This is really cool. I didn’t make it either, Sinan Sensivas did.
It is an interactive mind map of my Hexad and game mechanics. It’s really fun and an interesting way to learn it all.
Take a look and say hi to Sinan on Twitter
Gaming
UK Games Industry Aims to Tackle Loneliness in the Uk With Play & Talk Weekend
I don’t often share press releases here, but this seemed to be a very important and timely announcement from UKIE!
17th June 2020: This weekend, 20th–21st June, the UK games industry is calling on the British public to gather online to play and talk together in a united effort to tackle loneliness in the UK.
The PLAY & Talk weekend is taking place during National Loneliness Awareness Week and is part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) #Let’sTalkLoneliness campaign, which aims to tackle the stigma of loneliness.
Across the Play & Talk weekend people of all ages, whether or not they consider themselves video game players, are encouraged to find just one hour to play together online,re-connect with loved ones or friends and have a conversation with the aim of reducing loneliness.
A recent survey conducted by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found people aged 16 to 24 are more than twice as likely (50.8%) to have experienced loneliness during the ongoing lockdown combating the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Video games have given many of us a form of escapism in lockdown and brought many people together as they connect online,” commented Creative Industries Minister Caroline Dinenage. “So this weekend, as part of our Let’s Talk Loneliness campaign, I encourage people to pick your game of choice, play with family and friends but also take time to talk about how you are feeling and faring.
“We have to take a variety of approaches to tackle loneliness and I am delighted that the video games sector is on board supporting our important work in this area.”
Play & Talk is being supported by more than 50 video game businesses including EA, 2K, Ubisoft, Sega and Wargaming. It is also being supported by influencers, including The Yogscast Network, to share directly with their communities.
“We’ve seen people around the world turn to video games to socialise and have fun with friends and family during the pandemic,” said Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie). “It’s when we’re in these friendly and relaxed environments that we feel most at ease opening up, and right now there’s no better or safer way for people to do that than in video games.”
To support the initiative, askaboutgames has put together some practical tips on how to take part in the Play & Talk weekend, as well as some suggestions for family-friendly games people can play together online. While there, parents and carers can also read more about the Get Smart About P.L.A.Y campaign, offering advice about family controls on video game consoles.
The Play & Talk Weekend follows the Games for Carers initiative, which saw the UK video game industry make thousands of video games available for free to NHS workers to say thank you for their heroic efforts during the pandemic.
In April Ukie also announced a partnership with CALM to highlight the positive effects video games have had during lockdown.
About Ukie
Ukie is the trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, representing over 480 games businesses and organisations across the country.
A not-for-profit, it represents businesses of all sizes creating and publishing games across all platforms as well as a wide range of partner members providing valuable services to the video games industry.
Ukie also runs or contributes to a number of additional initiatives aimed at supporting the sector including Digital Schoolhouse, responsible play site askaboutgames.com and Games London (created in partnership with Film London).
Website: ukie.org.uk
Contact: [email protected]
Free Printable Games
Hi all.
In this crazy time, I thought I would share a few games that I have made over the last couple of years to either entertain myself or the kids! They are all very simple but might help kill a few hours. Any feedback on them would be also greatly appreciated. They are all very simple looking btw, no fancy graphics!
There will be one more soon, once the kids have had a chance to play it. But head to the gamification hub on Facebook if you want to get a try now. It is a simple escape room type puzzle game.
Wraith King
This is the most complex. It is a solo or co-op tile-based dungeon crawl. I enjoy playing this from time to time when I am stuck for something to do. The world evolves as you play to try and defeat the Wraith King in his lair.
Shortcut
This is my favourite (and the kids). It was born on a napkin in a restaurant when my youngest was very board. I wanted something more interesting than snakes and ladders. I bought some drywipe pens and some drywipe sleeves to make the game reusable.
Pens: https://amzn.to/2XkkxEL
Sleeves: https://amzn.to/3bW1qoC
Driver
The simplest game, with 2 difficulty “settings”. Just race around the track!
Gamification: Adding Constraints to Add Fun
It may sound counter-intuitive, but in my experience, adding constraints to activities can make them not only more fun – but can help generate very creative solutions to problems.
When we talk about gamification and especially when we speak about motivations, we often talk about Agency and Autonomy (the A in RAMP). This would lead you to believe that for certain groups to engage, you need to give them total freedom to do whatever they want.
However, it can often be more interesting to allow freedom within a strict set of constraints. You only have £1000 to complete this task, you have 10 minutes, you have 3 lives etc.
It’s these constraints that force you to really consider your actions carefully. If you overspend, will you be able to complete the task? If you spend too long on a minor detail, will the overall task fail? If you only have three chances, do you waste them on poorly thought out strategies?
When building a gamified solution, consider how you can restrain your users from just randomly trying everything, by imposing small constraints. Use them to force reflection about each choice they make. They will feel that those choices have more impact if they had to decide what sacrifices to make to get there.
Being Silly and a Flash Christmas Sale
How do gamification folk! You all ready for Christmas?
So a very short blog, you may have noticed I’ve taken it a bit easier this year, everyone deserves a break 😀
Being Silly
It sounds very unbusinesslike, but it is so important just to do things for fun from time to time. I’ve spoken about Easter Eggs in the past, but I wanted to just briefly revisit them.
Easter Eggs are a reward for people who want to explore deeper than most would. I firmly believe that you should try to include them whenever you can, even if there is a risk people will never find them! It’s like an encore from a band. There is always the risk that people will never see it.
Make them silly, make them fun and make people smile and feel that it was worth the effort of finding them.
So for instance. If you know THE cheat code, it may or may not do something on this site 😉
Christmas Sale
If you don’t have it already, I have dropped the Full Monkey Bundle (as I have just decided to call it) to £20. This is the Gamification Design Tool Kit, Inspiration Cards and Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Unicorn Edition as a downloadable package – bargain!
You can grab it here until the 2nd of January 🙂 [purchase_link id=”7087″ style=”button” color=”red” text=”The Full Monkey” direct=”true”]