So, as is tradition, here is a round up of 2015. What a year!!! Research papers, Gamification World Congress, a new book, poetry and loads of exciting projects have made this a most excellent year. Between you and me, next year will be even better!
As with every year, the User Types Hexad has been really popular, but this year my most popular content by far has been the 47 Gamification elements, mechanics and ideas – an old post I pinned! Shows the power of the homepage 🙂 Other big hits this year have been my reaction to Gartner forgetting about gamification (The Hype is Over – Gamification is Here to Stay) and my essay on the 4 essential neurotransmitters in gamification!
Here is to 2016 Gamified Gamification Lovers!
1) Gamification User Types Dodecad… It’s Christmas after all!
Posted on December 16, 2015
Ideas come from the funniest of places. Take this Dodecad thing. I had an email conversation with someone who liked my types, but wanted to change some of the names. I was not into the idea (the names took a really long time to work out!), so politely declined. That’s fine, so is the fact… More…
Posted in Gamification
2) Revisiting the Gamification Code of Ethics
Posted on November 30, 2015 
You may remember in 2013 I tried to establish a code of ethics for gamification. It got a little traction, but ultimately didn’t get much backing. After GWC this year, I realised that I really needed to try again, as ethics has become even more important to people as gamification has grown. To that end,… More…
Posted in Gamification
3) Grinding to Mastery and Flow
Posted on November 17, 2015 
One of the things that I noticed at gamification world congress this year, was a few people mentioning Flow in their talks. As most of my readers know by now, I love the idea of Flow, not just as a pure idea of “in the moment balance and being in the zone” but as a… More…
Posted in Gamification
4) Gamification World Congress 2015
Posted on November 16, 2015 
Well, I am back from the 2015 edition of Gamification World Congress in Barcelona and what an event it was! The organisers put on a slick, deep and incredibly rewarding conference. Day one saw a series of workshops, with me kicking off with Gamification Design Thinking. Feedback was positive and personally I had a great… More…
Posted in Gamification
5) How I wrote and Published a Book for Under £50
Posted on November 2, 2015 
As you may have seen by now, I have a new book out! If you had managed to miss that, check it out here 🙂 The purpose of this blog is to give a quick overview of how I got it finished and published in print and ebook formats. This was a project I started… More…
Posted in Gamification
6) Being Kind When Discussing Gamification
Posted on October 29, 2015 
I talk to people about gamification quite a lot! The conversation usually starts with a little curiosity, then some scepticism and if I have done well, enthusiasm. One thing that happens in probably 9 out of 10 conversations is a little section I like to call “No, it’s not about making games”. You all know… More…
Posted in Opinion, Gamification
7) Dark Personalities and the User Type Hexad
Posted on October 26, 2015 
A while back, I was asked how “Dark Personalities” fit with my Hexad of User Types. At the time, I had no answer – because I had never heard of dark personalities. So, as I always do, I responded with honesty and promised to look into it. I have touched on it with how I… More…
Posted in Gamification
8) Broken Brain and Some Poems
Posted on October 21, 2015 
So, here it is. Writing and publishing the book have broken my brain a little! I am working on two blogs at the moment though. One about publishing a book for under £50 ($80) and the other about dark personalities and disruptors! However, anyone who has been reading for a while will know that when… More…
Posted in Just for Fun
9) The Book is Out
Posted on October 16, 2015 
So then, it is finally available. Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play is out in paperback and ebook formats from Amazon. Amazon.com have it in stock now. More…
Posted in Gamification
10) How to get Gamification wrong
Posted on October 6, 2015 
There are many, many ways to get gamification wrong, but there is one that really sticks out head and shoulders above the rest. The best way to get Gamification wrong is to ask the question “What game mechanics should we include?” before any other questions. Questions like: what is the purpose of this? What is… More…
Posted in Gamification
11) What Pure Joy Looks Like
Posted on September 28, 2015 
Anyone who has read my blog will know that my daughters are an inspiration to me on a regular basis. All of me research into play was initiated by watching them as was my little adventure into fun. Today I wanted to share with you an important lesson – what pure joy actually looks like.… More…
Posted in Gaming, Gamification, Just for Fun
12) Value to the User vs Value to You
Posted on September 25, 2015 
Here is a little excerpt for the book for you, you know that book that I am still editing but hope to have published in the next 2 weeks…! Whist basing the value of the reward on a user’s personal investment is important, it is also important not to lose sight of why you were… More…
Posted in Gamification
13) What would you change?
