I don’t often post press releases on this site, but I thought this one was worth doing!
The serious games industry has a new global news site, the first international medium authored by journalists dedicated to covering serious games — www.seriousgamesindustry.com.Updated daily, the site covers worldwide news, interviews and case studies of companies using serious games for training and education and has started a directory of products as well as a calendar of upcoming conferences. Sign up for a free weekly digest of industry news at the site.Launched at the end of 2015, the site is edited by journalist, Ronnie Dungan, who brings more than 25 years’ B2B editorial and publishing experience to the venture, including positions with MCV, a leading international media publication covering video games, and its predecessor, CTW.“Our aim is to make our site the news and information hub for everything to do with serious games and the use of gamification elements in learning and training. Research is proving that the application of games is growing rapidly with a huge potential,” Dungan said.Seriousgamesindustry.com is looking for content – product and company news, case histories and contributed articles.“The site is very much in its infancy so we need content, engagement and dialogue from professionals in the industry,” Dungan said. “Our goal is to create something valuable to both providers and clients.”Gamification
Excel Template to Calculate Activity Value
A while back I wrote an article about how you have to balance the reward value of activities against the value to the client, user and effort.
The basic idea was that if a user has to work hard to get a reward, it had better be worth something. At the same time, if the value of the activity is high to the client, the reward should also be worth having.
At the time I wrote that, I developed a simple spreadsheet to help me calculate reward values for activities for a client I was working with. I thought I would share that with you to help you with your projects as well.
Fair Play: More Important than Rules
In gamification, we often talk about rules. They split games from play, fair from foul. However, just because you have rules, does not mean that everyone will feel that the game is fair!
This came to mind when I watched my youngest daughter’s reaction to being told she could not take a teddy bear to the nursery. The reasons / rules were explained, but that was not of consequence. Up until this point she had always brought toys in and more importantly – so had her friends. “It’s not fair” was about all we could understand through the distraught crying!
Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Errata
I would like to thank Alisa Odincova for pointing out an error in the references for Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play.
“[…] a word like “game” points to a somewhat diffuse “system” of prototype frames, among which some frame-shifts are easy, but others involve more strain”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Marczewski, Andrzej (2015-10-12). Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Gamification, Game Thinking & Motivational Design (Kindle Locations 357-359).
Gamified UK. Kindle Edition.
I referenced this as Wittgenstein, L. Philosophical Investigations. GEM Anscombe, (1953).
Progress: Central to Gamification
When we look at the 5 Ps of gamification, it is very easy to overlook all of the meanings of Progress. Just as a reminder, the 5 Ps are; Purpose, Progress, Proficiency, Pride and People.
Progress can mean different things to different people. If you ask the great and powerful Google, it tells you
- forward or onward movement towards a destination.
“the darkness did not stop my progress”- development towards an improved or more advanced condition.
“we are making progress towards equal rights”
The first definition is what most people think about when they think about progress. Heading towards a defined destination. When people hear progress and gamification in the same sentence, they usually think of this.