Andrzej Marczewski

Gamification Expert, author, consultant and designer. I love to write about it, talk about it and bore people to death with it! If you really want to get to know me, check out the About page.

Books, Music, Advice, Return to Quality Content and Stuff

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Cover banner Books Music Advice Return to Quality Content and Stuff

Hi all.

So, I wanted to give a bit of a life update as the site has been lacking in what I would consider “quality content”. I have had to take a bit of a step back recently for various reasons. I have been writing here about gamification for since 2011 on an almost weekly basis. At some stage, you run out of ideas! I also have just finished the new book, so needed to distract myself away from gamification a little.

As such, I have been doing more music-related content on YouTube.  Every year I try to challenge myself with something new. This year it was to start doing more around guitar, a passion of mine for the past 25 years. This saw me starting up the YouTube channel and just this week releasing some music on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play. Read More ...

World Mental Health Day

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Depression 1539183016 World Mental Health Day

On World Mental Health day, I thought it was important to remind people of one thing. Mental health is not a rude term. It should not have shame or stigma attached to it. If you suffer from any kind of mental health issue, you should not feel you have to hide it.

Over the last few years, I have made no secrets of my issues and struggles with mental health, issues that have plagued me since I was 9 or 10 trying to manage school whilst being seriously dyslexic, getting no support from the school! This, I am sure, is what triggered the start of my problems with depression and anxiety. My Mum also suffered from similar issues, and at least one of my children has similar. Read More ...

New Book: Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play Unicorn Edition (Special Price)

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Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play Title New Book Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play Unicorn Edition Special Price

So, after much time wasted for various reasons my new Gamification book, Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Unicorn Edition is finally available on Amazon as a paperback. The eBook will be available on Monday!

This is a much bigger book, with around 100 extra pages since the last version. Also, the majority of chapters have had some sort of update. There are some that have remained untouched, but not many!

For 1 week it will be available for the price of £12.99 (or equivalent local price), but will rise to around £15.99 after that – so if you want a copy, now is the time to grab it. The eBook will be £9.99 or £2.99 if you buy the paperback version.  Below is the main index, so you can see what has changed. Here is a free chapter to check out as well – “How to Use Narrative to Create
Deeper Experiencesr” Read More ...

Beware of Popularity Contests

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Book thumbs Beware of Popularity Contests

Voting. A fair and representational way to decide if A is better than B… Isn’t it? A simple mechanic where people are asked to express their opinion by way of simply ticking a box, or clicking a button or whatever.

However, as we can see time and time again, this is not actually as fair as it seems on the face of it. Instead of being a fair view of what people feel about something, it actually turns into a popularity contest.

If you set up a competition where the criteria is “he who has the most votes wins”, what do you think is going to happen? Are those invovled going to just sit back and wait for votes to come in, or are they going to campaign? If they campaign, who will they campaign to? Will they be people who can make an informed decision on what is actually the best option, or will it be friends, family and social media followers? Worse still, will it be people who have been encouraged into voting (read bribed)? Read More ...

The Number One Mistake in Gamification Design

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Error 1536917247 The Number One Mistake in Gamification Design

Ok, so this is going to polarise you guys a little, but MY number one mistake in gamification design, as I personally see it…

Designing the solution that you want rather than what the client needs. Note I am saying what the client needs not what they want. 

When designing a solution, it is easy to get caught up in how cool and how fun it can be. Then you start to work on great designs that you love. You take them to the client and you start to explain why your idea and design is absolutely the best solution. Soon you are building your personal pet project, rather than actually solving the problems the client had. Read More ...