Presentation at CHI 2016. The idea that game design can inspire the design of motivating, enjoyable interactive systems has a long history in human-computer interaction. It currently experiences a renaissance as gameful design, often implemented through gamification, the use of game design elements in nongame contexts. Yet there is little research-based guidance on designing gameful systems. This article therefore reviews existing methods and identifies challenges and requirements for gameful design. It introduces a gameful design method that uses skill atoms and design lenses to identify challenges inherent in a user’s goal pursuit and restructure them to afford gameplay-characteristic motivating, enjoyable experiences.

1. the lens of
intrinsic skill atomsa method for gameful design
Sebastian Deterding / @dingstweets
Digital Creativity Labs, University of York
May 10, 2016
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2. <1>
introduction

3. old idea: learning enjoyment design from games
Malone 1981, Carroll & Thomas 1983, Blythe et al. 2004

4. gaMification
The use of game
design elements in
non-game contexts
Deterding et al. 2011

5. recent surge of interest
gamification
serious games
persuasive tech

6. how do you design gameful systems?
Deterding et al. 2013
* obligatory visualisation of
ephemeral design work with
people pointing at post-its

7. lots of industry work, little research
Deterding et al. 2013

8. the paper
• Conceptual development of
requirements from literature
• Review of existing methods
against requirements
• Iterative design-based
development and evaluation of
method through 19 projects &
workshops with teams of 2-6
(n=335)

9. the challenge
of challenge

10. <2>
requirements

11. guiding questions
1. What are the enjoyable, motivating experiences
characteristic for gameplay?
2. What game structures and processes afford
these experiences?
3. How does game design create these structures
and processes?
4. How can we integrate this into design methods
for non-game systems?

12. chief source of game enjoyment: overcoming challenges
Malone 1981, Csikszentmihalyi 1990, Koster 2005, Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010, Klimmt & Blake 2012
#1

13. chief formal structure of games: skill atoms/loops
Cook 2007, cf. Dormans 2012
#2

14. chief formal structure of games: skill atoms/loops
Cook 2007, cf. Dormans 2012
#2

15. goal conflict of applied game design
Goal
conflict
game design
Enjoyable
inefficiency
interaction design
Usable
efficiency

17. how do we make one support the other?
Goal
congruence
game design
Enjoyment
interaction design
Efficiency

18. intrinsic integration: core challenge = to be learned skill
Habgood & Ainsworth 2011, Echeverría et al. 2012

19. what about
real-world output,
not learning?

20. john M. Carroll & John C. Thomas
»Tacking on ad hoc complications
will not evoke fun.«
fun (1988: 21)

22. intrinsic integration: restructure inherent learnable challenge
For ticket, drag red
dot through labyrinth
Ticket

23. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
»Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s
office can become enjoyable provided one
restructures the activity by providing goals,
rules, and the other elements of enjoyment
to be reviewed below.«
flow (1990: 51)

24. create find and restructure already-inherent challenge

25. formative research to elicit challenges
Khaled & Ingram 2012
#3

26. design synthesis: bridging from research to game ideas
Khaled & Ingram 2012, Kolko 2010
research game idea
how to
get there?
#4

27. design synthesis: bridging from research to game ideas
Khaled & Ingram 2012, Kolko 2010
research game idea
how to
get there?
design
synthesis
#4

28. design & test for emergent qualities of experience
Hunicke, LeBlanc & Zubek 2004
#5

29. epistemic mobilisation: translating game design for others
Goodwin 1994
#6

30. review: 15 academic & industry methods (2014)
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Design & test for emergence
Epistemic mobilisation

31. review: 15 academic & industry methods (2014)
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Design & test for emergence
Epistemic mobilisation
x
x
x
x
x
current practice
Intrinsic needs + extrinsic rewards
Focus on feedback, not challenge
Additive, pattern-based
Little research, tokenist player type use
Lacking guidance in pattern choice
Data-driven design

32. <3>
core parts
of the method

33. formative research: map skill atom of current system
#1
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Design for emergence
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Epistemic mobilisation
Alarm if process is stopped
Error # from last shift
No immediate, progress feedback
Feedback
Grab & attach material
Hand piece on
Stop process
Actions & objects
Grabbing # of materials
Attaching things w/o error
Staying in rhythm
Remembering sequence
Challenge
Joint pride in craftsmanship
Getting ahead economically
Recognition by colleagues
Motivation
Finish car piece in time
Finish # pieces/day
Goal
No apparent rules for advancement
Rules

34. Alarm if process is stopped
Error # from last shift
No immediate, progress feedback
Feedback
Grab & attach material
Hand piece on
Stop process
Actions & objects
Grabbing # of materials
Attaching things w/o error
Staying in rhythm
Remembering sequence
Challenge
Joint pride in craftsmanship
Getting ahead economically
Recognition by colleagues
Motivation
Finish car piece in time
Finish # pieces/day
Goal
No apparent rules for advancement
Rules
synthesis: create innovation stems from analysis
#2

35. Alarm if process is stopped
Error # from last shift
No immediate, progress feedback
Feedback
Grab & attach material
Hand piece on
Stop process
Actions & objects
Grabbing # of materials
Attaching things w/o error
Staying in rhythm
Remembering sequence
Challenge
Joint pride in craftsmanship
Getting ahead economically
Recognition by colleagues
Motivation
Finish car piece in time
Finish # pieces/day
Goal
No apparent rules for advancement
Rules
synthesis: create innovation stems from analysis
#2

36. Alarm if process is stopped
Error # from last shift
No immediate, progress feedback
Feedback
Grab & attach material
Hand piece on
Stop process
Actions & objects
Grabbing # of materials
Attaching things w/o error
Staying in rhythm
Remembering sequence
Challenge
Joint pride in craftsmanship
Getting ahead economically
Recognition by colleagues
Motivation
Finish car piece in time
Finish # pieces/day
Goal
No apparent rules for advancement
Rules
synthesis: create innovation stems from analysis
#2
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Design for emergence
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Epistemic mobilisation

37. lenses capture experiential qualities of gameplay
#3
Schell 2008, Scott 2010
Juicy Feedback
Varied, unexpectedly excessive sensual
positive feedback on small user actions
and achievements can instil a sense of
competence even without a big
challenge to overcome. Its unexpected
variety also stokes curiosity.
▪ What are the small steps of your action (e.g.
approaching, touching, lifting, moving,
releasing in “drag and drop”)?
▪ When does a user achieve a goal?
▪ How might you exaggerate the auditory,
visual, and tactile feedback at these steps
and achievements, going unexpectedly “over
the top”?
▪ Is there a material or creature whose
sensual properties might inspire your
feedback (like anemones or bubble wrap or
dough or …)?
▪ How might you add some variation to that
feedback to keep it interesting over time?
CO

38. Lenses to evaluate & tune system for desirable qualities
#3
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Design for emergence
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Epistemic mobilisation

39. iterative experiential prototyping & playtesting
#4
method checklist
Design around overcoming challenges
Design around intrinsic challenge
Design for emergence
Embed formative research
Synthesis bridging research to ideation
Epistemic mobilisation

40. <4>
evaluation &
future work

41. evaluation & future work
• Iterative development and evaluation in 19 projects &
workshops with 335 participants
• Controlled experiment: implementation designed with method
significantly increases user engagement (Buikstra et al. 2015)
• Quantitative testing of designer satisfaction with process
• Quantitative testing of individual components (e.g. lenses vs.
other presentation forms)
• Extension to experience-driven design

42. sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
thank you.