Simulation Breaks Free in Game Thinking

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Game thinking v6 Simulation Breaks Free in Game Thinking

Well, it has been a long time coming – but Simulation has finally broken free from Serious Games in my Game Thinking “framework”. It will take a while for me to update everything, but I wanted to share the draft entry for simulations in Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play.

A simulation is a virtual representation of something from the real world, such as a flight simulator. Often this can be hard to distinguish from a game or a serious game, as they look very game like. The difference is that a simulation does not usually need gameplay elements in order to function and fulfil its designed intent. It exists to allow users to practice an activity in a safe environment. Read More ...

User Experience, Gamification and Consistency

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So, once again toilets have taught me something, this time about consistency, and I wanted to pass that on to you. It will seem really simple, but it is something that happens on a regular basis and is annoying as hell. Let me tell you a quick story.

I was at Heathrow airport, as I often am these days. One of my first activities was using the toilets. I followed the signs, turned left into the male section and thought nothing else of it. That is until I needed the loo a few minutes before boarding. Read More ...

Gamification: A thought for those who don’t want it.

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One of the blockers for gamification is often staff feeling insulted in some way by it. Whether it is because they feel the money could have been better spent, that the concept is beneath them or just that they are resistant to any change at all.

It is true that gamification is often used in enterprise when someone feels there is a need to increase productivity in some way. That may be by using metrics delivered from a gamified environment to map pain points, or areas where there could be productivity increases. It could be by improving the training materials, or making them more palatable. The point is, these are all things that employees have to buy into for them to work. Read More ...

New Site Covering Global Serious Games Industry News Launched

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I don’t often post press releases on this site, but I thought this one was worth doing!

The serious games industry has a new global news site, the first international medium authored by journalists dedicated to covering serious games — www.seriousgamesindustry.com. Updated daily, the site covers worldwide news, interviews and case studies of companies using serious games for training and education and has started a directory of products as well as a calendar of upcoming conferences.  Sign up for a free weekly digest of industry news at the site. Launched at the end of 2015, the site is edited by journalist, Ronnie Dungan, who brings more than 25 years’ B2B editorial and publishing experience to the venture, including positions with MCV, a leading international media publication covering video games, and its predecessor, CTW. “Our aim is to make our site the news and information hub for everything to do with serious games and the use of gamification elements in learning and training. Research is proving that the application of games is growing rapidly with a huge potential,” Dungan said. Seriousgamesindustry.com is looking for content – product and company news, case histories and contributed articles. “The site is very much in its infancy so we need content, engagement and dialogue from professionals in the industry,” Dungan said.  “Our goal is to create something valuable to both providers and clients.”

Excel Template to Calculate Activity Value

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A while back I wrote an article about how you have to balance the reward value of activities against the value to the client, user and effort.

The basic idea was that if a user has to work hard to get a reward, it had better be worth something. At the same time, if the value of the activity is high to the client, the reward should also be worth having.

At the time I wrote that, I developed a simple spreadsheet to help me calculate reward values for activities for a client I was working with. I thought I would share that with you to help you with your projects as well. Read More ...

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