The Impact of Gamified AR Format on Engagement for Site Museum Tours

In the museum experience, digital technologies such as AR are constantly updating the user experience, and gamification interventions are likewise increasing the interest and effectiveness of visitors’ learning. This paper investigated the effect of a gamified AR format on engagement during a simulated guided tour of the Qujialing Site Museum in Hubei Province, China. Twenty-five participants from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) simulated two tour formats of the Qujialing Site Museum before and after on an AOC monitor and an iPhone 13 mobile device(One simulating a conventional audio-visual tour and one in the form of a gamified AR format). The results showed that the gamified AR format significantly increased participants’ engagement in the tour (p = 0.029 < 0.05), and the mean scores of the six dimensions of engagement were higher than those of the pre-test, with EN(4.42) scoring the highest on the post-test, followed by PU(4.38), FI(4.37), NO(4.31), FA(4.18), AE(4.16) scoring the lowest.These findings on engagement subscale attributes may have implications for future AR and gamification design in museums to enhance a better tour experience, although this has not been shown to maximize engagement.