Researchers have determined that games have the power to motivate users to engage for long periods of time with unparalleled intensity because they satisfy human psychological and emotional needs. In educational contexts, researchers have examined the effects of adding game and game elements and have found that they motivate students to put forth more effort in their coursework, something that is of particular interest to educators of the broad, complex and highly technical discipline of computer science.By the time they graduate, computer science students need to have developed both technical expertise and proficiency in the non-technical skills of collaboration, communication skills and time management. However, it is challenging for students to gain sufficient technical and non-technical skills practice within the confines of a course or even a series of courses, and motivating students to engage outside of course requirements can be challenging.In this dissertation, the data from three multiple-semesters studies, which ran in two large junior level computer science courses, reveal that games, gamification and game elements such as leaderboards and badges can, indeed, motivate students to go beyond course credit to practice both technical skills and essential non-technical skills to the computer science discipline.