Whilst I am away for a few days, I though I would fill the gap with a quick post for you all. A few gamification tips.
A few gamification tips
Opinion
Why am I interested in Gamification?
This is a question many ask me – including myself!
The answer is complicated I suppose, but worth mentioning here.
Many feel that gamification is nothing more than an invention of consultants hell bent on making money from corporations who want to control their employees. In some instances this may even be true!
The fact is, I got involved because of a love of games that goes back over thirty years. I have always loved games, playing them , creating them and learning from them. One of my earliest memories of gaming was my father creating me a maths games. It was very simple, on an early Spectrum. All it did was ask you maths questions and you had to answer. It would congratulate you and I seem to remember there was some graphic representation of your success.
[Updated] What gamification is to me – My definition
Updated September 2015!
As you know, over the weekend I picked a fight with Gartner over their redefinition of gamification.http://blogs.gartner.com/brian_burke/2014/04/04/gartner-redefines-gamification/ and http://gamified.uk/2014/04/05/a-response-to-gartners-new-definition-of-gamification/
The conversation turned to a bit of a bun fight, so I have now stepped away a little. However, it got me thinking about my own definition and why I use it and what gamification in general means to me.
However, I have decided to change it a little, to give it more scope and with luck make the aims clearer.
A response to Gartner’s new definition of gamification
On April the 4th, Brian Burke, via his blog announced that Gartner had changed its definition of gamification. It would be;
“the use of game mechanics and experience design to digitally engage and motivate people to achieve their goals”
http://blogs.gartner.com/brian_burke/2014/04/04/gartner-redefines-gamification/
At first I chuckled. This was very similar to the definition I use in my book;
“the application of gaming metaphors to real life tasks to influence behaviour, improve motivation and enhance engagement.”
Rules, magic circles and other ways to avoid misfortune
A while back I wrote a piece called Rules Rule, but Shouldn’t Rule Everything. The upshot of the article was that you have to have rules for things to work, but you also have to understand the rules to be able to bend and break them when needed.
Rules are really important in gamified systems, they collapse without them. Some rules are explicit and set by the system. These are the ones that you can’t break without hacking or breaking the system. Others are implicit or implied. These are the ones where trouble can sneak in.