5 Steps to a Happier Life with Gamification

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Gamification for a happier life 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? Read More ...

Really Simple Gamification – Randomness

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IMG 0377 Really Simple Gamification 8211 Randomness

Recently my daughter decided to start her YouTube videos again. Previously she had been doing “opening” videos, where she opened toys nod spoke about them. However, now she wanted to do some more fun spots, with challenges. Her first idea was “The Hot Sauce Challenge”. Basically, eat a spoon of really hot sauce and record the funny reaction. The trouble with that though, it’s not much fun.

One of my favourite definitions of games revolves around deliberately putting obstacles n the way of tasks. The basic idea of eating hot sauce is very simple. However, if you add an obstacle, say an element of randomness, you start to form a game. Read More ...

Correcting the Misconceptions Around the Philanthropist User Type and Purpose

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Landscape 1485169810 Correcting the Misconceptions Around the Philanthropist User Type and Purpose

One of the things that happens when you create popular frameworks and the like, is that people like to interpret them to fit their needs. This is why I created the User Types Hexad in the first place – so that I no longer had to interpret Bartle’s Player Types to fit my needs in gamification!

However, what can happen is that the interpretations become more popular than the original and if you are not careful the meaning of the original is lost. This is true of one of the types in my Hexad – and I am not innocent in the issue! I have allowed the change to happen, even integrating it into the types and my motivation framework RAMP. The type in question is the Philanthropist and the motivation Purpose. Read More ...

As Promised – Signed Books for Sale

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Even ninja title As Promised 8211 Signed Books for Sale

Hi all.

Just a quick one here, as many of you know who were at GWC16, I was waiting for a shipment of books to sell there. Well – I finally got them at the end of last year. If you would like to purchase one, please fill in the form below and I will get back to you with payment and delivery details.  The books are 15 euros each, with your message – plus delivery.

So if you are interested, there are only 20 and this is a slightly different print to the one on amazon, as it has an updated Game Thinking chapter to include some changes I made around simulations! Once they are gone, they are gone – I will keep a count here as well Read More ...

Punishing some by rewarding others

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Rant 1484064849 Punishing some by rewarding others

RANT ALERT!

Fairplay is very important to me and it annoys me when I see things that, in my mind, show a lack of fairness.

Recently my daughter was legitimately off school with illness. She had never really taken time off school before, so we knew that she was serious when she told us she was not well.

Anyway, she came home a few days later telling me she had homework. Nothing unusual about that. However, she then said that those who had 100% attendance didn’t get any homework as a reward for having 100% attendance. Read More ...