Fair Play: More Important than Rules

Crying baby 1458216972 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! Read More ...

Why Games Are So Important – and other news

Games 1424086420 Why Games Are So Important 8211 and other news

It’s 2016 and what a lot has gone on already!

The biggest change is that I am now no longer part of Capgemini. I am now at G2G3 working on gamification – so a dream come true for me! I want to take a moment to thank everyone at Capgemini that supported me over the last 5 or so years.

Loads more to come, but you will see more content coming from me around work and from the G2G3 blog with luck.

In the mean time I have spent a while going back to the start of what gamification is and why I find it so important and interesting. Read More ...

What Pure Joy Looks Like

Pure joy What Pure Joy Looks Like
Anyone who has read my blog will know that my daughters are an inspiration to me on a regular basis. All of me research into play was initiated by watching them as was my little adventure into fun.Today I wanted to share with you an important lesson – what pure joy actually looks like.

The girls in a hurricane simulator at the London aquarium !

Posted by Andrzej Marczewski on Monday, 28 September 2015

This video was taken of my daughters at the London Aquarium in a hurricane Simulator. For £2, you lock the kids in for about 30 seconds and it simulates winds of around 80mph. Why? Because it is fun! It serves no purpose, there is no higher meaning, it is just (for some) an enjoyable experience.

It is good to be reminded that not everything needs to have a purpose to be important. That simple £2 investment gave my children an experience that cheered them up after a lot of walking and that created smiles and memories that are priceless. Read More ...

Hidden in the User Types Hexad

User types hexad mystery Hidden in the User Types Hexad

For the first time that I can remember, someone has asked a question about a little “hidden” feature of the User Types Hexad. Two secrets actually.

Take a look at it now, what is odd?

I love symmetry – it is a quirk of mine. I hate how my kids build with LEGO, they always put the wrong colours together and use odd numbers of bricks and the like! Drives the little picky part of my brain insane. That’s part of why I have the hexagon shape, it is perfectly symmetrical – except for the circle in the middle. Read More ...

5 Groups of Fun

Fun types v3 5 Groups of Fun

One of my on-going side projects on the site is to find out more about what people find “fun”. This does not directly relate to the motivation related content on RAMP or the User Types though. It is all based on a simple question – “What do you find fun?

This is by no means a comprehensive study and in reality you are far better off considering Nicole Lazzaro’s 4Keys2Fun! However, I am finding it interesting to see what people say.

I have previously released basic results that identified 21 unique things that people find fun. This is based on around 180 responses to the question, but show a distinct pattern. From these 21 “types”, I have started to pull together five distinct groups. Read More ...