Education

Self Importance and Ego in the Era of Gurus

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Ego 1551718426 Self Importance and Ego in the Era of Gurus

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 ...

Introduction to Gamification Part 3: Games, Play and Toys

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In the last part of my introduction to gamification, I explained a little about my thoughts on Games Based Solutions, but I didn’t really explain what a game actually is. The reason for that is, it is a little complicated from an academic perspective. Now, that doesn’t really affect you in a business setting or as you undertake your job as a gamification designer, but it is always useful to have a deeper understanding of things you are speaking about.

Play

Let’s start with play as this is the foundation of games. There are many thoughts on play, I have a whole ebook and sections of Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play dedicated to it. However, in this introduction series, I want to try and keep things simple! Read More ...

Introduction to Gamification Part 2: Game Based Solutions

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In part 1, we spent some time discussing what gamification is and isn’t. In Part 2, we are going to take a look at something that was introduced previously, but not explored; Game Based Solutions. My definition of Game Based Solutions is as follows:

The use of games and game-like app­roaches to solve problems and create better exp­e­ri­ences.

This expands upon gamification by including games as part of the toolkit for solving problems. This opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities when you are looking at solutions to client challenges. Gamification may be ideal for one product, but a training issue may be best solved with a serious game, which I will explain in a moment! Read More ...

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