Motivation is fundamental for user engagement in applications. In particular, in educational software systems, gamification is widely used to try to increase student performance and well-being, as it comprises motivational benefits. However, the effectiveness of gamification has sometimes been under question, since a variety of research experiments with the same gamification elements result in conflicting outcomes. Advancement in motivational psychology allows us to relate how perceptions are predictors of well-being and performance. With this purpose, relevant studies have been researched directing the user toward the desired outcomes, and a usability checklist has been developed to assess Motivational Information Systems. We then carried out an experiment from the perception questionnaires and the performance of the students to evaluate a particular gamification system in an educational context. The observed results from the field study have validated the applicability of the checklist, as the predictions were consistent with the literature.

Explicit motive dispositions are the psychological needs that drive the behavior and play a predictive role in the selection of the achievement goal. In the presence of situational incentive cues, the variables of explicit motive dispositions may arouse/suppress. Similar to these incentive cues, gamification elements (such as leaderboards, points, badges, etc.) offer motivational affordances that either increase or decrease performance and engagement depending on the agent’s perception. However, this similarity, and the effects of motivational affordances on the agent’s explicit motive disposition and the selection of subsequent achievement goals, have not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, the gamification elements (leaderboard and points) of the DRACO gamification system are redesigned to provoke explicit motive dispositions of the students. The results of the field study revealed that the experiment group had a significantly lower fear of failure and power motives (both hope and fear), fewer selections of performance-avoidance goals, and performed better based on theory exams and course grades compared to the control group. Consequently, it supports the hypothesis that gamification elements could provoke explicit motive dispositions and could affect the subsequent achievement goal selection, and the design of the gamification elements could be a determinant factor in this behavior change. Furthermore, this study contributes to a systematic Spanish translation of the UMS-3 questionnaire.