Start with scrolling slides of all different game images. Today we’re going to talk about what gamificaiton is, how to design a game, review a few of the game mechanics and finally talk about the concerns about using gamification.
My name is Greg Greunke. Here’s a recent picture of my wife and I at my nieces’s Captain Hook birthday party. You know what I like about gamification? Just from the name you can infer that this will be a fun topic.
I’m the president of Greunke Gifts. We’re a manufacturer’s representative and we represent retail brands on the West Coast for special markets. Our company has been around since 1976 and I took over the company in 2005.
I also run a publication called HIghKudos which focuses on topics about influencing employee and customer behavior. We have four sections, Driving Sales, Promoting Safety, Building Loyalty and Gamification.
I also serve on the board of the IMA. I strongly suggest that you all consider joining the board. I would credit this experience as the number one reason why I stopped seeing the world as merchandise versus everyone else. This opened my eyes up to all the good reasons for our different SIGS and how an end-user should evaluate all solutions.
Just for fun let’s start with some graphs. Here’s a chart showing the number of searches, normalized, for Work. At least it’s going up. Google Insight Search for topic Games from 2004 to August 2011.
Of course it’s insignificant compared to searches for games. Google Insight Search for topic Games from 2004 to August 2011.
Now look at the search results for gamificaiton.It doesn’t even come up before 2010. Google Insight Search for topic Gamification from 2004 to August 2011.
And you can see it’s mostly of interest to wackos in California and New York. What makes gamification so fascinating is it draws on fundamental triggers that go back to the beginning of mankind. Google Insight Search for topic Gamification from 2004 to August 2011.
Ever wonder why dice are called bones? the oldest known dice were excavated as part of a 5000-year-old backgammon set at the Burnt City, an archeological site in south-eastern Iran.
Go ("weiqi" in Chinese, "baduk" in Korean), is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China 2,300 BC. The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_games
How many points to win a game of black jack? Who wins most often in this game? The casino.
Who’s this guy? Jerry Rice. What is the value of a touchdown? How many points for a touchdown? 6. At the end of 2000 Jerry Rice was released from the 49ers. Did he quite? No, he joined the Oakland Raiders. And then the Seattle Seahawks where he finally retired. Did he do this for the money? No, 13 Pro Bowls and 3 Super Bowl rings. What sticks out most about Jerry Rice is that when his career was over he could have retired and lived off his money. But he didn’t, he joined the Raiders. Why
Is it news to anyone that the best and brightest our country has to offer are studying from day one how to turn drinking into a game? Is beer pong silly?
Professional beer pong on ESPN. World Series of Beer Pong http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3831916
Has everyone played Foursquare? Earn points and recognition just for doing what I already have to do every day. I checked in at the airport and earned the Swarm badge. Is this a game or a vehicle for couponing?
I don’t read the newspaper anymore. And in fact fewer and fewer people every day read paper newspapers. Will this trend reverse? No. How will Google make sure this trend goes in their favor? They’ve just made it a game. Look in the bottom right corner.
Not since the fifth grade have I gotten a pat on the back for reading the paper. Do I have to read the news? Yes. Has Google changed my behavior? Yes.
Has anyone ever heard of a company that switched over to SAP and then the next week everything was just fine. Look in the top left box. Take 5 minutes to explore the value of business intelligence. Sound like fun? Plan a trip for your family. A leaderboard in the bottom left corner. Complete all five stages, levels, and beat the time limit. This is a game.
1/2 of all office workers use Facebook at work. Facebook understands workers better than their own companies do.
Anyone played FarmVille? Anyone played Farmville at work? 1 in 4 Americans play Farmville.
Look at this coupon at the bottom of the page. Pay for Netflix and receive 180 virtual credits on Farmville. Why isn’t it the other way around. Who plays Farmville? Is this a kids game?
The average social gamer is a 43 year old woman.
It’s implied that there is always a winner, and a loser. It’s controlled play. Rules, time frame, risk, skill, competitive Why do they say keep your mind in the game to athletes? Because it is a game. What is work? Who wants to work when you can play? Are there people who work like it’s play? How about researchers? Someeone who invents a new product or business model? They will work for hours for no or little pay? Because of drive.
It’s implied that there is always a winner, and a loser. It’s controlled play. Rules, time frame, risk, skill, competitive Why do they say keep your mind in the game to athletes? Because it is a game. What is work? Who wants to work when you can play? Are there people who work like it’s play? How about researchers? Someeone who invents a new product or business model? They will work for hours for no or little pay? Because of drive.
How is work different from game? You took out fun. You have to do it.
How is work different from game? You took out fun. You have to do it.
This definition is better because it contains the word fun.
This definition is better because it contains the word fun.
The reason for creating a game experience is to get more people to drink visit Starbucks and order a drink. Make sure your reason doesn’t create a game that overtakes the use of your product or service. These unintended consequences are critical to something like a safety program. We hope people will choose to drink Starbucks over competing brands and we hope to do this without discounting our product. After this review you can break your game down into achievements, tasks and rewards. Now you’re getting into the mechanics of gamificaiton.
Achievements are a great reward if implemented correctly that collectors or perfectionist type players will really love and keep them engaged as long as new Achievements are created. Do you give Achievements often? How long would it take for a player to get every Achievement? Do you have Achievements a player would be proud of or share? Do you allow them and others to see the coolness of the Achievement? Rarity? Have you implemented a place for player's to collect and show their Achievements, such as a Trophy Case ? Do you have a way for players to show off their favorite Achievements? Do you have an Achievement Map to show you the Achievements you have, ones you could earn and when available info on how you can earn them? Have you implemented Achievement Tiers such as the common ones like "Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane and Unknown?" Do you use clever names and graphics on your Achievements to add Character? How about humor or wit not only in the names or graphics but also in how you obtain the Achievements? Have you kept your players in mind and created Achievement styles that are catered towards them? Do your names for Unknown Achievements(Achievements that you don't know how you earn them) inspire curiosity/envy in players without prematurely revealing how the player earned it? Do you have Achievements with real depth that require a combo of actions / variables to Unlock?
