Océane Lissillour

University of York

I started my journey as an undergrad in psychology specialising in ergonomics. It was here that I realised that I could study video games for a living. I then moved to the south of France to undertake my dream MSc in technological innovation and cognitive psychology where I got to work in collaboration with researchers of the CLLE, a laboratory branch of the national research centre. This helped me develop my knowledge and awareness of video games and motivational processes. Afterwards, I moved on to work in Aeronautics for a brief time but came back to academia in 2024 to join the wonderful iGGI community as a postgraduate researcher.

A description of Océane's research:

My research focuses on the act of taking a regular activity and ‘gamifying’ it by applying mechanics commonly found inside video games (such as points). This technique has been widely applied within research but its psychological aspects have seldom been studied. The aim of this thesis is to assess the efficacy and applicability of this technique, particularly the score element mechanic. It focuses on understanding the functionalisation of numerical values in games as this has not been studied previously in the literature.

This research hopes to contribute to the better understanding of the impact of the design of points on motivation and behaviour. It has been proposed in precedent literature that the use of gamification will provide a partial solution to the critical decline in learners’ motivation and engagement the schooling system faces today.