My love affair with text adventures

Adventure engine 4 My love affair with text adventures

I have to admit, I have always loved text adventures and choose your own adventures. From Lancelot on the Amstrad PCW8512, to 80 Days from Inkle Studios. The way text base adventures make you imagine the world you are in, for me, is priceless!

Now, rather than write a standard blog post on this, I decided to test out my latest text adventure engine – and write the post in there. It does not play well with phones yet I am sorry to say.

Click to give the Why I love Adventure games “adventure” a try. Read More ...

A-Z of Gamification

Alphabet 1430830397 A Z of Gamification

This is a total cop-out of an article. However, I would love to hear your versions! It all came about when listening to an advert for a kids show called the Dinosaur Train, where there is a song that teaches A-Z using the names of Dinosaurs!

On a side note, I will be speaking at Gamification World Congress in November. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on topics. I was considering a story about real loyalty, but if you want to hear about User Types again or anything else – let me know in the comments! Read More ...

What can comedy teach us about gamification?

Comedy 1430402323 What can comedy teach us about gamification

I was reading an old article, on the Telegraph website, that had Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves explaining how comedy works. It was actually much more interesting that I had expected and offers valuable insights into how to apply gamification in a more engaging way.

Whilst it is true that we all find different things funny, the general way in which jokes are constructed and delivered is as important as the content or the context of them.

Surprise

Surprise is the fundamental joke mechanism. Most punchlines rely on an element of surprise – that’s why they’re not funny the third time you hear them. Read More ...

MINDSPACE – Influencing Behaviour

Mindspace2 MINDSPACE 8211 Influencing Behaviour

Sometimes you come across stuff that you really wish you had come up with, but it is so good that shareing it is much better than trying to develop your own version!

One such idea is that of MINDSPACE.

In 2010 the British Government commisioned research into influencing behaviour through policy. What they produced was a report that we in gamification should find really useful – all revolving around this MINDSPACE acronym.

  • Messenger: we are heavily influenced by who communicates information
  • Incentives: our responses to incentives are shaped by predictable mental shortcuts, such as strongly avoiding losses
  • orms: we are strongly influenced by what others do
  • Defaults: we ‘go with the flow’ of pre-set options
  • Salience: our attention is drawn to what is novel and seems relevant to us
  • riming: our acts are often influenced by sub-conscious cues
  • Affect: our emotional associations can powerfully shape our actions
  • Commitments: we seek to be consistent with our public promises, and reciprocate acts
  • Ego: we act in ways that make us feel better about ourselves

Rather brilliantly, they released all the info in a couple of reports. So follow these links for loads more info, it is really good stuff (if a little worrying that the government are look at how to control us this way…). Read More ...

Zombies Run! 5K – Attempting to get fit

Zombies 5k Zombies Run 5K 8211 Attempting to get fit

Well, the scales have shouted at me again and it is time to get in shape. I have let myself go over the last few years and my body is beginning to tell me off as well!

I used to run, but always hated it. For a while I was trying to use Zombies Run! from Six to Start, however there was an assumption that you were already fit enough to run in the first place. This time, I thought I would start slow and steady with the help of Zombies Run’s baby sibling – Zombies Run 5K.

It is an app that takes you through an 8 week program that should help you get from couch potato (me) to someone who can run 5 kilometres. Obviously there is nothing all that new about this idea. What Zombies Run! adds to the equation is a narrative that helps to keep you going through the exercises. Read More ...