Gamification Lessons from Candy Crush and Soda Saga
Candy Crush Saga from King games is one of the worlds most played games, boasting 93 million daily players at one point! I have always avoided it, but my wife has been into it...
Author: Andrzej Marczewski
Risk and Reward in Gamification
Recently I have been playing a game called Punch, Punch, Kick, Punch (PPKP). It is a simple mobile game that only requires 2 buttons to play. One is kick, one is punch. As you...
Reward Excellence not Mediocrity and Expectation
When designing a reward system, it is easy to be tempted to reward everything! “Hey, you clicked on a button – woot”. “Awesome, you clicked that button twice, go you!” “OMG, you clicked that...
Optimal Experience in Gamification
In gamification, we often speak about Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow, a quick search of my site will bring up more than few posts on the topic. However, as I have pointed out before, we are...
Ethics in Gamification
I was recently asked to write an article on the ethics of gamification for the ACM’s student publication XRDS. Here it is! It should download a PDF. I would love to hear your thoughts 🙂...
A Challenge for My Readers – Micro Story Telling
It has been weeks since I last spoke about narratives and stories. I just wanted to pass a thought by you that fits in nicely with my stuff on Narrative Atoms and to set...
The Trouble With Types
Player Types and User Types, I’m not gonna lie, I love ’em. I imagine that is obvious considering I have spent so long making my own! However, it’s time for a bit of a...
Keeping it Real in Fantasy Worlds
A Game of Rules Richard Bartle recently raised a really interesting point about certain fantasy based shows and games after watching Game of Thrones. His complaint was that even in fantasy worlds, there need to...
I Am Applying Gamification Because…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the key pitfalls of applying something like gamification is not knowing what the problem really is or why you are applying gamification in...
Using Gamification to Elevate Design
Whatever you think you think gamification is or what it is for, if you have used it it is usually for one reason – to increase engagement with something. You may not have defined...
New Book and some Slides
Quick update of stuff! First, I have a new book out called “The Little Cog”. You may recognise that as I have told the story here before. It is about a little cog who...
The Intrinsic Motivation Fallacy
“All you need is autonomy to be happy in work” This is a quote I have heard on more than one occasion in my life as a gamification consultant. I have even had a...
#Gamification: Voting Mechanics
Balancing systems is a time consuming but highly important part of any gamified design. Getting the points per action right, knowing how to reward each activity. Ensuring the narrative is well rounded and keeps...
The Game Thinking Spectrum
A quick thought around my original Game Thinking content from a few years back. I often listen to others talking about gamification, serious games and the like, as if they had no relationship to...
