Gamification techniques in tourism, application test, Casa Mosquera Museum

Las Tecnologias de la Informacion y las Comunicaciones [TIC] aplicadas al sector del turismo son un tema de gran  actualidad; su capacidad para agregar elementos de interaccion promueve la formacion de nuevos entornos en los museos y su renovacion. Este articulo presenta la experiencia del uso de un juego serio desarrollado para la Casa Museo Mosquera. Su aplicacion, a nivel piloto durante la Semana Santa de 2015, evidencio sus efectos positivos y entrego algunas lecciones para futuros desarrollos, tales como: este tipo de aplicaciones fomenta el aprendizaje y la recepcion de la informacion por parte de los visitantes al museo; los turistas recomiendan realizar este tipo de aplicaciones, tanto para otros museos, como para otros lugares historicos de la ciudad; las limitantes disminuyen la cantidad de personas que interactuan con la aplicacion, no tener Wi-Fi en las instalaciones de la Casa Museo, no permitio que mas usuarios interesados utilizaran la aplicacion y leyeran las etiquetas QR; es recomendable tener la aplicacion en una tienda de aplicaciones para facilitar su instalacion. La aplicacion tuvo gran acogida entre el personal del museo y los visitantes, dinamizo la visita y la mejoro, convirtiendola en una experiencia interactiva; este tipo de aplicaciones pueden revolucionar la industria del turismo en la medida en que se escalen a mas escenarios, porque ademas son muy llamativas para los visitantes; El mundo actual y su entorno tecnologico son un entorno ideal para la evolucion de la aplicacion de tecnicas de gamificacion, tanto en el turismo, como en otros aspectos de la vida cotidiana;  Los juegos son una experiencia tecnologica llamativa para todos los publicos y motivan a los visitantes a recomendar los sitios que visitan, gracias a las buenas experiencias que representan los entornos renovados con este tipo de aplicaciones tecnologicas.

Técnicas de gamificación en el turismo, prueba de aplicación, Casa Museo Mosquera RESUMEN Las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones cobran gran importancia en el sector turismo, primordialmente por su capacidad para agregar interacción y promover la formación de nuevos entornos. Este artículo presenta una experiencia piloto del uso de un juego serio desarrollado para la Casa Museo Mosquera, realizada durante la Semana Santa de 2015. La experiencia fue positiva, pues es claro que motiva a los visitantes a aprender y a recibir información. Los turistas y el personal del museo indican que ella dinamizó y mejoró la experiencia y recomiendan su uso en otros ámbitos. El piloto mostró además la necesidad de contar con Wi-Fi y tener la aplicación disponible en una tienda on-line para evitar la pérdida de usuarios potenciales. Este tipo de aplicaciones puede revolucionar la industria del turismo en la medida en que se escale a más escenarios. El mundo actual y su entorno tecnológico son ideales para la evolución de la aplicación de técnicas de gamificación, no solo en el turismo, sino en otros aspectos de la vida cotidiana.

I. Introduction
The concept of gamification can be summarized as applying the dynamics of games in different areas, boosting people's motivation, concentration and effort in their activities (Groh, 2012). The renewal of touristic experiences through the application of these techniques is causing the tourism concept itself to evolve (Xu, Weber, & Buhalis, 2013;Weber, 2014) and this is becoming a whole new field of study that promotes technological development in this area (Bonilla, 2013). When gamification is applied in education, entertainment and other learning environments, the product is known as a 'serious game' (Giessen, 2015;Manero, Torrente, Serrano, & Fernández-Manjón, 2015), and this applies to this case study.
Visiting a new museum is a great example of how an activity related with learning and an interaction process can be enriched through gamification techniques (Aguirrezabal, Peral, Pérez, & Sillaurren, 2014;Kim, 2015); the development of this work finally demonstrates that a serious game has a positive impact for the museum visitors, making their journey a dynamic and interactive experience.

