dynamics, aesthetics (MDA) model (Hunicke, LeBlanc, & Zubek, 2004): A game’s mechanics —the rules specifying possible actions—form a sys-tem that players interact with, giving rise to…”
Toward Meaningful Engagement: A Framework for Design and Research of Gamified Information Systems (2017, background): “These have been described as the “run-time behavior of the mechanics acting on player inputs and each other’s outputs over time” (Hunicke et al. 2004, p. 2) and the “emergent behavior of both the game and the player during player-game interaction” (Ralph and Monu 2015, p. 5).”
Fundamental Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion (2005, background): “This has also led to suggestions that games are actually more like artefacts than media [15].”
Development and validation of the player experience inventory: A scale to measure player experiences at the level of functional and psychosocial consequences (2020, background): “However, there is agreement that player experience is a complex, multi-dimensional construct IJsselsteijn et al. (2007), perhaps even a multi-paradigmatic construct.”
Classifying Serious Games: The G/P/S Model (2011, background): “After a review of these “genre-based” classification systems, studies like Letourneux (2005) and Apperley (2006) highlighted their flaws, and called for a new approach to video game classification.”
Procedural Content Generation via Machine Learning (PCGML) (2017, background): “A useful high-level formal model for understanding games as dynamic systems that create experiences is the Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics (MDA) framework by Hunicke et al. [89].”