The use of online dating applications is constantly increasing, and have risen in popularity in Sweden the last years. It has become a tool for people to meet new friends, network, find the love of their lives or just something to pass time with.

Gamification is a concept that has become increasingly common and widely used and it ́s a tool to engage the user and motivate them by using simple game

mechanisms.

With this essay we aim to examine for what reasons young adults on the Swedish market use online dating applications, and what their user pattern looks like. The second main aim is to scrutinize their attitude towards gamification and how it

affects their user patterns.

We gathered data via an online survey on purpose of using dating applications and user experience. Based on the result of the survey we conducted two focus group interviews to examine how gamification influence the user pattern. The result is presented through an analysis of the data from the survey and focus group interviews related to scientific theories about the user experience, experience

design, co-experience, habit formation and gamification.

The result from our survey reveals that users today have a casual attitude towards dating applications. It is often used to network, meet new friends but also to initiate romantic relationships. Dating applications provides an experience that is open to form after the users own need and purpose of use. Finally, it may also be noted that gamification is an important tool to incorporate in dating applications to enhance the usage of the applications, and for creating addictive user patterns. However, gamification should be applied with some finesse, due to that too much and tangible gamification tend to give a frivolous impression, as well as preventing

users to interact with each other.

This study will serve as a general guideline to understand how and why young

and it may also serve as general guidelines on how gamification could be implemented in the dating applications,

by viewing it through the eye of the user.