The dilemma of online gamified learning in Malaysian educational context: A qualitative study on Malaysian university students’ perspective

The situation of the Covid-19 pandemic had prompted the educational sector to conduct teaching and learning online, but such a learning environment affects students in various ways including motivation, engagement and more. Gamification, a term coined by Nick Pelling in 2002 is the concept of applying game elements and game mechanics in a non-game situation in hope of changing a person’s behaviour. The use of gamification in the learning environment by previous researchers had shown the possibility of overcoming such problems. However, with the failure of technological infrastructure in the context of Malaysia, multiple dilemmas arise. This study is done by interviewing 30 university students from the School of Educational Studies and the analysation of data is done using an inductive approach of thematic analysis. The study further discussed the dilemma faced by educators from the perspectives of students. Thus, hoping to provide certain new insight to educators and other researchers.