Best Practice Free-to-Play: Game Mechanics Impact on Gamification of Higher Education

Abstract: This thesis investigates the game mechanics utilized in popular free-to-play games and how these mechanics can be used within a gamified system to attempt to affect student retention at higher educational institutes. Free-to-play has become a highly popular revenue model within the game development industry due its ability to attract a larger player base.Several games were chosen for analysis and a game design document was created based upon the findings within this analysis. An application was then developed and used in a case study to evaluate the design. Results found that implementing successful mechanics into a gamified system could positively affect the motivational levels of students.