Flow Engagement is one of the most important Gamification Benefits. You can expect Engagement to spike or fall off at different parts of the experience and the life of the player. Do you monitor engagement so that you know the parts of your Gamified Experience that players enjoy the most? If players are dropping off at a certain spot in the game, can you remove, replace or tweak that part of the experience? If players get bored after X months, can you add content at that time to re-engage them?
Games are better at engaging participants than incentive program because they communicate better. They understand the engagement curve, or flow, and provide constant communication. Feedback is your communication to a player of what they should do, what they did etc. Without proper feedback a player could feel lost and un-engaged. Do players understand the game and it's rules? Do they clearly know what to do next or if open ended understand the possibilities? Do you properly communicate to players when they've accomplished something? Do players see visible feedback on all of their actions that earn rewards?
There are many different mechanics related to time. I won’t cover them all here but in general reward schedules, start and stop are all very critical to the game environment. It it part of the concept of start and stop as well as the pace of the game. Appointment Dynamic Countdown Fixed Interval Reward Schedules Interval Reward Schedules Reward Schedules
We all have different levels of risk at different times in our life. Teenagers have a need for high risk. Adults have different levels depending on life stages. Dopamine increases enjoyment. Risk in programs could be betting your points.
We need to learn the skills to play a game well. Challenges test us.
Points are a running numerical value given for any single action or combination of actions. +1 Knowledge of Points! Traditional Gaming Pacman! Every pellet earns the player points. Every time Pacman eats a ghost he earns more points. Points can be weighted for specific activities to drive users towards desired activities. This is why players are motivated to eat the ghosts in Pacman, they earn substantially more points by eating ghosts than merely eating pellets. Gamification Points can drive users to participate in activities. Weighting points (giving more or less) around specific activities can motivate players to participate in those activities if players have been given a reason to care about points through the Gamification Process.
People love points. They love to earn them and to achieve them. Points can be used to reward users across multiple dimensions and different categories of points can be used to drive different behaviors. Points can also be used as status indicators. Tracking statistics drives participation.
Levels are a system, or "ramp", by which players are rewarded an increasing value for a cumulation of points. Often features or abilities are unlocked as players progress to higher levels. Leveling is one of the highest components of motivation for gamers. There are typically three types of leveling ramps: Flat, Exponential and Wave Function
People love points. They love to earn them and to achieve them. Points can be used to reward users across multiple dimensions and different categories of points can be used to drive different behaviors. Points can also be used as status indicators. Tracking statistics drives participation.
Jerry Rice has 3 super bowl rings. How many badges do these guys have? Achievements are a virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. Achievements can be easy, difficult, surprising, funny, accomplished alone or as a group. Achievements are a way to give players a way to brag about what they've done indirectly as well as add challenge and character to a game. Achievements are often considered "locked" until you have met the series of tasks that are required to "unlock" the Achievement.
Status creates goals, envy, awareness of your current standing. They can be educational, so that you know what it takes to be a leader. Most successful games have implemented a "high score table." They bring aspiration and fame. Leaderboards are used to track and display desired actions, using competition to drive valuable behavior.
Here’s what Home Depot has done with their leaderboard to gamify their customer service program. Instead of a vertical leaderboard they turned it on it's side to create a football field. Notice that this is designed to work very easily offline.
Digital prizes, rewards, objects found or taken within the course of a game. Often these can be traded or given away. Virtual Tangible
For a game economy to be effective over time you need to have a place to spend your points, a reason to want to earn more and the ability to customize something that reflects your identity. Tangible rewards have trophy value. It gets you invested, it gets you locked in, and it becomes a vector for creativity, competition and self expression. This mechanic is often overlooked because most people using gamificaiton are focussed on online platforms or marketing campaigns. In order to use this in a working environment you must have real rewards beyond the game. When I visualize myself riding my new bike I give it a perceived value that transcends even the retail value. Now the value of the bike includes the experiences I will have with my bike.
Lame games Skinner box Participant opacity Degree of involvement on players part and designers part. Too many games. Points, badges, and virtually all other “game mechanics” part of what is now called gamification, are based entirely on extrinsic rewards. In other words, operant conditioning (pure Skinner box +r reinforcement). Actual games, on the other hand, are designed to provide INTRINSIC rewards through a deeply pleasurable experience. The mechanics in a well-designed game are simply there to help support the intrinsically rewarding experience by providing the necessary feedback. http://presentationfight.tumblr.com/post/1069417509/a-skinner-box-zoe
http://www.thestrikegame.com/video-screenshots#
How much did I learn about history and Europe while playing D&D? http://www.papeldeparede.etc.br/fotos/papel-de-parede_dungeons-a-dragons/
Will any childe think this is fun?
I care about gamification because I sell stuff. I sell stuff in brown boxes and there are a lot of people that do that.
People don’t need stuff, they need a reason for using my stuff. By understanding behavior and new trends I see new opportunities. http://lafd.blogspot.com/2010/12/lafd-reveals-hottest-holiday-gifts.html
You should understand how companies are influencing your behavior.
Because we live in a world run by web, app and game developers.
You need gamification because it’s a new way to look at employee and customer behavior.
Because you need customers and employees like Jerry Rice.