*Li Rui and Goh Wei Wei

Abstract: Digital gamification is increasingly employed in higher education to enhance culturally situated learning. However, in the context of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), the design choices that sustain student motivation and engagement remain unclear. This study examines the impact of a gamified learning experiences platform centred on Yue Opera’s costume craft in China. A qualitative practice-led action research design was applied with 34 university students using the platform over five consecutive days in the frame of a single planning-action-observation-reflection cycle. Qualitative data were collected through structured diaries, unobtrusive digital observation as well as semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically using the self-determination theory as a sensitising framework. The findings show that students joined the platform because they were curious about its game features and interested in its heritage content. As they went along, some students experienced their competence and autonomy supported by challenges, badges, scores, feedback and creative tasks, while other students experienced pressure or fatigue due to public comparison, demanding tasks and repetitive content. Diary and interview data, read alongside observations of the platform, indicate that engagement peaked early and declined over the five days. Thus, motivational patterns varied throughout the learning process and depended on how game elements linked achievement feedback to meaningful cultural exploration. The study provides a context-sensitive account of how autonomy, competence and relatedness are supported or frustrated in gamified ICH learning. It also demonstrates how a single cycle practice-led inquiry can incorporate students’ experiences into the evaluation of a culturally situated digital curriculum. The study was short-term and used a purposive sample from one university, so the findings do not reflect long-term effects. Future work should explore revised designs in multiple cycles and heritage contexts.

Keywords: Gamification, intangible cultural heritage, self-determination theory, motivation, practice-led action research