Skill Trees and Gamification

InventorSkillTree Skill Trees and Gamification

Now that I have redone the User Types, I wanted to run a small series of how elements from games can be used with gamification. If you remember, I look at Game Thinking rather than just gamification as a singular path to solutions. Games handle complex problems and ideas in a fantastic way. They can simplify the complex without losing hte meaning.

For this one, I want to consider Skill Trees.

Most commonly seen in Role Playing Games (RPG’s) such as World of Warcraft and strategy / world domination games like Civilization. The image below is an example from a game called Legends of Aethereus. Read More ...

Flow & gamification: a misunderstanding

CvSoT Flow and other points v3 Flow 038 gamification a misunderstanding

Flow. A popular concept in gamification, goodness knows I have spoken about it often enough – just last week in fact.  It was that article that actually made me realise that there is a distinct misunderstanding of flow as Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes it.

The image below is how we in gamification tend to view it, our simplified version.

We talk about the Flow Channel, the point where skill level and challenge level are in a good balance. So this would mean that Flow could be achieved when you have a balanced low skill and low chalenge. However, when we look at how Mihály Csíkszentmihályi originally described it, that would actually be apathy – not a state we want for our users! Read More ...

The Flow Shift and Bounce

Flow shift The Flow Shift and Bounce

This is more a thought and possibly even a question to those who know more than me about the Flow concept.  I have spoken about Flow in the past and use it as a core principle to engaging long term design.

However, recently it occurred to me that long term exposure to extremes in frustration or boredom, could alter our perception of flow.

For instance, you spend months in the boredom phase. You have little to no challenge. It seems reasonable that you would need to boost the level of challenge to help improve engagement and in turn try and get closer to this idea of flow. Below is the “ideal” mix of skill and challenge as described in flow theory – only this time plotted against time. Read More ...

Winning isn’t everything – demotivating by allowing a win state

1389662 22069019 Winning isn 8217 t everything 8211 demotivating by allowing a win state

Most people like to win. There is something deep down inside all of us who love to be the winner, to experience the rush that comes with beating something. It may be a game, it may be winning at sport, it may be collecting all the Pokemon. Whatever it is, you get a huge feeling of achievement – Fiero.

The trouble is, winning is short lived. Once you have won, what happens next?

In sport winning is just one part of playing the sport. One win is great, but you still need to train and train so that you can win again. Very few people can say that there is nothing left to attain in their chosen sport. Read More ...

Mechanics and ideas to support your gamified systems

Deck preview Mechanics and ideas to support your gamified systems

A slightly cheating post today. Here are the mechanics and ideas that I have been using when supporting certain user types. I wanted to present them in a non usertype specific way. So instead of Player, here you see “Short term engagement, Activity”. This should help people see a little more clearly how to support different gamified activities.

The smaller / fainter the mechanic or idea, the less impact it has.

Click one of the links to jump straight to the activity.

Education | Innovation, Change | Creativity, Invention | Contribution, Help | Short term engagement, Activity | Collaboration
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