Gamification: Low tech real-time feedback

Using gamification on my kids is nothing new. I have openly written about my failure as a gamifier when it came to my eldest daughters reward chart!  However, now I am trying a little experiment, one that is nice and low tech and involved no points or badges!

On our fridge we now have this little chart.

Behaviour meter 300x188 Gamification Low tech real time feedback
Gamified Feedback: Behaviour Meter

Throughout the day my wife and I alter the position of the arrow depending on how my daughter is behaving. We don’t tell her what the current reading is – she has to look at the feedback for herself. Of course this is on top of other verbal feedback we are giving her as well. However, this gives her a fixed reminder of how we feel she is doing.

At the moment there are a couple of things that we do with her if she is not doing well (before we had the chart). She loses her TV shows and the DS for example. It is also her birthday soon, so her party is forfeit at present due to a few little bumps in her behavioural road.  So, we have told her that if she gets to 7, she gets her TV shows. 8 gets her back her DS and a sustained 9 gets her back her birthday party!

What I am hoping is that as she is not collecting stickers, she is just able to visualise her behaviour at a glance, that this could be a more sustained way of working. The fact that she can go up and down and lose and gain things multiple times in a day, should keep her on her toes as well.

It is early days yet, but so far it has been interesting seeing her reaction as the meter drops away from 7 or 8. As I say, this is all in addition to ordinary parenting – but she seems to like being able to see how we feel about what she is up to. I have no idea how sustained it can be. The idea would be to remove any kind of incentive after her birthday and just have it there for her to see and take it from there.  I’ll let you know how we get on in a month!

Just a quick note about my Inspiration Cards. They are now fully available for sale – in the US and everywhere else.  Head over to the cards homepage to find out how to get hold of then!

 

 

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14 thoughts on “Gamification: Low tech real-time feedback”

  1. I think I will get a lot of hate for this comment but I’ll do it anyway…
    The IDEA IS GREAT but don’t you think in 2014 it is time for us to get our child away from the super hero (boy) / Princess (girl) #sexism #gamergate

    -By the way I am a 34 years old guy.

    Reply
      • I was thinking about not princess and superhero not necessary the gender association

        Why not a choice between a rogue, an astronaut, a scientist, a programmer, a wizard, a warrior, whatever…

        Anyway, princess is not bad either I just throw the idea that there is other options out there ! That’s all.

        Reply
        • Ah I see.

          Because I made it for my then 6 y/o daughter, whom I know really quite well, thus knew she would love a princess one. I told her that if she did not like that, she could have any other image she could think of. She loved the princess one. It then offered the idea for others. I was asked for a male superhero to be added, so did. I then made a female version for someone else.

          Reply
          • Well gamification is “user” centered right ? If she loves princess she loves princess.

            I saved Peach so many times !!

            Keep us inform about how the system evolves !

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