Gamification Map

Introduction

What makes games popular?

What is this course about?

What is gamification?

How Might Gamification be Valuable?

How to Use it and be Effective?

NOT a Panacea

Must do it WELL

components

pros/cons of different types of gamification

techniques

Specific Applications

for profit vs. nonprofit

specific examples

Why Gamify?

Dedgeball game

checked in to bars, friends checked in too

chicken and egg problem, if no one has app... etc...

founder left company to found FourSquare

problems with dodgeball

dodeball had "engagement gap"

did have much meaninful choices

no progression, no multiple check ins etc.

didn't make checking in a "habit"

solutions

multiple check in's make you "mayor"

badges add progression

automatic checking in

How to Gamify?

thnk like a game designer

think about how to solve your goal as a game

different than "being" a game designer

different than thinking like a gamer

3 elements of a game i like "starcraft"

level playing field competition

variety of choices for strategy

progressive reward system for ladder matches

refer to your customers as "players"

means the player is the center of the game, world revolves around the player

players need a sense of autonomy/control

players PLAY

2 mains goals for a game designer

how to get people to play

how to keep them playing

player journey

should have beginning, middle and end

onboarding - get the user in

scaffolding - how does the game make playing for the user easier

mastery - does the player gain a skill or at least mastery of the game?

how does plants vs zombies give onboarding and scaffolding

explanations of what to do

simplification to start

very easy to start

should have balance

200 to pass go in monopoly is maintaining balance in the game economy

should not favor one group over another

`

create an experience

turntable.fm makes listening to music into a group dj thing

emotional component of games

games are engaging because they are fun.. but what is fun?

what things are fun? (for me)

accomplishing things

organizing things

figuring things out

testing my reflexes

progressing in a system

watching pretty pictures and hearing pretty sounds

winning

Marc Leblanc's 8 Kinds of Fun

Sensation

Subtopic

Fantasy

Narrative

Challenge

Fellowship

Discovery

Expression

Submission

Finalities

fun doesn't just happen, its designed

fun isn't always purely happy and simple

different kinds of fun

finding the fun

thefuntheory.com

videos of how fun concepts are used to make people do things, piano stairs, recycling etc.

LinkedIn

just a small progress bar made people put in much more information

feedback is a gamification device

progression - bar fills up

completion - we strive to want to finish

Breaking Games Down

game elements

Tic Tac Toe

board

simplicity

reward lap (drawing the line)

portability

easy to teach and learn

Subtopic

Pyramind - In Order

Dynamics

def. Big Picture, or "Grammar"

Constraints

Emotions

Narrative

tie together

consistent theme or coherence

Progression

start at one place and get to a higher place

gives the player the sense that they will be able to improve

Relationships

people interacting with each other

friends/enemies/partners/etc.

Mechanics

challenges

chance

cooperation

competition

Feedback

Resource Acquisition

Rewards

Transactions

Turns

Win States

Components

Avatars

Badges

Boss Fights

Collections

Combat

Content Unlocking

Gifting

Achievements

Leaderboards

Levels

Points

Quests

Social Graph

Teams

Virtual Goods

PBL - 3 Important Game Elements

Points

Keep Score

Determine Win States

Connect to Rewards

Provide Feedback

Display Progress

Data for Game Designer

Fungible

Badges

Representations of Achievement

Flexibility

Style

Signaling of Performance

Credentials

Collections

Social Display (Status Symbols)

openbadges.org

Leaderboards

Ranking

feedback on competition

can be global or friend/relative player learderboard

Big Problem - actually demotivate

Pitfalls in Focusing on Elements and Rewards

The Elements are not the game

nat all rewards are fun/not all fun is rewarding

cookie cutter is demotivating

Video Games

Reflection Topic:

The things that made me want to play video games include: the ability to discover new worlds, a decent learning curve that was not too hard or too easy, strategy within the context of innovation a la tactics in Starcraft or Halo, the ability to compete with friends or other players online, cool graphics. A total package helped immersion and for me to come back, as opposed to games that seemed a little more thrown together.

