Gamification of museum experience through digital technologies

Abstract

The increasing diversity of digital technologies is transforming the visitor experience in contemporary museum spaces, as in many other areas. Museums have become multi- layered, experience-oriented spaces that connect digital and physical space with new media art, digitalization, and information communication technologies. The interactive nature of games offers methods to increase the user-oriented experience in museum spaces. This study aims to examine the gamification of museum experience with the support of digital technological tools. ATheAresearch holistically reveals the contributions of digital technologies to the gamification of museum experience through field research, observation, and literature review, using the cumulative case study method from qualitative research methods. For that purpose, the study discusses the digitalization process of museums with its historical stages and researches the relationship between museum experience and technology through a comprehensive literature review. Furthermore, gamification applications in museums have been examined with examples. AsAa result, the study concludes that inclusive, entertaining, interactive, and educational implementations encourage active participation using digital technologies such as digital sensory tools, location-based storytelling, crowd-sourced data, virtual galleries, accessible venues, and social networks gamify the museum experience.