Education

Take A Step Back Before Going Off the Rails…

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Train 1557504047 Take A Step Back Before Going Off the Rails 8230

Just a short thought for your today. When building or designing anything, it is very easy to get caught up in your own thoughts and ideas. Introspection is fine, but from time to time you need to step back and just ask yourself a few simple questions;

  • Am I still solving the client’s problem?
  • Am I still staying true to the original vision for the solution
    • If not, why not?
    Is the solution still viable? Is the solution still going to prove valuable to the users as well as the client? Has anyone released a better solution whilst I have been building this one?

    If you are not happy with your answers to any of these questions, then you need to take a moment to consider how you are going to fix that before moving on.

    Blundering on blindly, even though you know there are things you are not happy with, will not lead you to a solution you are proud of or that your client will truly find valuable. Read More ...

Analogue vs Digital Gamification

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Gamification is often thought about as a digital realm, but that is not the case at all! Some of the best gamification I have seen has been “analogue”, or not digital. I myself have written about simple gamification experiments with eh kids that were entirely paper-based.

Just like games, gamification can be just as effective in the non-digital world as it can in the digital world. Think about it, games have existed since history began, with games like Senet being dated back to 3000BC in Egypt and evidence of dice like objects as far back as 5000BC. Read More ...

Self Importance and Ego in the Era of Gurus

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Just a quick one (yeah another quick one) whilst I finish off the reward schedule chapter of my Introduction to Gamification series!

I was recently doing a series of talks which gave me reason to pause and reflect a little on my position in the world of gamification.

I have been around for a while in relation to a young industry, since about 2011. That puts me in a position to have been actually at the leading edge of the growth of the industry along with a few other highly notable people. Many of them are still around, some have moved on to greener or newer pastures. Read More ...

Introduction to Gamification Part 5: Goals and Feedback

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The core of gamification can be boiled down to two key components. Goals and Feedback. Of course, there is more going on that supports these, but those are the two keys of gamification.

Gamified systems need to set specific tasks for users to complete, and then provide them with feedback as they progress towards completing those tasks. A good gamified system then uses other techniques, elements, mechanics etc to support the user towards those goals.

The hard bit is setting good goals, creating good feedback mechanisms and wrapping the experience in something that is engaging! But that is for later. Read More ...

Introduction to Gamification Part 4: Motivation (R.A.M.P, Maslow, SDT and more)

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Warning, this is one of my longest blogs ever!

Now we know a bit about what games, gamification and game-based solutions are (and are not), it’s time to start to consider some of the non-game related topics you need to understand to be good at building game-based solutions. The first of these is motivation.

In gamification we tend to look at motivation in varying depths, starting from a very simple perspective with just two options. Intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation.

The most basic way to look at this is that activities that are intrinsically motivating are those that people will do because they want to or appreciate the benefits of doing them. Activities that require rewards, extrinsic motivation, people do because there is a reward, not because they want to do it. It is not quite as black and white as that, but it is a good starting point – read on! Read More ...

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