II. Motivation
At present, tourist sites are undergoing a transformation due to the adaptations that they require to new technologies, which offer new services and options for tourists and also generate new experiences for them (Stock et al., 2014;Tang & Qiu, 2015). The Mosquera House Museum belongs to the network of institutional museums of Cauca University through the Vice Presidency of Culture and Welfare; it is a historical museum, with a collection of set pieces that celebrate the life of General Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera, hero of the homeland and four times president of Colombia (Vásquez, 1991). Given the above, it raises the need for a serious game, developed for mobile platforms, to provide visiting tourists with a unique and renewed experience.
Mosquera House Museum is visited by students from schools in the city, enthusiastic local tourists knowledgeable about history, and tourists from other parts of the country and the world, as confirmed by statistics presented by Ramírez, Chantre, and Delgado (2014). Depending on the volume of tourists, locals and visitors, the Holy Week period is the time during which there is the largest number of visitors to the Mosquera House
La Casa Museo Mosquera es visitada por estudiantes de colegios de la ciudad, turistas locales entusiastas y conocedores de la historia, y turistas de otras partes del país y del mundo, tal como lo corrobora las estadísticas presentadas por Ramírez, Chantre, y Delgado (2014). Según el volumen de turistas, locales y visitantes, el periodo de Semana Santa es el intervalo de tiempo durante el cual se encuentra el mayor número de visitantes en la Casa Museo Mosquera y, en general, en los museos de la red de museos de la Universidad del Cauca, con un promedio cercano a 1.500 visitantes por día. Esto sumado a que la Unesco (2009) considera la Semana Santa de la ciudad de Popayán como Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad, hace de este periodo el mejor escenario de prueba posible para la aplicación.
Gamification is a concept that is gradually being used in similar spaces. It has great potential in tourism promotion, the renewal and rediscovery of destinations, by adding new attractions (Xu et al., 2013;Minazzi, 2015). Similarly, serious games, by definition, are a description of these applications, due to their objective of the gamification of activities that are not properly the subject of a game, the more so when the object of study is a museum.

A. Bibliography
To establish the relevance and novelty of the proposed approach, a systematic literature review was conducted. The following were selected as primary sources for the search: ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, Springer and ACM Digital Library, these being the most synthetic area of relevant sources on engineering and engineering applications. A set of keywords was defined in order to find, on the one hand, the trend of gamification and gamification with mobile phones, and secondly, the specific use of gamification in museums and mobile phones. According to their availability, the search was refined by title, abstract and keywords to eliminate irrelevant results. The search terms were: gamification, gamification smart-phones, gamification mobile phones, gamification museum, gamification museum smart-phones and gamification museum mobile phone. Based on the terms and the selected sources, the results shown in Table 1 were found.
After analyzing these results, it was found on the work scope of the gamification, that about 25% are related to work through mobile phones, especially smartphones; with regard to the scope of gamification and mobile phones, only about 5% of the results are on this subject and only a third of these are done through mobile phones or smartphones. However, among the results relevant to the scope of this project, the highlights include the experiences offered at the Art Museum of Barcelona (Me- los destinos y su redescubrimiento, agregándoles nuevos atractivos (Xu et al., 2013;Minazzi, 2015). Del mismo modo, los juegos serios, por definición, son una descripción de este tipo de aplicaciones, ya que tienen como objetivo la gamificación de actividades que no son propiamente objeto de juego, más aun siendo el objeto de estudio un museo.
Una vez analizados estos resultados, se encontró que del ámbito de trabajos realizados en gamificación, cerca de 25%, están relacionados con trabajos mediados por teléfonos móviles, especialmente smartphones; en lo que respecta al ámbito de gamificación y teléfonos móviles, sólo cerca de 5% de los resultados son de esta temática y, dentro de ésta, sólo la tercera parte corresponde a trabajos mediados con teléfonos móviles o smartphones. Sin embargo, dentro de los resultados relevantes para el ámbito de este proyecto se destacan las experiencias presentadas en el Museo de Arte de Barcelona (Melero, Hernández-Leo, & Manatunga, 2015), que introduce actividades para escolares y, en general, propuestas aplicadas de mobile learning ( Based on the results of this literary analysis, it is seen that this is an area yet to be explored and exploited at the level of case studies, although the available literature on the theoretical foundation and its application to other technological options is quite advanced. From this, the novelty of the work done is noted and the importance of conducting tests and prepare a report where the experience is documented.