Posted on September 23, 2015 
I was asked a great question the other day. If you could go way back, what would you change? It got me thinking at the time and I have had it in my mind ever since. At the time I said that I would probably change nothing. The truth is that what I have experienced… More…
Posted in Education, Just for Fun
14) Shipping, Fantasy vs Reality and the Dark Tetrad
Posted on September 19, 2015 
I recently discovered a really strange phenomenon called Shipping. This is the creation of fantasy relationships between celebrities that may have been in films together or on TV together. For instance there are a group who call themselves Damie Shippers. They have created a fantasy world where Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson. from Fifty Shades of… More…
Posted in Rants, Gamification
15) The Dislike Button – I was wrong
Posted on September 18, 2015 
A long time ago, I wrote a short bit on why I wanted to be able to dislike comments on Facebook (and anywhere else for that matter). In my mind (at the time) I was trying to put across the point that we live in a world where we are not allowed to be negative… More…
Posted in Opinion, Social Media
16) 10 Minute Shake Up from NHS and Disney
Posted on September 11, 2015 
Over the summer, the NHS lead programme Change4Life, ran a great campaign aimed at getting kids to do a little bit of excercise. It was called “10 Minute Shake Up” and was done in partnership with Disney. For starters this is a great idea and one that I whole heartedly support. But the idea was… More…
Posted in Gamification
17) Are Mario, YouTube & My Little Pony killing my Daughters Imagination?
Posted on August 27, 2015 
I am a huge advocate of the benefit of games. They are amazing and I would quite happily argue with anyone shouting about games and violence, or games being bad for kids. I am also not against T.V. My youngest has amazing shape recognition, counting and even spelling and maths abilities – at three -… More…
18) The Hype is Over – Gamification is Here to Stay
Posted on August 21, 2015 
Welcome to my first post holiday blog. Lots going on, not least of which I have now got a draft of my book! You can register your interest in buying it here -> Sign up for notifications about Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play. I am looking at ways to apply a discount for people… More…
Posted in Gamification
19) Balancing rewards against effort in Gamification
Posted on August 4, 2015 
I have said it before, if you are going to use rewards, you have to get it right. Whilst there are arguments about the value and / or damage of rewards in gamified systems, they are still being used and I feel they are of value. One of the keys to getting the use of rewards… More…
Posted in Gamification
20) Mary Poppins was full of crap
Posted on July 30, 2015 
Ok, this has been bugging me for years. In Gamification, there are many things you hear again and again. It’s not about games, points are bad, intrinsic motivation is king. There are more, but the one I have an issue is a quote from that most famous of nannies (and most irresponsible in my mind)… More…
Posted in Gamification
21) Bribes, Incentives, Bonuses, Awards and Rewards in Gamification
Posted on July 27, 2015 
Recently there has been some conversation in the Gamification Hub and other areas about the difference between things like bribes, incentives and so on. It is actually an interesting and very relevant question in gamification circles as they all get mentioned from time to time, so I thought I would tackle it a little here.… More…
Posted in Gamification
22) Accenture makes a move I was talking about in 2013
Posted on July 23, 2015 
So a big bit of news in the consulting world is that Accenture has got rid of its annual performance reviews and rankings. This has had some level of fanfare as innovative and exciting. They of course are not alone. Deloitte is looking at doing the same thing and as the article says about 6%… More…
Posted in Gamification
23) A week of memes
Posted on July 17, 2015 
For some strange reason I have become obsessed with making memes recently! It may just be I have a couple of apps on the phone that make it easy now. Whatever the reasons, I thought I would share my last week or so of memes here with you guys. Also, I have not had a… More…
Posted in Gamification, Just for Fun
24) 4 Ways Extrinsic rewards bit me in the ass
Posted on July 13, 2015 
