Thesis by: Markus Wesemann
Advisor: Gudrun Klinker
Supervision by: Andreas Dippon
Due date: 2017/03/15
Information security is important in today's society, knowing simple aspects about this field is crucial for better awareness. The problem today is the lacking knowledge on these security aspects, which often leads to misunderstanding or wrong usage. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the possibility of combining gamification and information security in a game-based concept, in order to improve the user knowledge in specific aspects. For this the theoretical fields of gamification and information security will be observed, to get a better understanding in combining both areas. Based on this a game concept about information security is defined and a prototype is implemented in order to prove the assumption. A conducted final user study with 32 participants from different age and profession areas proves the assumption of game-based learning. The results showed that an improvement is possible, but in general lower than expected often because people did not understand what the benefit of some game elements were. The assumption of lacking feedback and motivating elements in the game is made from feedback on the user study and could be improved in further research. The work in this thesis should be interesting for people in both computer science or educational fields.
This work describes the possibility of combining gamification elements in the fields of information security. The goal of this thesis was to prove if it is possible to increase the knowledge in different security aspects with a game-based concept. In order to understand how a game-based learning approach is possible, the theory behind gamification is analyzed. Based on the knowledge about important game elements in gamification, a concept was developed and then evaluated in a user study.
The game was implemented in Unity3D and published as a WebGL game, in order to implement it in the online survey. The game was separated in five important elements, the context system, shop system, contract system, secure system and menu handler:
To prove the statement of the thesis a online user study with the game was conducted. For this a survey was designed which ask the user to answer some personal and technical questions with a point system to evaluate the answers to the technical part. The technical questions are asked two times, one time before the game session and again after it, to compare the outcome in order to evaluate the improvement. So the task for the user is to answer some personal questions for group evaluation, then answer technical questions about information security. After the technical part, the user plays the game for 15 minutes. Every participant only has 15 minutes playtime, the survey continues automatically after that. The final part is answering the same technical questions again, with the gained knowledge of the game.
The game itself logs every action the player does, in order to see possible correlations and which elements have a positive effect and which a negative or no effect at all.
Positive Result:
Negative Result:
Overall the user study had a good outcome to prove that it is possible to learn different aspects with a game-based concept.
For the short time only a early alpha concept could be developed and tested, but with more time and a more detailed concept the overall result could be much better:
Game Architecture | |||
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Architecture diagram | AM-System class diagram | Menu flow automat | Player use-case |
Final Game | |||
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Office Scene | Conttract Detail View | Shop Item Detail View | Secure Start Menu |
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Install Stage | Tweak View | Item Experience | Contract Result |
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Shop Menu | Contract Menu | ||
User Study | |||
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User study subjects | User study results |
Game Engine: Unity3D Engine
User Study Software: Limesurvey
Gamification Book: K. M. Kapp. The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-based Methods and Strategies for Training and Education. John Wiley & Sons, 2012