Games Are Big!

$60 Billion dollars - bigger than hollywood and growing faster

global in-game market:7.3 billion

97% of kids play video games

average gamer is 30 years old

almost half video game players are women

men for shooters

women for social games

New Types of Games

sandbox games

Minecraft

Building

Civilization

SimCity

Social Building

Sims

Farmville

MMOG

WoWarcraft

Puzzle

Portal, Portal 2

Angry Birds

Core Elements of Games that Are Real World Important

Digital Building Blocks

Analytics

Mobility

Social Networks

Cloud Storage and Processing

Non-digital

Rewards Programs

eg. Credit Cards

Management and Marketing Research

Real World Already Resembles Gamification

Frequent Flyer Level-ups

Sales Perks for Being the Best

Weight Watchers - social team gaming

Starbucks Card - Reward

CCards - Badges = Platinum Cards etc.

History

1912 - Toys in Cracker Jack Boxes

1980s

Thomas Malone - MIT - What Makes Things Fun to Learn?

James Paul Gee book

2002 - on

Serious Games Initiative

eg. simulatinig the battlefield for the military

Games for Change

social impact games

teach systemic impact thinking

2003 - Conundra

failed

Subtopic

Subtopic

2005 - Bunchball

2010 - Gamification takes off

TED Talks

Books

Magazine Profiles

What is gamification?

In non-game contexts

game elements

toolbox for designing games

some elements:

points

levels

quests or missions

avatars

social graphs

game design techniques

approaches to game design

how to "think" like a game designer

non-game is anything other than the game for its own sake

eg. playing to encourage an action

eg. playing to get a job

eg. playing to learn something

eg. being healthy

examples

Nike+

establish goals get medals

connect with friends

still going out to run

Zombies Run

run from zombies

can collect power ups

can involve your friends

more immersive experience than nike+

What is a Game?

Wittgenstein:

cannot define a game

cannot define the boundaries

Bernard Suits:

took on Wittgenstein

Elements

Pre-lusory goal

way to win the game

Rules

Lusory Attitude

player voluntarily follows the rules

think the game means something

Voluntarily overcoming arbitrary obstacles

J. Huizinga:

Book: Homo Ludens argues that games and play are essential to what makes us human

incl. religion, government, justice etc.

Concept: The Magic Circle

There is a circle or boundary that defines the game from the real world

where the game matters, the rules matter, and it is another world

try to put the user in the magic circle

Why Study?

significant up and coming business practice

they are powerful tools

link to aspects of how our minds work eg:

psychology

motivation

design

strategy

technology

focus on social networks and current tech

not that easy or obvious

needs to be done well

needs to be done ethically

needs to be done relevantly and in context

Where Can Gamification Be Used?

External

Marketing

Sales

eg. Club Psyche

points and rewards

integrates with the show it promotes

results

visits to site up

mercandise sales up

pagesviews up

sharing up

relatively simple/big impact

Internal

for employess

crowdsourcing

using groups to attack a problem

productivity enhancment

eg. Windows 7

localization problem

used gamification - language qualification game

played for prestige and competition within complany

mind-numbing activity turned fun

found over 7,000 bugs

Behavior Change

Health

Sustainablility

Social Change

Finance

eg. Speeding

police monitors of speed give feedback

causes behavior loop

slows you down

monitor that records liscence plates

fine people who speed

fines go into a pool

people who don't speed are entered into a lottery

used in stockholm

Why?

