1

Coursera Gamification Week 6 By Sudarshan Gopaladesikan - @MrGamify *Note: Please comment on the quality so we know how to improve for future notes. Share with friends and the world through email, social media channels, and word of mouth! Thanks and be sure to check out http://gamification.co for more news and information!

Criticisms and Risks 1. Pointsification a. This is criticism that gamification is actually the use of just the makeup of gamesthe PBLs and other game elements, and repacking it as the core service. (An inadvertent con) b. Not much can refute this claim because there isnt much gamification research. There is data collection going on, but this goes to show that continual research is important. c. Engagement decaythe critic that states gamification works but only to see people convert to extinction, meaning they quit the behaviors gamification intended to change. i. Not necessarily criticisms, but rather questions we have to address during design. d. Foursquare i. Started out using game elements surrounding social data. ii. They now stripped the game elements and put it as an background feature. Foursquare switched to be more Facebook-like, allowing people to post for the sake of posting because the service reached critical mass. e. More to games than gamification and vice-versa. Beware about the nature of the gamification system. It could be exploitationware. 2. Exploitationware

a. Ian Bogost created this term to mean that gamification makes people do things that they may not actually want to do. i. Ex. Their job actually sucks but gamification makes it seem fun. Exploitationware states that it doesnt change the fact your job still sucks so it is tricking people. ii. An intended con rather than inadvertent (the Disney Land electronic whip) b. Cheaper way of getting out of engaging with consumers. But remember, good resources + gamification can possibly bring results but the research will drive insight. 3. Gaming the Game a. The focus is on humans so remember that humans act unpredictably and irrationally from time to time. i. This is a double-edged sword. It is the irrationality and unpredictability that creates a playful attitude in a game environment because people arent trying to be logical. However, unpredictability can possibly discover bugs within a system. And they may be taken advantage of. b. Gamification is dangerousthe San Francisco Bridge had tolls that changed prices after 1 min. In that min, cars congested the area and staved to the side of the road before the 1min was up and the fare reduced. It caused congestion, which increased risk for accidents. c. People are bending the rules to exploit parts of the game. Mainly the reward. Called goldfarming because people focus on parts of the game that give them valuable reward (mostly tangible. Ex. Training WoW accounts and selling them for cash because there is a market for that in the real world) d. Social games dont really have gaming because of social pressure or if the reward is high. People dont want others to think they cheat, and social games emphasize collaboration. e. Beneficial Cheating

i. In an idea market, insider trading allowed people to form early solid groups around potentially great ideas. This insider trading, albeit an example of gaming, allowed people to come together and made people engage with the system even more. This actually turned out to help the service. 4. Legal Issues a. Privacy-technology allows for transparency. Companies can take in a lot of social data and give it to the user. However, information causes privacy issues b. Labor Law- Remember Disney Land electronic whip, people will complain if gamification is hindering their freedom. c. Deceptive Marketing-Similar to exploitationware. Rewarding upon people who act in desired ways by giving them cheaper ways to engage. d. Intellectual Property-This is a B2B issue. IP occurs because each point, badge, etc. needs to be unique. Cant cut and copy solutions. e. Virtual Property-This is a B2C issue. If a service gives property like a virtual house, points, etc, who has ownership? i. Law states that since this is a contractual agreement, the business has say of who has ownership. f. Other issues exist but please consult with expert counsel. 5. Regulatory Issues a. Paid endorsement-companies are getting customer evangelists to post for the companys sake. However, paid endorsements need to be fully disclosed to the public. b. Banking-If a company wants to get into virtual goods and currency, banking regulations exist. This ranges from record keeping, reserve requirements, laundering, tax, etc. c. Sweepstakes/Gambling-state and national regulations for gambling so be aware of that if you are trying to go into gambling with your services.