Not long ago I wrote about my daughters school and their usage of certificates to incentivise reading. The idea is that if a child reads a certain amount each half term, they can get a bronze, silver or gold certificate. As you may remember, I have spent a lot of time trying to encourage my… More…
Posted in Rants, Gamification
25) Virtual Economies
Posted on July 10, 2015 
A little free section from the new book 😉 Virtual economies are not as common an addition to a gamified system, but I wanted to include a little bit about them. Virtual economies can be based entirely in the virtual world, or can break that barrier and have some effect on the real world, depending… More…
Posted in Gamification
26) No Blog Post – New Book
Posted on July 3, 2015 
As you may have noticed, for the first time in over a year – there is no blog this week. The reason is two fold. 1. I have been insanely busy! 2. My spare time has been spent finally finishing up my second – as yet untitled – book! So, instead of a blog, here… More…
Posted in Gamification
27) Hidden in the User Types Hexad
Posted on June 25, 2015 
For the first time that I can remember, someone has asked a question about a little “hidden” feature of the User Types Hexad. Two secrets actually. Take a look at it now, what is odd?User Types HexadI love symmetry – it is a quirk of mine. I hate how… More…
Posted in Gaming, Gamification, Education
28) Amazon: Getting customer care wrong
Posted on June 22, 2015 
Recently my wife pre-ordered a book from Amazon. She put her order in the day after pre-orders opened and chose super-saver delivery. Her understandable assumption was that if she pre-ordered, then the book would at least be dispatched on the day of release. She knew she would have to wait a few days for delivery,… More…
Posted in Social Media, Gamification, Loyalty
29) The Green Button – A Short Story
Posted on June 19, 2015 
Hi all. A little self promotional, but it does have a gamification twist! I just published short story on WhatPad that some of you may enjoy. If I get a decent response, I will probably write some more around the concept. Below is short segment and a link to the full story. You do have… More…
Posted in Gamification
30) Getting rewards right. Recognise, don’t Bribe.
Posted on June 17, 2015 
One of the things that my daughters school like to do is give certificates to students for various achievements. Below are two that she has had over the last few months. Which one do you think she was happiest to get?Gold Award for reading 25 times in a term
… More…
Posted in Gamification, Loyalty, Education
31) Surprise and Delight with Google Photos
Posted on June 8, 2015 
Anyone who follows me on Twitter has, by now, noticed I have been sharing a load of stuff from Google Photos. For those who don’t know, this is a free service from Google that allows you to basically upload an unlimited number of photos (if you are happy with their “high quality” setting) and store… More…
Posted in Gamification, Loyalty
32) Generation Y all the Fuss?
Posted on June 5, 2015 
There is a lot of noise about Generation Y or Millennial’s, those born after 1982. They are seen as some kind of strange new evolution of the species, the saviours of our universe. One of the key things that is spoken about when they are mentioned is that they grew up with computers in their… More…
33) 5 essential P’s of gamification
Posted on June 4, 2015 
I always like to try and simplify concepts to help me explain them to people, hence I keep creating acronym based frameworks!! (RAMP, EEEE, GAME etc.). Well, my latest is five essential P’s that gamification projects have to have to stand a chance of any success. The scary thing is, that in many projects I have seen,… More…
Posted in Gamification
34) Flow and Trance – A Conversation
Posted on June 1, 2015 
Last year, Dutch Driver asked a question in the Gamification Hub Facebook group. Mario Yu-kai et al. were discussing the mobile game phenomenon, Flappy Bird, yesterday and Andrzej commented that the game destroyed our concept of “flow”…this has me thinking that frustration might also have “flow”. What do others say? Dutch Driver 6 February 2014 What… More…
Posted in Gamification
35) Self Preservation – Advice I give my daughters
Posted on May 28, 2015 
Many years ago I was looking at starting up a self defence class (I was teaching JuJitsu at the time). This document was based on conversations with people who had been attacked and reading up on the topic at the time. I never did anything with it, but now that I have daughters, it is… More…
36) How do you deal with being wrong?
