Effect of Gamification on Gamers: Evaluating Interventions for Students Who Game the System

Gaming the system is a persistent problem in Computer-Based Learning Platforms. While substantial
progress has been made in identifying and understanding such behaviors, effective interventions remain
scarce. This study uses a method of causal moderation known as Fully Latent Principal Stratification to
explore the impact of two types of interventions – gamification and manipulation of assistance access –
on the learning outcomes of students who tend to game the system. The results indicate that gamification
does not consistently mitigate these negative behaviors. One gamified condition had a consistently
positive effect on learning regardless of students’ propensity to game the system, whereas the other had a
negative effect on gamers. However, delaying access to hints and feedback may have a positive effect on
the learning outcomes of those gaming the system. This paper also illustrates the potential for integrating
detection and causal methodologies within educational data mining to evaluate effective responses to detected
behaviors.