I’ve been busy making videos of late, here are the last few. Some tutorials, a few rants and a bit of fun 🙂
Opinion
Focused Feedback and Attainable, Maintainable Goals
Don’t Mention Gamification
I was challenged recently to talk about gamification without mentioning games or gamification! The reason is that many people have not got time to dive too deep into the meanings and on its own, gamification as a word is confusing, to say the least. So, I took to YouTube and had a go!
My thoughts revolved around two core concepts; Focused Feedback and Attainable, Maintainable Goals.
Focused Feedback
Feedback is essential for engagement in anything we do, whether it is related to our job, social life or hobbies. Without feedback, we don’t know where we, how we are doing or where we are going. Not having feedback is like driving without seeing the road or a map!
5 Steps to a Happier Life with Gamification
Ok, this sounds a little “self helpy”, but it came to me when I was doing a lecture for a group of Masters students at Kings College recently. I ended the talk, rather by accident, with the following advice
“Always be sure you know why you are doing things, understand their purpose. It helps to then work towards small goals. That way no task, no matter how big – even the crushing student debt you probably have right now – will be manageable”
Anyone who has seen me speak knows that I get quite passionate. What they may not know is that I react to the audience and adapt my talks accordingly. This group were great and it felt right to give them a little ad-hoc advice. it got me thinking, though, what lessons from gamification am I applying in my own life day to day?
Save Your Best Songs for the Encore
Years ago I read an interview with a musician (whose name escapes me), where he was giving advice to new musicians. There was lots of good stuff, but the one that really stuck with me was this.
Save your best songs for the encore, even if you never get the chance to play them.
At the time, this struck me as very odd. However, over the years I have started to see where this guy was going. The first thing is that all your songs should be good – if you rely on one or two and the rest are fillers, people will notice. If you are so confident in your songs that you can leave the ones you feel are best for a potentially never heard encore, you are on to a winner!
Are You Building a Solution Looking for a Problem?
One of the big issues I see in gamification and many young industries is the issue of building a solution for problems that don’t really exist!
“We are using a gamified solution to increase engagement”.
“Awesome, why?”
“Um, because it will increase engagement…”
“Cool, but why, what problem have you identified that can only be solved by investing in gamification?”
“Um…. go away I hate you…”
This happened a lot with social media. Everyone needed to be on Twitter but had no idea why, or how to use it.