People do things for stuff other than rewards

5.1 excersize:

task - get people to save their change in one place

1- explain the benefits of saving change and being organized

2- make it easy for them to save change by providing examples, framework and a system

3- tantalize them with a goal that saving change can produce

4- remind them with updates and badges earned for successfully saving change

2 Major Fields of Psychology

Behaviorism

Black Box Approach

we are conscious, don't worry about what goes on inside the head, only the behavior

Conditioning

classical conditioning - stimulus plus response for simple pavlovian conditioning

ring the bell for dinner - start salivating

operant conditioning - feedback loop

stimulus plus response plus stimulus etc. = learning

consequences are important

Behavioral Economics

thinking about what people actually do without the why

people make 'mistakes' consistently

eg. loss aversion

eg. power of default states - ie. opt-out vs opt-in

confirmation bias

Relevant Takeaways for Gamification

Observation:

Look at what people actually do

often different than what you think they will do

Importance of Feedback Loops

can condition through consequences

eg. Farmville - Crops Withering over time creates an appointment mechanci

people had to habitually check in - very behavioral approach

eg. MLB Badges - why were fans so obsessed?

partly a behavioral feedback loop

5.3 Excersize

Game I played: Starcraft 2

One behavioral mechanism was the strategy forums that continually updated the new ways to approach the game, and reinforced the community through the elevation of better players through status and study.

Reinforcement through Rewards

much of PBL Gamification is like this

Reward Structures

Different Types of Rewards - One Typology of Rewards

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

tangible/intangible

expected/unexpected

Contingency

non-contingent - u get the reward no matter what

engagement-contingent - get a reward just for starting

completion-contingent

performance-contingent

5.4 Excersize:

The cruise reward for staying on the site is an intangible, unexpected engagement (arguably completion) contingent reward

Reward Schedules

Continuous - get a reward every time

Fixed Ratio - every N number of times you take an action you get a reward

Fixed Interval

based only on time not amount of action

Variable

most interesting because brain cant recognize patterns

competitive/non-competitive

vs. other people makes reward variable

expected/unexpected

brains love a sense of surprise

help make people addicted so not always a good thing...

Reinforcement

Limits of Behaviorism

Leaves out important things:

people might avoid something not to learn, but just so they don't get caught

why do people like lotteries?

purely behaviorist approach seperates the person from their humanity

can lead to social problems like fascism etc.

Dangers of Behaviorism

manipulation

hedonic treadmill

if people only respond to a reward, they will change back when the reward is not there...

kill the rewards by making them so expected

over-emphasis on status

Subtopic

Cognitivism

Intrinsic Rewards

love something just to be doing it

Extrinsic Rewards

doing an action for something

SAPS framework - its a higherarchy from the standpoint of the company rewarding their employees

Status - will make us cool

Access - will give us access to something more

Power -

Stuff

Rewards can actually demotivate someone that would otherwise enjoy something intrinsically

the reward substitutes

studied examples:

creative things like drawing

day care pickup

blood donating

teacher salaries

usually happen with an activity thats "interesting"

reward types do matter:

tangible rewards substitute highly

surprise rewards do not influence that much

performance contingent

if the reward objectifies your accomplishments, it is demotivational

if it is encouraging and fills you with a sense of accomplishment, its not

self determination theory - motivation spectrum - worst motivators to best

1- amotivation

not motivated

2- extrinsic

1-external regulation

forced to

2 - introjection

take an external motivation and make it our own eg status

3 - identification

user can identify some motivation in doing the thing eg. learn math for business etc.

4 - integration

complete alignment between my goals and the thing i'm doing eg. excersize

3- intrinsic

motivating in and of itself

what leads to intrinsic motivation?

competence

feedback that makes you feel good

autonomy

self reliance

feeling of control

not predetermined

relatedness

connects you to something else

Subtopic

Design Thinking - ideas of how design should go into thinking about creating ANYTHING

purposive - everything should tie into the purpose you are going for

human centered - designed around people, specifically;come up with solutions for PEOPLE, not robots; useful, not just a set of objectives

balance - between analytical and creative thinking; use abductive reasoning sometimes - inference from the best possible explanation

iterative - expect not to get it right the first time; improving with each iteration; prototyping and playtesting

6 Step Gamification Design Process "D6"

1 Define

What are your business objectives?

what are the ultimate goals?

eg. foursquare

social sharing

increases value the more people that use it (concept in decentralization)

influencer marketing

locating people that are influencers an d encouraging them to be an active participant with deals or badges or whatever

List and Rank your possible objectives

Eliminate means to ends - eg badges are not a real objective for the business, just a stepping stone (and objective for the user)

Justify Objectives

2 Delineate

What do you want users to do?

