One of the really obvious things that has come out of looking into play and fun, is how resistant us grown ups are to letting go and doing things that seem, on the surface of it, to be of no value.
A framework for creating play-like systems
framework
A framework for creating play-like systems
Separating Games from Play and using it
All of this research into play and talking about play has been for a reason. I wanted to try and open up the idea of making more play-like experiences rather than more game-like experiences. I was trying to introduce some of the basics that separate games and play. For this there are three important differences between play and games that we need to keep in mind.
- Games have prelusory goals – ie, goals that you must achieve that have been set by the system.
- Games have rules that define how you have to achieve the prelusory goals (Lusory Means).
- They also have rules that create challenges to achieve the goals. Rather than going from A to B in a straight line, you have to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles going A to Z to E to B and back again! (Constitutive Rules)
In play, the goals are often less defined or not consciously apparent. Whilst there may be rules that dictate how play progresses (social rules, physical rules and so on), there are not that are there to deliberately challenge you or make things harder.
A few videos for you and a design worksheet
Hi all. Not got a blog ready yet, but thought I would post a few videos for you. The first is about my User Types. I made it for Victor Manrique’s Iversity gamification design course (he has kindly agreed to let me post it here). The others are some little test videos I have been making recently with the fantastic Adboe Voice. If you want to be able to create simple narrative driven videos and have an iPad – check it out (it’s free).
Also, I have started to build a worksheet to help you design and plan gamified solutions, The first draft is now available – let me know what you think! gamified uk worksheet v3 (pdf)
Game Mechanics in Gamification
This is a long post for me, so get a cup of tea now!
One of the main things that I have found whilst research and writing about Gamification, is that the terms and the language we use don’t always seem to fit what were actually doing. As gamification matures, so to should the language that we use to discuss it. One term that seems to get particularly abused, which we have borrowed from game design, is Game Mechanics. This all came from various discussions I had been having with people in the games industry. All of them told me that they felt that most people in gamification are getting this (and more) wrong.
Feedback and Drivers in Gamification
I spoke about rewards and reward schedules a couple of weeks ago, now I want to look at feedback. If I am honest, this will repeat ideas I have mentioned before, but is should give a little more meat and context.
Feedback comes in many forms, not all of them as obvious as we may think. It is also vital to any gamified system that feedback exists. It helps user keep track of how they are progressing, how they are “doing” within the system. One of the complaints about the “real” world is that feedback is often very slow. End of year reviews, report cards, midterm exams. In the game world, we are used to constant and instant feedback. Collect something and you are notified immediate. Complete a level and you are told, gain experience and you are notified. All of this happens straight away, no waiting around months and months to understand how you have done. In call of duty, you don’t have to wait until the end of the month to find out how you have performed in the last 20 matches. You are told constantly during the match and they you are given a summary of achievements at the end.