engagement

Dynamic Narrative Analytics: Turning Player Data Into a Playable Story

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Dna2 Dynamic Narrative Analytics Turning Player Data Into a Playable Story

One of the greatest lies we’ve told ourselves in gamification (and business in general) is that numbers speak for themselves. They don’t.

Numbers sit there, mute and smug, like a cat perched on a bookshelf—daring you to make sense of them. And like a cat, they’ll let you project whatever meaning you want onto them… until you get scratched.

That’s where Dynamic Narrative Analytics (DNA) comes in.

This isn’t about algorithms. It’s not about drowning in dashboards. It’s about recognising that every dataset tells a story—and if you don’t write the story, someone else will (probably in PowerPoint, with clip art). Read More ...

The Foosball Fallacy & The Beanbag Illusion

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0 1 Blog2FreePlayInstall The Foosball Fallacy amp The Beanbag Illusion


Ah, the modern office. Where engagement is measured in beanbag density and the number of foosball tables per square metre. Welcome to the illusion factory.

I call it The Foosball Fallacy—the misguided notion that plonking down a few shiny toys in the corner of your open-plan office will somehow spark authentic employee engagement.

You’ve heard the logic:

“Let’s make work fun! We’ll add a games room and a cereal bar. People love cereal.”

What you get instead is superficial fluff. A workplace that looks like a startup, sounds like a pinball arcade, and still has an engagement score flatter than your last quarterly review.

Then comes The Beanbag Illusion, which is even cosier. Quite literally.

It’s the belief that providing comfort—softer lighting, flexible seating, and yes, beanbags—translates into meaningful culture. But here’s the thing:

Comfort is not culture. You can’t outsource purpose to interior design.

Employees don’t stay because they’re well-fed and slightly reclined. They stay when they feel valued. When they can grow. When they have autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. (Yes, you’ve met RAMP. You should really call them more often.)

These illusions persist because they’re easy. Buying a beanbag is simpler than building a feedback culture. Installing a foosball table is quicker than coaching line managers on trust.

But they’re also empty calories. Momentary boosts with zero nutritional value.

If you want real engagement, ditch the gimmicks and get serious about what drives people. Not perks. Not ping pong. People. Read More ...

PBL Battle – The Greatest Game Ever Made*

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Pbl battle 1 PBL Battle 8211 The Greatest Game Ever Made

I’ve finally done it! After countless hours of brainstorming and coding, I’ve created the ultimate game for those who live and breathe gamification. Say goodbye to boring gameplay—because there isn’t any—and wave farewell to contrived narratives. Game mechanics? Nah, not really! This is pure, unfiltered gamification with a satirical twist, designed to both engage and amuse.

What Makes PBL Battle So Special?

  • No-Nonsense Fun:
    Forget traditional game elements. PBL Battle is not about complex stories or puzzles—it’s about pure, addictive engagement.
  • Satirical Edge:
    It’s a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the futility of bad gamification. If you’re a gamification designer or consultant, you’re bound to appreciate the irony.
  • Global Competition:
    Test your mettle by climbing the global leaderboard. How many times can you push the big red button before your streak ends?
  • Challenging and Addictive:
    With its minimalistic design, PBL Battle proves that sometimes less is more. There’s no hidden trick or convoluted strategy—just a race to see who can push the button the most.

Ready to Join the Battle?

Try it for yourself and see if you have what it takes to reach the top of the leaderboard in PBL Battle! This is gamification, reimagined with a dash of satire and a whole lot of fun. Read More ...

Why Gorillas (and Games) are such good Teachers

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Gorillas Why Gorillas and Games are such good Teachers

Games have always been excellent tools for teaching and learning. There are plenty of reasons why this may be, but for me, it comes down to one simple thing – they give context to the materials.

Let us for a moment take a simple example—projectile paths.

We could look at the equation

Or, we could add context to the idea and play Gorillas instead, where we get to alter the velocity and angle of a player throwing a projectile at another player.

https://github.com/HunorMarton/gorillas

Obviously, the game is more fun. We are learning about how velocity, launch angles and gravity all work to create parabolic projectile paths in a fun way. Do you learn everything? No, but it gives context to the formula and brings it to life. Read More ...

Behaviour Change: COM-B and the 4 Pillars of Change

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Combchange Behaviour Change COM B and the 4 Pillars of Change

What follows is an example of how to combine my Four Pillars of Change with a proven behavioural change model – COM-B. We will be using bounce rate on a website’s homepage as the behaviour we wish to change. Companies often struggle with high bounce rates on their websites, indicating a disconnect between the website and its audience. However, with a little understanding of behaviour, we can start to sort this.

Understanding User Behaviour: The Key to Success

So, the first piece of the puzzle to creating an effective homepage is to understand user behaviour then design a user experience specific to what users want and need. Read More ...