Should be as specific as possible

eg. I want to find the best people to hire at this job

eg. I want people to buy paper towels

what are the success metrics? in gamification terms "win states"

what are the analytics? how do you measure these win states?

eg. DAU/MAU

daily average users/monthly average users

how often do people come back?

higher is closer to 1, people who visit the site are coming back more frequently

eg. virality

rate at which people refer their friends

eg. volume

level of usage and engagement and what people are doing

3 Describe

What Motivates your Players?

eg. world of warcraft

players need to find other players with specific skills

players may need items

4 Devise Activity Loops

Engagement Loops

Motivation

Feedback

Action

a game Ive used an engagement loop in is Starcraft/ the ladder system makes you want to win, the action is playing the game to win, and the feedback is winning and seeing your rank improve

Progression Loops

specific steps to achieve your objective, start to finish

one example

starts with onboarding, getting the player into the game

then climbing and resting alternately

maybe boss fights periodically

finally reach the end and you can look back and see your mastery

Good games should have both types of loops

5 Don't forget the Fun

Why would someone want to do this? Is it REALLY fun?

fitocracy seems dedicated to making fun

linked in progress bar - even this has a small amount of fun

protein folding - game site that actually allows players to help figure out new protein types

6 Deploy

PBL

Gamification Pyramid

Subtopic

Taking Stock: Two Approaches

Doing

Feeling

Should We Gamify?

Motivation

emotional connections

or, make boring tasks interesting

Meaningful Choices

Structure

Potential conflicts

Case Study: Stack Overflow

website where you ask coding questions and answer them

how did they motivate people to do this?

First they asked "What Is Programming?"

incentivized working together, uses points and badges

What Motivates People in the Workplace?

Rewards

Extrinsic

Compensation - ie give you something for something you don't really want to do

Skill Development

Information

leaderboards and info about how to do better can motivate

Corporate (or other) Citizenship

Fun (in the workplace)

eg. the face game, at zappos

Game vs Job

sometimes the game can take people away from their job

types of job game motivation

in role

gamification works well here with future skills

citizenship

gamification works well here with core skills

type of skill: core skills, unique to a person skill, future skill

Playbor - combination of play and labor

have to be careful not to encourage cutthroat competition or "cracking the whip"

can use games to replace messed up motivation systems with ones that are more accurate, and more effective

Whats different about gamification for social good?

inherent relatedness

should you get rewards for doing good?

behavior change

Examples: 4 Categories

Health and Wellness

Zamzee - device that keeps track of how active you are; targeted toward low income teenagers; PBLs, rewards, etc.

Superbetter - set up your own gamified system of self improvement

Energy and Evironment

OPOWER - uses peer pressure and neighbor experiments to encourage people to save energy

Recyclebank - earn points by recycling to redeem for rewards

Education

challenge is to make sure it is benefitting education

openbadges.org - virtual diplomas

Government

Motivational - lots of workers

customer service - interacts with voters, etc.

promotion of its policies and programs

Social Good Techniques

ex. CAPRI - parking relief sites

feedback and rewards

monitoring

communal pressure - activates social norms as opposed to competition

Kukui Cup (Univ. of Hawaii)

uses competition to make students use less power

competition works for social good because the pride in winning is wrapped up with the pride in doing good

impact - shows just what good the game playing or site is doing for the world

ex practically green

chance - creates interest in the same gamified system so can just be used to enhance to fun of the game

Behavior Change - Habit Formation

motivation and ability tradeoffs

trigger timing

trigger types

sparks

facilitators

signal

triggers loops

engagement loop -> motivation

progression loops -> percieved ability

good games trigger effectively