Gamification

I was wrong: A definition of gamification that should make sense to everyone!

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Gamification 2022 taller I was wrong A definition of gamification that should make sense to everyone

I was wrong… for many years in fact. So, here I am again, banging on about definitions. I have been here before, but usually trying to push through the idea of a more academic and “correct” definition of gamification. However, over the years I have realised that this is not much use to most people! I have banged my head against more tables and brick walls that I would care to mention trying to get people to understand “no, it’s not about games…. Well it could be… urm…”

This comes down to the fact that in the non-academic world, the word gamification, or gamify sits in a series of words that essentially mean to become more of something, or to become it! Read More ...

The Engagement Channel Model 2.0: Fun, Flow and Engagement

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Engagement Channel Model 2 0 The Engagement Channel Model 2 0 Fun Flow and Engagement

Fun. A three letter word you won’t hear me mention often when discussing gamification! Why? Well, fun is really subjective. What you find fun, I may not. However, for the purposes of this blog, we will assume I like fun as do you and when I mention fun – it means something you will find fun!

With that out of the way, here’s the thing. If you look at Flow or my Engagement Channel stuff, you will see that to enter flow and be truly engaged, the challenge of whatever you are doing should match or slightly exceed your current skill level. Read More ...

The Truth About Gamification: The Ugly, the Bad and the Good

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Gamification The Truth About Gamification The Ugly the Bad and the Good

Gamification is a little over 10 years old now, but has much really changed since its wild days of infancy?

I remember when I first started getting involved in 2011, it was a time of excitement, learning and playing. There were meetups, webinars, conferences, knowledge sharing and all sorts going in. It was liberal, free and fun!

But, as with all these things, over time that changed. Empires were built and lost, big corporates started to take ownership of ideas, the sharing and excitement gave way to to proprietary information and closely guarded secrets. Read More ...

New Solution & Gamification Design Lenses Card Deck

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20210826 162544 e1639666992327 New Solution 038 Gamification Design Lenses Card Deck

For the first time in a while, I have a sort of new product for you! The Solution & Gamification Design Lenses Card Deck!

Basically it is a series of cards that contain questions related to various frameworks I use in my life as a solution designer. They cover ground from the User Type HEXAD, to the COM-B behaviour change model and lots in between – including the “What’s the worst that could happen” card!

Available through DriveThruCards, they come as a deck of 44 cards – which is actually 2 decks of the 22 cards, just to try and make them better value for you. I am also providing a downloadable deck for you if you want that instead. Read More ...

The Danger of Unbalanced Incentives and Negative Expectations

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Reward 1630922108 The Danger of Unbalanced Incentives and Negative Expectations

I recently saw a news article that certain parts of America were trialling an incentive program to try and encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The idea was that individuals could earn $100 by getting vaccinated.

If you have ever read any of my work, you will probably know that I am not a big fan of large incentives to do things that should be done for intrinsic reasons. To me staying safe and keeping people safe is reason enough to take the vaccine – but hey – we are not all the same. Read More ...