Beyond the Basics 1. Beyond the Basics a. Learning Goals from beginning of course i. What is Gamification ii. Why it might be important iii. How to be effective iv. Special Applications b. What is the future? Inducement Prizes, Collective Action, Virtual Economies, and Ourselves?? (more to come in part 5/6) 2. Inducement Prizes a. Encouraging people to engage in competitions for reward greater than the competitions reward. What does that mean? b. Raymond Orteig started a competition and offered $25,000 for flying from NY to Paris. Charles Lindbergh successfully did this, but invested about $400,000. Interesting? Clearly, there is value in motivation other than monetary. c. The X Flight mission saw Richard Branson (virgin owner) spend $100 million on spaceflight research because he wants to create a commercial spaceflight market. Although the reward was only 10 million, there was motivation between the competitions prize. d. It is cheap, effective. The prize has less value that the meaning of the task itself. Alternates to grants, outsourcing, etc. e. Engages with creativity and flexibility. People are motivated by things far more important than winning. f. Attributes: many people can play; costs are small vs. investment by teams; balance vs. incentive. g. Many government agencies looking at this to get people to work for meaningful choices and questions. 3. Virtual Economies a. Value goods are items that are scarce in a system. It can be traded or exchanged and acquired. Scarcity creates value.

b. Virtual currency is redeemable, tradable, think WoW economy c. As of 2010, $7 Bn is invested in virtual economies. By 2016, it should be $13 Bn. Additionally; loyalty programs come in many ways, shapes, and sizes. Its market is well worth over billion dollars. d. The balance of a virtual economy is that is run by scarcity, not actually money. e. What is money? It is a contractual agreement between two people on a medium of exchange. Dollar bills are just a version of moneymonetary money. Virtual economies take advantage of the fact that there are different types of money. f. Real money costs real moneyremember that! g. Virtual economies are about faucets and drains. How to keep a continual balance of the production and trade of the virtual economy in your system? h. Virtual economies are actually my research. I do research on the benefits of unpredictability in virtual economies. If you would like to have a conversation with me about it, feel free to contact! The research revolves around math, physics, psychology, and behavioral/financial economics. 4. Collective Action a. Top down vs. bottom up and competition vs. collaboration i. Top competitiongrant (find someone) ii. Bottom competitioninducement prize (everyone can play) iii. Top collaborationemployees iv. Bottom collaborationmicrotasking/crowdsourcing b. Microtasking is getting people who arent affiliated with your task completely, but help with the result. i. In Nature, many gamers are cited in a research paper because a game helped solve a biological question. Gamers provided the data. ii. Microtasking works well when the nature of the task is meaningful and the motivation is clear and unique for each person. How is the below microtasking?

c. 5. The Future of Gamification Pt. 1 a. This was the video Sight by Eran May-Raz and Daniel Lazo. Great video! b. This is a great video. Really stretches the imagination. Now, take a look at this quote in the book the Innovators Dilemma: Markets that do not exist cannot be analyzed. Suppliers and customers must discover them together. Not only are the market applications for disruptive technologies unknown at the time of their development, they are unknowable. 6. The Future of Gamification Pt. 2 a. Lets revisit question 1: What is gamification? i. Empowering vs. manipulative: is your system exploitationware or meaningful. ii. Shallow vs. meaningful: similar to above iii. Gamification can be just PBL but it is also more than that. Certain situations call for different solutions of gamification. We should understand that and speak

about gamification in proper terms, not mix serious gamification with sales gamification. b. Future is up to YOU. c. Remember, we are placing a lot of focus on great design, but lets look at it another way. If we do bad design, we are costing lives, money, and adding things such as stress and frustration. It isnt that we get design right for profit or ROI, we get design right for the sake of advancement. The ROI and profit will just happen to come. But, this is an initial investment for a long-term project. You have to be willing to take Gamification 201. Maybe Ill even get to teach it. Maybe I will try to co-create one with other gamification gurus. Id love to get feedback! Visit http://gamification.co to keep up with all future gamification news and comment on what youve learned in this course!