B. Development
Based on what was stated in the motivation section and after several visits to the Mosquera House Museum, a serious game that takes into account the possible limitations of the museum environment is planned. Given its market penetration, it is proposed to develop this on the Android platform, with a user-friendly interface that takes into account usability criteria. Similarly, taking into account the type of museum tour suggests that the interaction and the mechanics of implementation should revolve around reading QR codes. The type of game that arises is a tracking clues game in which the accompanying guide is important, and during the journey will help solve each of the clues given in the game. The design criteria of the application are basically divided into two parts, experiment design and application design, which in turn is divided into technical design and graphic design. These criteria are listed below:
For this experiment six missions are devised ( Table 2), one for each room, including an initial task to verify the correct functioning of the device. A diagram describing the gameplay (the main operation of the application) is given in Figure 1, which is based on the work of Su and Cheng (2013) The aim of the missions is to give the user clues by which to guess an item in each room of the House Museum; this check is performed by scanning the QR code of each one. In order to develop each mission, the user must solve the clues given, taking into account the information displayed in the application, as provided by the guide during the tour. In addition, the decision flow case study is raised, considering its limitations, scope and other characteristics (Figure 2).

Application design
This design describes the characteristics that directly affect the implementation of the serious game, which are developed through our own methodology, adapted from the Scrum methodology, a well-established methodology for this type of technological development (Sisarica & Maiden, 2013;Landers et al., 2015;Pérez-Valle et al., 2014).

Technical design
The core of the technical component turns around interaction with the QR code reader. Thus, from the technical point of view, the compatibility of the application is developed with a reader. Based on this, two functions, the game (to solve the missions) and the reading of the codes for redirection to a page with more information about the selected item, are implemented.
To create the missions, taking into account the data obtained during visits to the Museum, with this and the tour, sequential missions to follow the route that takes place are designed. The third feature that arises is mapping, where the location of the various showrooms and the tour that takes place during the visit are shown. The implementation is done using native Android in the Android Studio development environment.
Diseño técnico El núcleo central del componente técnico gira alrededor de la interactividad con el lector de códigos QR, de este modo, desde el punto de vista técnico, se desarrolla la compatibilidad de la aplicación con un lector; con base en ello se implementan dos funcionalidades, la de juego (desarrollar las misiones) y la de lectura de los códigos para la redirección a una página con más información acerca de la pieza seleccionada. Para la creación de las misiones se tiene en cuenta los datos obtenidos durante las visitas a la Casa Museo, con esto y con el recorrido se diseñan las misiones secuenciales que sigan la ruta que se realiza. La tercera funcionalidad que se plantea es la de mapa, donde se muestra la ubicación de las distintas salas de exposición y el recorrido que se realiza durante la visita. La implementación se realiza en Android nativo utilizando Android Studio, Entorno de Desarrollo.
Diseño gráfico Las interfaces de usuario se diseñaron teniendo en cuenta la imagen institucional proyectada en la página web de la Casa In the graphic, the different labels were also developed with the QR codes that are deployed in the House Museum (Figures 6 and 7) and a poster that serves as a motivator for the experience (Figure 10). Figures 8 and  9 show the deployment of QR tags on the facilities of the House Museum and the conditions in which the tags were found at the time of interaction with visitors to the museum; similarly, the poster shown in Figure 10 served to attract the attention of visitors and to explain how to start the experience of the visit. This graphic part is developed taking into account the environment of the House Museum, meaning that the elements are both striking and at the same time consistent with the sobriety of the place.
En el apartado gráfico también se desarrollaron las diferentes etiquetas con los códigos QR que se desplegarían en la Casa Museo (Figuras 6 y 7) y un poster que sirvió como motivador durante la experiencia (Figura 10). En las Figuras 8 y 9 se observa el despliegue de las etiquetas QR en las instalaciones de la Casa Museo y las condiciones en las que se encontraban las etiquetas al momento de la interacción con los visitantes al museo; del mismo modo, el poster mostrado en la Figura 10, sirvió para llamar la atención de los visitantes y para explicarles cómo iniciar con la experiencia de la visita. Esta parte gráfica se desarrolló teniendo en cuenta el entorno de la Casa Museo, queriendo que los elementos resultaran llamativos pero, al mismo tiempo, concordantes con la sobriedad del lugar.

