What is intrinsic motivation?
The term “intrinsic motivation” refers to an inner drive to take an action for the sake of the activity itself, rather than to get a reward or avoid a punishment (“extrinsic motivation”). Students tend to enjoy learning and perform better when they are more intrinsically than extrinsically motivated to achieve (American Psychological Association, 2015).
Intrinsic motivation requires competence, autonomy, and relatedness
Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan developed a theory about intrinsic motivation that is now widely accepted. According to this theory, people are intrinsically motivated to pursue activities that let them experience competence, autonomy, and relatedness (Ryan and Deci, 2000).
Competence means being able to do an activity. Autonomy means being allowed to control your own actions. Relatedness means feeling connected to other people.
With these games, learners experience competence, because the wide selection allows an instructor to find games that match individual learners’ skill levels. Learners experience at least some autonomy, because they can control their own game play. And learners experience relatedness, because they are playing the games with another person. So learners have some intrinsic motivation to play these games.
All players get the chance to enjoy winning
Of course, many learners are also motivated to play games because they enjoy being the winner. A crucial part of the design of these games is that the winner in almost all of them is determined by random chance. Players are aware that the dice and cards, not their abilities, are the main reasons why they happen to win or lose.
This is important. With games that give an advantage to players at a higher skill level, every loss sends the losing player a negative message about her abilities. That doesn’t happen with these games.
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References
American Psychological Association, Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education. 2015. “Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK–12 Teaching and Learning.” Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/cpse/top-twenty-principles/pdf .
Ryan, Richard M., and Edward L. Deci. 2000. “Self-Determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development, and Well-Being.” American Psychologist 55(1): 68-78.
July 13, 2020