A Story of Loyalty: Gamification World Congress 2015 Talk

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True loyalty meme A Story of Loyalty Gamification World Congress 2015 Talk

Just thought I would share the video of my talk on loyalty and Christmas turkey from Gamification World Congress 2015

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To give some context for the start – Bart Briers had just described me as The King of Gamification! At the end, I also caught him out as the talk was only 12 minutes long 😉

If you are interested in Gamification World Congress 2016, head over to their new website – you won’t be sorry and there are loads of videos from the last one to watch.

If you want to learn more about loyalty, you could always grab my book from Amazon 🙂 Read More ...

Using Boredom and Curiosity to your Advantage

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Curiosity Using Boredom and Curiosity to your Advantage

Curiosity is something that always interests me. I have written about it in the past, but was drawn to looking at it again recently. There are several theories about what curiosity is and how it works; Curiosity Drive Theory, Optimal Arousal Theory, Incongruity Theory and probably more. They all deal with different aspects of what curiosity is.

Drive Theory considers that curiosity is part of a human need to reduce the discomfort felt when we are uncertain about somemthing.

Incongruity Theory suggests that we seek to resolve incongruity (differences) between something that happens and our existing understanding. So if something happens that doesn’t match our preconceived ideas of what should happen, we become curious and want to understand it. Read More ...

Honesty and Transparency

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Magic trick 1465549955 Honesty and Transparency

Today I have been reminded about the importance of Honesty and Transparency when dealing with people. If I ask a question from someone who is in a service industry, what I hope for is an honest and transparent answer. What you often get is a baffling set of half-truths and utter bullshit.

I have spoken about transparency before and it even forms part of the Code of Ethics that I proposed.

I was trying to help a friend with a hosting issue. The company I dealt with showed me just how bad a lack of transparency can be. They were very nice and polite, but they we unable to provide any help. Instead of just being honest about it, they sent me on a wild goose chase. They gave be a website to look at, then a phone number, then another website with another phone number. The final phone number put me back through to the exact same department (possibly even the same person) I had been dealing with a couple of hours previously. Even then they tried to give me more hoops to jump through. In the end, I had to give up, it just wasn’t worth being given so many half truths – essentially being lied to. Read More ...

Are You Building a Solution Looking for a Problem?

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Bigweld 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. Read More ...

Learn to Problem Solve, Play and Have Fun – Not Code

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Code 1464106451 Learn to Problem Solve Play and Have Fun 8211 Not Code

I keep seeing articles stating why everyone should learn to code. The same message is aimed at adults and children, pointing to a new type of digital literacy needed to survive in the new world.

I myself have known how to do code in one form or another since my dad showed me BASIC at about 5 years old. In later life, my career relied on me knowing how to code as a web developer. I have built many tools and found being able to code of great benefit to me. It has certainly been a skill that I have made use of a great deal in the last 30 years or so. But does that mean my 9 year old should learn, or even my 4-year-old? Read More ...