Build Through Play: How Engaging Mechanics Benefit Productivity

This paper, presented at DiGRA 2020 by researchers at Abertay University, argues that engaging game mechanics can enhance creativity and productivity, and that enjoyment is a meaningful driver of users' willingness to build, plan, and solve problems. The authors contend that sandbox and educational games share a design challenge: they must offer freedom while maintaining constraints, and their most successful examples succeed through intuitive, enjoyable mechanics. The central hypothesis is that providing a toolset people enjoy increases their ability to create, a claim the authors seek to test through analysis of three popular games and a Virtual Reality drawing prototype called Reality Works.

The analysis draws on Minecraft's block-building systems, which have been integrated into classroom teaching in over 115 countries and applied to mathematics, geography, science, and art; Halo 5's Forge mode, which has produced millions of user-generated content pieces and introduces scripting and triggers; and Trials Evolution and Trials Fusion, whose level editors and marketplace include more than 180,000 user-created tracks. The paper also draws on prior research, citing findings that workplace fun relates positively to job performance and creative output, and that serious games have improved engineering students' ability to apply theoretical knowledge. Its evidence is largely drawn from secondary literature and observed examples rather than original empirical data.

The scope spans educational, military, engineering, and workplace contexts, with a focus on how game mechanics can be transferred to real-world productivity tasks. The authors frame flow, self-determination, and ordered challenge progression as mechanisms that motivate sustained effort. They acknowledge that further research is underway to identify which specific mechanics most effectively stimulate productivity, and they position the VR prototype as an exploratory step toward recommendations for applying game technology to the working world.