origins of gamification

GAMIFICATION

Friday, February 3, 12

GAMES ARE UNIVERSAL

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PART OF HUMAN STORY“Play is a most fundamental human function and has permeated all cultures from the beginning.”

“We play and know that we play, so we must be more than merely

rational beings, for play is irrational.”

HOMO LUDENS

An economist at the University of Bonn has shown that test subjects who receive a given reward for a task enjoy it significantly more if other subjects fail or do worse—a finding that upends traditional economic theories that absolute reward is a person’s central motivation.

VICTORY...sweeter at the expense of others

Source: NEWSWEEK, 2011 Source: Homo Ludens, Johan Huzinga, 1938 2


GAMING HALL OF FAME

ANGRY BIRDSLaunch the birds to get revenge on the pigs who stole the birds’ eggs.

DOODLE JUMPGuide Doodle the Doodler up a dangerous sheet of graph paper.

TAP TAP REVENGE 3Tap the balls on the screen in time with the beat to earn points.

POCKET GODAct as a god and rule over an island of Pygmies

PAPER TOSSToss the crumbled ball of paper into the basket.

MOST DOWNLOADED iPHONE GAMES

FEATURES: leveling up, rewards

Over 200 million minutes a day are

spent playing Angry Birds.

FEATURES: rewards, status

FEATURES: status

FEATURES: leveling up, rewards, status, countdown

FEATURES: leveling up, rewards, status

MOST POPULAR BOARD GAMES

CHESS

Source: GizmoCrazed.com

Source: BeaumontEnterprise.com

MONOPOLY

SCRABBLE

CLUE

CHECKERS

MOST POPULAR VIDEO GAMESLEGEND OF ZELDA

SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2

GRAND THEFT AUTO 4

SOULCALIBER

SUPER MARIO GALAXY

Source: gamerankings.com

FEATURES: rewards, status, countdown, blissful productivity

FEATURES: rewards, status, countdown, blissful productivity, disincentives



FEATURES: leveling up, rewards, blissful productivity

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WHY ARE THEY SO ADDICTIVE?

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How can we spend so much time happily and heartily engaged in front of screens?

There are several "hooks" that are built into games – video games especially – with the intent of making them addictive:

The High Score

Beating the Game

Role-playing (RP)

Discovery

Relationship

Achievements

Simplicity/Interface*

* Specially for mini-game/apps-game

Source: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/what-makes-games-addictive.html


http://www.video-game-addiction.org/what-makes-games-addictive.html

http://www.video-game-addiction.org/what-makes-games-addictive.html

GAMIFICATION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

(basic elements of games)

start with add to(things that aren’t typically

considered games)

the result(something that’s more engaging,

and even more fun)

REAL LIFE

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IT’S EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS

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THIS IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT

our world has been “gamified” since long before this buzzword existed. 7


SO HOW DO GAMES WORK?

BUT UNDERSTANDING GAMES AND WHAT MAKES THEM SO POWERFUL IS STILL USEFUL

AND WE’RE NOT EXACTLY AHEAD OF THIS TRENDThe TBWA\ team at SXSW 2011 asked 8 interesting people 5 questions about technology, innovation

and the information economy. The buzzword status of “gamification” seems to be exhausted.

8Source: TBWA\ Projeqt, 2011


a dynamic in which to succeed, one must return at a predefined time to take some action.

SO HOW DO GAMES WORK?

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Game dynamics

ZYNGA has an internal playbook that has entered the realm of legend, and even was even the subject of a lawsuit.

appointment dynamic

progression dynamic

influence and status

communal discovery

countdown

reward schedules

Concepts, techniques, know-how and best practices for developing successful and distinctive social games.

SCVNGR has it’s own play deck where they explain nearly 50 different game mechanics that can be mixed and matched to form the foundation of any game. Let’s look at a few...

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Source: Techcrunch 2010


APPOINTMENT DYNAMIC

in order to succeed, people must act at a certain predefined time.

definition:

virtual worldreal world

GAME DYNAMICS

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“Spend $100, get a $10 gift card” sales make the consumer have to return to the store at another time to get their reward.

To benefit from happy hour deals, consumers have to go to a certain bar at a certain time.

Cafe World keeps your restaurant running in the background.

Crops take a certain amount of time to grow so the user has to return after x amount of hours to harvest the crops for money.

Source: Set Priebatsch TED talk, 2010


when your progress is tracked and then represented back to you in a more relatable form to encourage further involvement.

definition:


GAME DYNAMICS PROGRESSION DYNAMIC

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On freerice.org, the bowl of rice grows to represent how much rice you have donated as you answer more questions right.

On the new Ford Hybrids, a tree grows as the average MPG increases, showing progress in helping the environment.

BlackBerry BrickBreaker has 34 levels that get progressively harder as you beat each one.

As your Pokemon gain more levels, they evolve to represent their progress.



the exertion of influence from one player to another through social pressure.

definition:


GAME DYNAMICS INFLUENCE AND STATUS

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Girl Scout badges symbolize what you have accomplished, which can be compared with other Girl Scouts, showing how experienced you are.

When Robot Unicorn Attack is played on Facebook, a list of friends’ high scores appear so you can see who has the highest score.

Color symbolizes different levels of status for credit cards, and every teime someone uses their card they influence those around them.

When players progress through levels of Modern Warfare, they receive badges that show off their level of skill to other players.



the collective effort of a group to deal with a problem that couldn’t be solved without collaboration.

definition:


GAME DYNAMICS COMMUNAL DISCOVERY

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The Fort Zed Community Energy Challenge has the community working together to become a net-zero energy district.

