Educators are striving to use instructional methods that engage and motivate students in online coursework. Recent studies have not addressed whether the use of games as an instructional strategy is associated with improving students' motivation and engagement to learn at the community college level. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of community college students regarding motivation and engagement when taking gamified courses online. Davis's technology acceptance model and Blumer's interactionist model framed the study. The research questions explored a description of the lived experiences of community college students taking an online course that included gamification. Data collection was drawn from a purposive sample of 7 community college students via in-depth interviews and journal entries. Data analysis included content analysis and grounded coding to categorize information into themes. Findings showed that community college students accept gamification as an instructional strategy to learn curricular content at the community college level. Findings related to motivation and engagement will contribute to the body of knowledge to empower educators to integrate instructional strategies such as gamification as best practices in online instruction for community college students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]