IV. Pilot test
Before deployment and testing, a preliminary study was realized to ensure the correct operation of everything developed, for example, that the QR codes for each tag were appropriate ( Table 3). Verification of this list was carried out in the company of the Director of the House Museum and a number of guides at different times. The events of this case study took place on 1-4 April; on the first day the pilot test was conducted, and the remaining time was dedicated to the central test, because this was when the museum was exhibiting the most interesting item in its collection: the heart of the hero Tomas Cipriano de Mosquera, which is on display only once a year, during Holy Week, given its aforementioned significance.
During this test the following limitations and weaknesses were detected: • the compatibility of the application only with Android devices;  • the lack of wi-fi in the House Museum, which necessitates that the user has a data plan; • the limited availability of people's time; • the limited availability of space in devices; and • the absence of the application in PlayStore.
Significantly, most of these limitations depend on the application environment of the test, in this case, the particular House Museum environment.

V. Findings and conclusions
During Holy Week 2015 the display of the CMMApp [Casa Museo Mosquera App] application was trialled in the Mosquera House Museum, considering the design, implementation and other specified considerations. In addition, for this deployment a small survey was conducted ( Figure  11) in order to get direct feedback from users and also to test the data developed in a totally live environment.
The Mosquera House Museum received an average of 1,200 visitors per day, of which about 50% received information about the application. Not all the visitors could be taken into account because of the large volume attending.