Project Shiphunt included five high school students from Michigan working together to hunt for a sunken ship in Lake Huron.

This large-scale, real-world scavenger hunt was won by MIT students who created a platform and incentives for sharing valuable information about the location of the balloons.

An online community forms around the McDonald’s Monopoly game, where people trade information and properties.



Players are given a time limit to complete a task. As time winds down players become more frantic in completing the task until there is no time left and the are forced to stop.

definition:

real world

GAME DYNAMICS

virtual world

COUNTDOWN

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In the final round of Jeopardy, players have 30 seconds to submit their answer to the big question.

In Fruit Ninja, players have a limited amount of time to cut fruit with their swords.

Bejeweled gives players a certain amount of time to identify the clusters of different types of jewels.



The timeframe and means through which tangible rewards are distributed. Three main parts exist in a reward schedule: • contingency: the problem that must be solved• response: the expected action from the player.• reinforcer: the expected reward that is given after the first two parts of the reward schedule have been completed

definition:

real world

GAME DYNAMICS

virtual world

REWARD SCHEDULES

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In order to receive a new badge in Call of Duty, players must be successful in the problems they are presented with. Badges are the reinforcer, motivating further action.

When flying, people receive rewards in direct relation to their flying behavior. People earn points for flying, and as they fly more and more, they level up in the type and amount of rewards they can receive.



start with a visionenjoyment behavior change engagement

WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU GAMIFY

to make flying better:Jetset: iphone game, cratoon simulation of an airport security line - watch virutal passengers march through cartoon metal detector while virutal luggage rolls through x-ray machine. your role is to play the part of security agent - confiscate banned items, pat down suspicious

passengers. the longer you play, the longer the line gets, the faster teh security belt runs, the harder it is to keep up with new security restrictions, like “no pressurized cheese,” “no pet snakes,” “no pudding cups” and “no robots” -- satirical

you can play Jetset anywehre you take your mobile phone but you can only level up and unlock souvenir prizes to send to frinds and fmaily by playing the game at real-world airports - unlocked rewards specific to the airport you’re at, using gps(blissful productivity and social connectivity in an otherwise stressful environment) - voluntary way to take full advantage of the moment -- signal of hte role that location based games can play in improving our quality of life in the future

good location-basd game can transform any space into sites of intrinsic reward. - potential game sites: dentist, DMV, public transportation

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BUT THIS CAN ALSO HAPPEN...

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Not enough companies are asking themselves if anding a game level to their experience is adding any true value to the customer experience

Google News Badges Tim Pawlenty Badges

FALLING OUT OF ZEN

18Source: http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/game-mechanics-business/


http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/game-mechanics-business/

http://mashable.com/2010/07/13/game-mechanics-business/

WHY DO WE CARE?

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games are great and all, but we don’t need literal games to make our brands better.

WHY DO WE CARE?

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games are great and all, but we don’t need literal games to make our brands better.

WHY DO WE CARE?

let’s look past the mechanics, to the deeper concepts behind gaming.

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Theory: If you provide people with rewards, they’ll be more motivated to complete tasks.

Source: Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken

If you offer extrinsic rewards for things people are already doing and enjoying, there could be negative repercussions.

REWARDSCONCEPT

Certain extrinsic rewards can be irrelevant.

the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

important to know

in real life

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People in the corporate world are motivated by both success and money. Without the money, people would be much less motivated.

People hike because they feel good about themselves after. Extrinsic rewards would probably do little to change this.


LvL1

LvL 80

LEVELING UPCONCEPTLeveling up is when a character experiences some sort of progression that usually entails unlocking new abilities, skills, items, access to a new area of the game, or a marker of a benchmark of how far into the game a character is.

important to knowCompetition with others

Rewards for advancement

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Personal pride

Voluntary action

Source: http://www.giantbomb.com/leveling-up/92-475/Friday, February 3, 12

http://www.giantbomb.com/leveling-up/92-475/

http://www.giantbomb.com/leveling-up/92-475/

AND IT ALL COMES BACK TO MOTIVATION

link/schedule external rewards

infuse epic meaning

by linking reward to a series of challenges, people tend to treat these as individual challenges and unlocking a step is viewed as an individual reward.

people will be highly motivated if they believe they are working to achieve something great, something awe-inspiring, something bigger than themselves.

allow for learningfeedback enables learning, and learning allows for discovery, progress, achievement, satisfaction.(double-loop learning: ability to modify or even reject a goal based on past attempts to achieve it)

22Sources: Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken; Techcrunch 2010; Argyris, C.; Schon, D. (1978). Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Argyris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Argyris

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sch%C3%B6n

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sch%C3%B6n

http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-Learning-Addison-Wesley-Organization-Development/dp/0201001748

http://www.amazon.com/Organizational-Learning-Addison-Wesley-Organization-Development/dp/0201001748

APPENDIX

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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TED talks:• Jane McGonigal, Gaming can make a better world, 2010• Jesse Schell, Gaming can make a better world, 2010• Seth Priebatsch, The game layer on top of the world, 2010

• gamification.org • http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/the-gamification-of-healthcare.html • http://bigthink.com/ideas/39192

• http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology• Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, Johan Huizinga, 1938 (Google Books, Amazon)


http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/the-gamification-of-healthcare.html

http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/the-gamification-of-healthcare.html

http://bigthink.com/ideas/39192

http://bigthink.com/ideas/39192

http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

http://www.gamerdna.com/quizzes/bartle-test-of-gamer-psychology

origins of gamification

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