Opinion

What if they don’t want to play?

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Engage Luc Picard 1024x682 1 What if they don 8217 t want to play

One of the questions I get asked all the time is,

“What if people just don’t want to play your game? How do you engage them?”.

The answer comes in two parts, both as important as each other. One you may not like, but you have to accept it!

The first is, make sure you have designed the system properly.  If you have just added some badges and a leaderboard, then you are going to engage a very small number of people for any length of time. Consider looking at the User Types and design more to support them. People often say that people don’t engage with gamification because gamification is bad. The truth is that many gamification designers are bad – and so they create bad gamification. This is true of any industry and especially new technology, just think how wrong most companies got social media at the beginning!
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The Puzzle of Problem Solving

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Problem The Puzzle of Problem Solving

First off, can I ask you all to go and take my new User Types test? I really want to test it out. Let me know if you think to results are fair or way off. Ping me on twitter (@daverage) and thanks!

This week I wanted to outline my process of problem solving. This may sound strange and it may be utter rubbish, but many have commented on how I go about it!

Problems are like puzzles that need to be solved. You know what the desired outcome is, you just have to figure out how to get there with the information you have available. Read More ...

3 Layers of Motivation (Updated for 2018)

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Layers of motivation 2017 3 Layers of Motivation Updated for 2018

The more I consider motivation, the more I realise it is one of those things we in gamification use as a catch-all. It’s a bit like how we treat the term “game mechanics” and, well, gamification!

Generally speaking, you will hear the terms intrinsic and extrinsic when motivation is spoken about. You will hear Deci & Ryan, Dan Pink, Maslow and more spoken about. However, when it comes down to it our argument is always the same. Intrinsic motivation is always better than extrinsic rewards. At times you will also hear a further comment that a balance of extrinsic rewards and intrinsic motivation will yield the best results. Read More ...

Why I use Thin Layer Gamification on my Blog

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Jumping captain a6e261d2babd6e4c4b8e35863578477e Why I use Thin Layer Gamification on my Blog

One of the things I have been asked on occasion is why I have included the Captain Up gamification platform on my blog. In my own words, I would describe it as “Short Term, Thin Layer” gamification (something I will elaborate on in a future blog). A layer of veneer that has little or no long-term engagement possibilities. The reason is because I wanted to. Simple as that. I thought that some people who read my blog may find it a bit of fun – short term or not. I have a few hidden Easter egg style rewards on there, but for the most part is a vanilla install that people can play if they like or ignore if they choose. Read More ...

What is a game or Why There is a Time and a Place for Philosophical Debates.

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Rules rule What is a game or Why There is a Time and a Place for Philosophical Debates

After my last item about serious games (Too Broad a Term to be Meaningful), one topic of debate came up. How can we determine if the term Serious Games is too broad, if we don’t really understand what games are?

I have looked into this question before and it has to be said, at an academic and philosophical level – it is muddy as hell. Generally it is accepted that a game is structure play (where play is free from form and rules). Here are a few definitions (taken mostly from Wikipedia).

Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is often cited as discussing games in great detail in his book “Philosophical Investigations” in 1953. The simplest quote i can find about his view (that may well be paraphrased!) was Read More ...