Gamification

Creating a Balanced System for All User HEXAD Types: An Evolving Perspective

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Hexad banner 1 Creating a Balanced System for All User HEXAD Types An Evolving Perspective

Designing a system that works for everyone isn’t a simple task. It’s more like trying to build a jigsaw puzzle while the pieces keep changing shape. But that’s exactly what makes it interesting, isn’t it? The Hexad Framework gives us a good start by identifying six key user types—Players, Achievers, Socialisers, Free Spirits, Philanthropists, and Disruptors. Each has its quirks and motivations, but these aren’t fixed in stone. People grow, and their motivations evolve.

This isn’t about creating a system that forces users into static categories. It’s about recognising that motivations shift over time and building something that adapts and supports that evolution. Read More ...

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Some AI Insights into the HEXAD User Types

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File 6bE6cpxrTmWciBkTZ6k4wY Some AI Insights into the HEXAD User Types

I recently downloaded the latest response stats for the HEXAD 12 User Types test, and fed them into ChatGPT to analyse. I thought it was very interesting what came back, and it supported what I had observed in the past – so thought I would share it here!

1. Gender-Based Trends

Females:

  • Predominantly align with Socialiser and Philanthropist types, indicating a strong preference for community engagement and altruistic behaviors.
  • The dominance of Socialiser decreases slightly in older age groups, replaced by Philanthropist, reflecting a shift toward purpose-driven motivations.

Males:

  • Tend to exhibit Achiever and Player traits, emphasizing goal-oriented behaviors, competitions, and extrinsic rewards.
  • Achiever remains a strong motivator across all age groups for males, with Player peaking in younger users and declining over time.

2. Age Group Dominance

Younger Users (18–29):

  • Continue to show higher prevalence of Free Spirit traits, reflecting a desire for autonomy, exploration, and creative freedom.
  • Player traits are also slightly stronger in this age group, indicating the appeal of rewards and achievements early in life.

Older Users (30–49):

  • Display more balanced traits, with notable increases in Philanthropist motivations, suggesting a shift toward altruism and purpose-driven engagement.
  • Achiever remains prominent, indicating continued goal-oriented behavior.

3. Gender and Age Interaction

Younger Females (18–20):

  • Exhibit strong Socialiser and Philanthropist tendencies, valuing relationships, community, and purpose.
  • Free Spirit is also significant, reflecting creativity and independence.

Older Males (30–49):

  • Demonstrate higher inclinations toward Achiever and Free Spirit, focusing on mastery, autonomy, and personal growth.

4. Players Are Reward-Oriented but Underrepresented

  • Player remains one of the least dominant traits across all groups but is more pronounced in younger users (18–20), aligning with early-stage life goals and aspirations.
  • This suggests that gamified reward systems may resonate well with younger users but require a balanced approach for older demographics.

5. Philanthropists Increase with Age Read More ...

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Why Gorillas (and Games) are such good Teachers

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Gorillas Why Gorillas and Games are such good Teachers

Games have always been excellent tools for teaching and learning. There are plenty of reasons why this may be, but for me, it comes down to one simple thing – they give context to the materials.

Let us for a moment take a simple example—projectile paths.

We could look at the equation

Or, we could add context to the idea and play Gorillas instead, where we get to alter the velocity and angle of a player throwing a projectile at another player.

https://github.com/HunorMarton/gorillas

Obviously, the game is more fun. We are learning about how velocity, launch angles and gravity all work to create parabolic projectile paths in a fun way. Do you learn everything? No, but it gives context to the formula and brings it to life. Read More ...

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Is Gamification Really a Long Term Solution to Anything?

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Designer 5 Is Gamification Really a Long Term Solution to Anything

When you look at how gamification has been used over the years, I personally have seen the greatest successes coming from short term “interventions”.

  • Use gamification to improve onboarding into a product
  • Use it to make a learning module, or course more interesting
  • Use it to learn a few words in another language
  • Use it to help build better excercise habits
  • Use it to build better medication routines

All of these have great success stories, but by their nature are short interventions being used to either reduce the barrier to entry, create short term engagement or help to build intrinsic habits.

I ask you this – who has become fluent in a language using Duo Lingo?

However, gamification experts (myself included) always talk about gamification being better used as a long term strategic change, rather than a quick win enabler? Read More ...

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The Gamified UK Behaviour Change Model

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Gamified UK Behaviour Change Model The Gamified UK Behaviour Change Model

Yeah, a bold title – but AI told me it was true and ok to use!

Over the years I have looked at various behaviour change models and have used them in varying degrees. Early on, if you look at my blog and books I used BJ Fogg a lot. These days it is referred to as B=MAP; Behaviour = Motivation * Ability * Prompt. It used to be B=MAT – T being trigger. I think prompt is better as it covers more ground.

More recently I have been using COM-B model for behaviour change. This was created by Susan Michie, Maartje M van Stralen, Robert West. I liked this model because there was a lot more behind it and it introduces capability and opportunity, splitting out ability into “Can you personally do it” and “Is it possible to do”. I then adds this to motivation to create a flexible model. Read More ...

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