Posted on May 26, 2015 
No really a gamification related post today, the it could pertain to the gamification community! It happens to us all at some point. Someone says something, you see something, read something, hear something – whatever – but it shakes the foundations of something you knew in your hear was correct. Until you discovered this new… More…
37) My love affair with text adventures
Posted on May 18, 2015 
I have to admit, I have always loved text adventures and choose your own adventures. From Lancelot on the Amstrad PCW8512, to 80 Days from Inkle Studios. The way text base adventures make you imagine the world you are in, for me, is priceless! Now, rather than write a standard blog post on this, I… More…
Posted in Gamification
38) 5 Groups of Fun
Posted on May 11, 2015 
One of my on-going side projects on the site is to find out more about what people find “fun”. This does not directly relate to the motivation related content on RAMP or the User Types though. It is all based on a simple question – “What do you find fun?” This is by no means… More…
Posted in Gaming, Opinion, Social Media
39) A-Z of Gamification
Posted on May 5, 2015 
This is a total cop-out of an article. However, I would love to hear your versions! It all came about when listening to an advert for a kids show called the Dinosaur Train, where there is a song that teaches A-Z using the names of Dinosaurs! On a side note, I will be speaking at… More…
Posted in Gamification
40) What can comedy teach us about gamification?
Posted on April 30, 2015 
I was reading an old article, on the Telegraph website, that had Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves explaining how comedy works. It was actually much more interesting that I had expected and offers valuable insights into how to apply gamification in a more engaging way. Whilst it is true that we all find different things… More…
Posted in Gamification
41) MINDSPACE – Influencing Behaviour
Posted on April 27, 2015 
Sometimes you come across stuff that you really wish you had come up with, but it is so good that shareing it is much better than trying to develop your own version! One such idea is that of MINDSPACE. In 2010 the British Government commisioned research into influencing behaviour through policy. What they produced was… More…
Posted in Gamification
42) Zombies Run! 5K – Attempting to get fit
Posted on April 23, 2015 
Well, the scales have shouted at me again and it is time to get in shape. I have let myself go over the last few years and my body is beginning to tell me off as well! I used to run, but always hated it. For a while I was trying to use Zombies Run!… More…
Posted in Gamification
43) 7 Deadly sins of making serious / educational games
Posted on April 14, 2015 
I wanted to add a short post just highlighting 7 things that I repeatedly see people doing wrong when they are making or considering making serious / educational games. This is by no means an exhaustive list though – I just like the idea of 7 deadly sins 😀 Assume because you think it is… More…
Posted in Gamification
44) It’s time for you to grow down a little
Posted on April 13, 2015 
One of the really obvious things that has come out of looking into play and fun, is how resistant us grown ups are to letting go and doing things that seem, on the surface of it, to be of no value. A framework for creating play-like systems Unleash your creativity with Story Cubes Introducing Lusory… More…
Posted in Gamification
45) Don’t be afraid to say no to Gamification
Posted on April 7, 2015 
Here is something that many who know me or know of me would be surprised to hear. Gamification is not always the answer! There, I said it. Often gamification is just a concept people have heard of and know may be of use. In these cases they will ask if it can be used as… More…
Posted in Gamification
46) Emergence: Learning to Love the Unintentional
Posted on April 4, 2015 
Emergence in Games #Emergence is a well known concept in game design. Emergent gameplay comes when players interact with the mechanics of the game creating situations that have not been deliberately designed. This could be deliberate game design or it could be unintentional. For instance, the game may offer several tools to solve a puzzle,… More…
Posted in Gaming, Gamification
47) Unleash your creativity with Story Cubes
Posted on March 27, 2015 
If you follow me on Twitter, it is unlikely that you will have missed the fact that I love a toy called Rory’s Story Cubes.,"allow_visitor":true,"allow_author":false,"votes_count_compact_show":true,"votes_count_compact_decimals":1,"cta":"","template":"default","alignment":"none","responsive":true,"distribution":"normalized","rating":"average","style_type":"image","style_name":"star","style_size":30,"font_color_empty":"#dddddd","font_color_current":"#ffff00","font_color_active":"#dd0000","style_class":"","labels":["Poor","Bad","Good","Great","Excellent"]}}