Data Analysis
With the feedback received and the data obtained from different sources, such as the experimental observation and sources of the museum, we can discuss the successful testing and deployment of the application.
The server where the application was stored logged about 105 downloads of the application, of which 71% corresponded to successful installations.
Feedback was received from 41% of those who installed the application, demonstrating a willingness to participate in the whole experience. The difference between the number of people who tried the experience and the number receiving the initial information was caused by various factors, as expected from the limitations known at the time of deployment, as was corroborated during the test. Based on a permanent observation made by others, the number of people willing to try the full experience with the game was reduced as a result of factors such as the following: • visitors who just wanted to take pictures (an estimated 10% of visitors); • visitors who wanted to make a quick visit without a guide (5% estimated); • visitors who did not have a smartphone at the time rificación de esta lista se realizó en compañía del Director de la Casa Museo y algunos guías, en diferentes momentos. Los eventos de este caso de estudio se dieron durante los días 1 a 4 de abril; el primer día se realizó la prueba piloto, los restantes se dedicaron a la prueba central, ya que durante ellos el museo exhibía, especialmente, la pieza más interesante de su colección: el corazón del prócer Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, exposición que se hace solo una vez al año, durante la Semana Santa, dada la importancia ya mencionada. Durante esta prueba se detectaron las siguientes limitantes y debilidades: • la compatibilidad de la aplicación solo con dispositivos Android; • la falta de red Wi-Fi en la Casa Museo, que hace necesario que el usuario cuente con un plan de datos; • la limitada disponibilidad de tiempo de las personas; • la limitada disponibilidad de espacio en los dispositivos; y • la falta de presencia de la aplicación en la PlayStore. Cabe resaltar que la mayoría de éstas limitantes depende del entorno del entorno de aplicación de la prueba, en este caso, de la situación particular de la Casa Museo.
Los datos obtenidos permiten ver la influencia positiva que tiene la gamificación aplicada en el turismo. El interés mostrado, incluso por las personas que por alguna razón no pudieron realizar la experiencia completa, refleja que la experiencia se renueva no solo desde el punto de vista educativo, sino que también llama mucho la atención su desarrollo en un espacio en el que no se espera poder jugar. (20% estimated); • visitors who had a smartphone, but with an operating system other than Android (25% approximately); • visitors with an Android smartphone without a data plan (approximately 50%); and • visitors with an Android smartphone operating system, but no space left on the device (25%).
From the feedback received, the application, even with these limitations, had a high level of acceptance. A large group of people expressed not only in the survey, but also orally, the need to make the application available in an app store and to increase its compatibility with other mobile operating systems (especially iOS). Another predominant observation was a wish to have more applications of this kind in other museums and historical sites in the city.
From these data, it can be said that using the application successfully introduces a great improvement and innovation to the experience of a visit to the House Museum, because most users considered that the application not only adds a dynamic factor, but also helps them have a more enjoyable and playful visit, and learning and absorbing information received from the guides along the route increases.
In the future, it may be desirable: to implement a greater number of missions with different levels of difficulty and to reward accomplishments by allowing the user to earn different types of rewards in the game; to add support for social networks like Facebook, to allow the creation of profiles and enable the user to share successes; and to provide support for other languages, given the diversity of foreign visitors.
The data obtained allows us to see the positive influence of gamification applied in tourism. The interest shown, even by people who for some reason could not enjoy the full experience, demonstrates that not only is the experience renewed from the educational point of view, but also its development in an area in which play is not expected attracts a lot of attention.
The article concludes with the following highlights: • Such applications encourage visitors to the museum to learn and receive information.
• Tourists recommend performing this type of application, both for other museums and for other historical sites in the city.
• Limitations that reduce the number of people who interact with the application include the lack of wi-fi A manera de conclusiones se resaltan las siguientes: • Este tipo de aplicaciones fomenta el aprendizaje y la recepción de la información por parte de los visitantes al museo. • Los turistas recomiendan realizar este tipo de aplicaciones, tanto para otros museos, como para otros lugares históricos de la ciudad. • Las limitantes disminuyen la cantidad de personas que interactúan con la aplicación, no tener Wi-Fi en las instalaciones de la Casa Museo, no permitió que más usuarios interesados utilizaran la aplicación y leyeran las etiquetas QR. • Es recomendable tener la aplicación en una tienda de aplicaciones para facilitar su instalación. La aplicación tuvo gran acogida entre el personal del museo y los visitantes, dinamizo la visita y la mejoró, convirtiéndola en una experiencia interactiva. • Este tipo de aplicaciones pueden revolucionar la industria del turismo en la medida en que se escalen a más escenarios, porque además son muy llamativas para los visitantes. • El mundo actual y su entorno tecnológico son un entorno ideal para la evolución de la aplicación de técnicas de gamificación, tanto en el turismo, como en otros aspectos de la vida cotidiana. • Los juegos son una experiencia tecnológica llamativa para todos los públicos y motivan a los visitantes a recomendar los sitios que visitan, gracias a las buenas experiencias que representan los entornos renovados con este tipo de aplicaciones tecnológicas.
at the House Museum, which prevents more interested users utilizing the application and reading the QR tags.
• It is advisable to make the application available in an app store for easy installation. The application was well received among museum staff and visitors, and energized and improved the tour, making it an interactive experience.
• Such applications could revolutionize the tourism industry to the extent that it expands to more scenarios, because they are very appealing to visitors.
• The current world and its technology are an ideal environment for the evolution of the application of gamification techniques, both in tourism and in other aspects of daily life.
• Games are a striking technological experience for all ages and encourage visitors to recommend the places they visit, thanks to their good experiences with renewed environments when using this type of technological application.