Angry Birds - all its variations - 1 billion downloads -

Gamification = Learning from Games

what makes the games successful, what makes the games

engaging, what games can do, why games have power

systems using game elements/game mechanics to address real

world challenges

leaderboards, badges to reward, point systems

Monopoly!!!

what good games design is, psychology behind it and application

in real life

“Sometimes there is more going on than you see…”

“what is below the surface… what you don’t see…”

Gamification is a business practice

game mechanics / other lessons from games

It’s not a panacea (remedy for all problems)

Gamification is the use of game elements and game design

techniques in non-game contexts.

Example: Nike + (Gamifying the experience of running)

(richer and more rewarding experience)

Game elements = toolbox (pieces that you have to work with)

Examples of game elements (in Empires and Allies):

* Points
* Resource Collection
* Quests
* Avatars
* Social Graph
* Progression
* Levels
* adopting some of the (game) aesthetics as well as the elements
(visual stuff)

[keas]

Avatar = visual/graphical representation of each participant

Also: * badges

gamified services

There’s more to games than elements!

Artistic experiential side of game design

Some uses of gasification focus more on the game elements, while

others focus more on the game design aspects, and some use both

A way to approach the challenges that you have: think like a game
designer

Some objective other than success in the game [other than the
game for its own sake]: business, school, social impact, personal
improvement, etc.

Gamification is a significative emerging business practice

A growing number of firms are incorporating elements of

videogames into the workplace.

Videogames huge and influential industry.

Games are powerful things

Lessons from: psychology (e.g.: motivation), design, strategy,

technology

Even entertainment-oriented games, like Tomb Raider series,

encode powerful knowledge creation and learning mechanisms.

2003- Conundra

In 2010 Gamification really took off. Now it is starting to mature.

Uses of Gamification:
— External: (to the firm or organisation you’re in) (e.g.:
customers)
Marketing
Sales
Customer engagement

— Internal: (in the company - e.g. employees)

Human Resources
Productivity enhancement
Crowdsourcing [process of reaching out to lots and lots of people]

— Behaviour change:
- Health and wellness
Sustainability
Personal finance

Motivation through gasification can potentially change a

behaviour [personal/social impact/benefit]

[challenges or quests]

Example of use and results:

- increase site traffic, sales of online merchandising, sharing of

content on social media, increasing the audience - marketing

Lessons learned:

- Gamification can motivate

- Applications in many domains: external, internal, behaviour
change
- Encompasses many techniques

Gamification is not…

… Making everything a game

… or an immersive 3D virtual world

Most successful videogame of all time: Windows solitaire

… any use of games in business

… simulations (although they may constitute serious games)

… just for marketing or customer engagement

… just PBLs (points, badges, leaderboards)

… game theory [game theory is the study of strategic decision-

making] - example of game theory: prisoner’s dilemma

WHAT IT IS:

- Listening to what games can teach us.

- Learning from game design (and psychology, management,

marketing, economics).

- Appreciating fun.

GAMIFICATION RECOGNISES THAT FUN IS POWERFUL <3

Play = pure exuberant fun

Serious games - for non-games uses

Identifying a game is easy, defining it, not so much. Rather

impossible.

WHAT GAMES ARE: THEY HAVE:

- pre-lusory goal
- constitutive rules
- lusory attitude

Lusory, from ludos

The players follow the rules

- voluntary overcoming unnecessary obstacles

— objective, limitations etc.

The magic circle:

Physical or virtual boundary diving the game’s world from the real
world

e.g. the lines around a soccer field / the virtual world in a

videogame
In which the game’s rules matter, not those of the real world

—— The difference between PLAY and GAMES:

Play is freedom, doing whatever you want with some limits

Games: formal, structured and produce outcomes

Game: problem-solving activity approached with a playful attitude

WHOEVER MUST PLAY CANNOT PLAY (Voluntariness)

Games involve learning or problem solving, otherwise, it’s play

Balance of structure and exploration

Pong: The first mass-market successful videogame (1972)

- the power to interact with a videogame

Substantial as a business phenomenon

Games industry: $66 billion worldwide (DFC 2011), or double

Hollywood box office revenues

Virtual goods: things you can buy within the game

——
44% of US/UK adults have played a mobile game in the last
month (PopCap/Information Solutions)

Interactive time - as compared to watching TV for instance

97% of kids 12-17 play videogames

The average game player is 30 years old

- 37% are older than 35

47% of all game players are women!

Sources: Pew Foundation and Entertainment Software Association

——

Videogames are NOT just blowing stuff up

examples:

* Sandbox
Minecraft

* Building
Civilization, SimCity

* Social Building
The Sims, FarmVille

*MMOGs
world of Warcraft

* Puzzle
Portal 2, Angry Birds

The significance of games in general and videogames in particular

is HUGE!

Real World Building Blocks

— e-business 2.0

- analytics, cloud, mobile, etc.

Videogames are powerfully social

— Social networks and media

— Loyalty programs

(representation of achievements e.g. badges)

— management and marketing research

Gold farmers - China - grey market (selling virtual goods in real

life)

GAMES WERE ALWAYS REAL:

Real World Activity Game Concept

- Monthly sales competition Challenge
Frequent flyer program tiers Levels
Weight Watchers group Team
Free coffee after ten purchases
at Starbucks Reward
American Express platinum
card Badge

GAME THINKING: The core skill for gamification

Dodgeball - FourSquare’s dad, without the use of gamification

Dodgeball had an engagement gap - lack of choices -

Choices and progressions are important

Game mechanics used in non-gaming stuff, like FourSquare

Making a game comes naturally to us as human beings ;) Oh,

yeah!

Ramifications means putting yourself in the shoes of a game

designer

Thinking like a game designer is different from thinking like a

gamer

Focusing on the elements and structure of the games instead of

the experience

Your participants as players (customers, employees, community,

target population)

- Players are the centre of a game

- Players feel a sense of autonomy/control
- Players PLAY!

The goal of a game designer is to get the players playing, and

keep them playing

The Player Journey

Onboarding

Scaffolding

Pathways to mastery

Games have to be balanced: not too hard, not too easy, not too
many choices, not too few choices.

Monopoly - the game has to keep (the virtual) economy in

balance.

Create an integrated experience

Gasification does not guarantee that a business will be successful

What makes games engaging? The emotional components of the

experience.

“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You
find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.” - Mary Poppins

How to make things that you HAVE to do fun?

What things are fun?

Winning

Problem-solving (fun comes from overcoming obstacles) - fun and

gratifying

Exploring

Chilling out, lying on a beautiful beach

Teamwork

Recognition

Triumphing

Collecting

Surprise

Imagination (Daydreaming is fun)

Sharing

Role playing (in real games or imagining oneselves in someone’s

shoes)

Customisation

Goofing off