How to provide competitors in educational gamification: The roles of competitor level and autonomous choice

Competition, a common gamification element, has been widely utilized in educational gamification systems. However, the effects of competition on learning vary widely, and little is known about the conditions under which competition produces optimal effectiveness. This study focused on the effects of competitor level (how well or badly competitors perform) and corresponding autonomous choice (whether learners can choose competitors with different performance independently) on learning and identified whether the autonomous choice would moderate the effect of competitor level. In this study, we conducted a 2 (competitor level: high or low) × 2 (autonomous choice of competitor level: autonomous or non-autonomous) between-subjects design and recruited 190 college students. The results revealed that lower competitor level led to more positive emotions, less negative emotions, and stronger competence need satisfaction when learners did not conduct autonomous choices. Analogously, the autonomous choice was conducive to emotions (more positive emotions and less negative emotions) and competence need satisfaction for participants who competed with high-level competitors. Overall, lower competitor level and autonomous choice contributed to stronger autonomy need satisfaction and motivation. Moreover, autonomous choice of competitor level, rather than competitor level per se, could improve learning performance. These results confirmed the positive roles of low-level competitors and autonomous choice, which inspired us to provide learners the opportunity to choose the level of competitors before considering providing low-level competitors.