Be Mindful of User Preferences: An Explorative Study on Game Design Elements in Mindfulness Applications

Mindfulness practices are valuable exercises for physical and mental health. Various digital applications exist that support individuals in practicing mindfulness. Following the trend of gamifying utilitarian systems, many mindfulness applications (MAs) incorporate game design elements (GDEs). However, little is known about users’ GDE preferences in this unique context. In line with extant research that investigated users’ GDE preferences in other contexts, we conducted an online survey among 168 potential users of MAs. The results indicate that users generally prefer progress, levels, and goals in MAs, while leaderboards and avatars are not highly rated. Furthermore, we identified four context-independent and three context-dependent rationales that help explain users’ GDE preferences. By providing first insights into MAs as a peculiar application context for gamification, our work contributes to advancing knowledge of contextual differences in users’ GDE preferences while challenging the extant research assumptions regarding the dominance of contextual factors in forming user preferences.