Gamified Requirements Engineering: Model and Experimentation

Abstract

[Context & Motivation] Engaging stakeholders in requirements engineering (RE) influences the quality of the requirements and ultimately of the system to-be. Unfortunately, stakeholder engagement is often insufficient, leading to too few, low-quality requirements. [Question/problem] We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification to improve stakeholder engagement and ultimately performance in RE. We focus on agile requirements that are expressed as user stories and acceptance tests. [Principal ideas/results] We develop the gamified requirements engineering model (GREM) that relates gamification, stakeholder engagement, and RE performance. To evaluate GREM, we build an online gamified platform for requirements elicitation, and we report on a rigorous controlled experiment where two independent teams elicited requirements for the same system with and without gamification. The findings show that the performance of the treatment group is significantly higher, and their requirements are more numerous, have higher quality, and are more creative. [Contribution] The GREM model paves the way for further work in gamified RE. Our evaluation provides promising initial empirical insights, and leads us to the hypothesis that competitive game elements are advantageous for RE elicitation, while social game elements are favorable for RE phases where cooperation is demanded.