**2. The concept of gamification so far**

When we refer to less structured game applications, which use some of the games' elements and features, such as rewards, for example, points, prizes, and leaderboards, we define the concept of gamification [17]. Gamification can be considered a subset of applied behavioral psychology because of its deep emphasis on motivation, feedback, progress, and reward, and is an integral part of any game, not necessarily digital [18]. Gamification is applied to many human activities, for example, health services, education, museum, and cultural heritage studies as it presents many advantages for behavioral change and learning [19, 20].

Designing gamification, especially for educational purposes is a complex process that requires the transdisciplinary collaboration of experts from the fields of psychology, pedagogy, game design, and programming [21]. The reason game elements are added to educational material is because they enhance social interaction and improve student performance by motivating them to participate in a learning activity that they would otherwise not engage in due to a tedious, demanding, or boring process [14, 21].

If the goal of educational activity is to learn skills that are valuable in everyday life (e.g., crossing streets), gamification-based rewards can be effective. During the learning process, learners are rewarded and when they apply the targeted skills in real situations, they recognize their value. Thus, the rewards will no longer be needed because learners will continue to practice the skills for their real benefit and not for the rewards. The risk arising from the use of rewards occurs when the goal is to create long-term changes in learner behavior. Although game designers introduce rewards to increase extrinsic motivation, it is preferable to leverage the structural elements of games to rise intrinsic motivation. That is, rewards should quickly be replaced by more substantial elements, such as narrative, plot, and freedom, to choose paths to explore and activities that are themselves mini-games and opportunities for reflection [22, 23]. This process is known as meaningful gamification. In educational environments, "meaningful gamification" is a learner-centered approach that incorporates elements of game design to develop learners' intrinsic motivation [24].

The term "meaningful" is based on Mezirow's [25] "transformational learning" model, where meaningful creation results from connecting educational activities to people's lives, providing them with a variety of experiences and ways of participating. The goal is to increase the chances for each person to find something meaningful in a game-like activity that satisfies their needs and interests. Transformative learning theory fits the principles of universal design for learning and transmedia learning, where learners access content through different media allowing them both to choose their preferred media and to evolve the narrative. The applications directly related to meaningful gamification are simulations.

While DGBL focuses on structural elements of games, such as rules and goals [26], gamification and simulation are based on unstructured game features that are about players' exploration, experiments, and actions within a virtual environment. This virtual environment provides a learning environment free from the pressure and negative consequences that can result from wrong choices [27].

*Introductory Chapter: Games, Gamification, and Ludification, Can They Be Combined? DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109101*

Mitgutsch [26] proposed the term digital play-based learning (DPBL) to describe the learning offered by a circular and nonlinear process of learning and relearning, combined with the unstructured dimension of the game experience. The most dynamic element of gaming activities, whether it is a game, a gamified application, or a simulation, is the experience of playing [14].
