fun

The Dangers of Forced Fun

by
Forced to play games The Dangers of Forced Fun

We’ve all been there. You go to a meeting or an event and there’s an Ice Breaker. It might be something as simple as “turn to the person on your right and tell them your name”, or it might be something more pointless like Hat Colours. But sometimes it is something even more sinister… a game.

I love games. Always have, always will. However, the games that I like have two key elements. They are made by game designers and they are played voluntarily. Both of these points are critical to my enjoyment of said game. If just one of those is missing, it is highly likely that I am not going to enjoy the game. Read More ...

The RAMP to Fun

by
RAMP to Fun The RAMP to Fun

A while back I started talking about FUN again. In that post I mentioned the RAMP to Fun, but never actually posted it! So here it is in full PowerPoint diagram glory 😀

This is obviously based on my RAMP, but also on some research I did a long time ago on what people find fun.

The idea is that you need to include elements, mechanics and concepts that people will find fun – even if these do not look fun to you on the surface. As they all hook into core intrinsic motivators – some will find them fun! The more you can link together and embed – in a way that is sympathetic and sensible to the design, the better. Read More ...

The Engagement Channel Model 2.0: Fun, Flow and Engagement

by
Engagement Channel Model 2 0 The Engagement Channel Model 2 0 Fun Flow and Engagement

Fun. A three letter word you won’t hear me mention often when discussing gamification! Why? Well, fun is really subjective. What you find fun, I may not. However, for the purposes of this blog, we will assume I like fun as do you and when I mention fun – it means something you will find fun!

With that out of the way, here’s the thing. If you look at Flow or my Engagement Channel stuff, you will see that to enter flow and be truly engaged, the challenge of whatever you are doing should match or slightly exceed your current skill level.

As with my Engagement Channel model, you can soften the impact of a challenge being too much by adding meaningful rewards and you can soften the impact of your skills being greater than the challenge, by adding personal challenges.

However, in games I am seeing more and more games that drop you straight into a scenario where the challenge instantly far outweighs your skills. By all our models, this should lead to instant frustration and most likely disengagement – but it doesn’t always. For some reason, there are some games that I play, that no matter how tough they are and how far off my skills are from the challenge – I keep coming back over and over again. Why? Because they are fun to play!

Does this mean there is another dimension to the Engagement Channel or the our view on Flow?

BJ Fogg

If we look at BJ Fogg’s famous Behaviour Change Model, we can see that there are three main dimensions in his B=MAP formula. Behaviour = Motivation x Ability x Prompts.

Basically for a behaviour to happen, motivation, ability and prompts all need to align. If a task is hard, but you have high motivation to do it – the right prompt will start to encourage the behaviour. If the task is easy, your motivation can be lower with the correct prompt. A third factor can influence the outcome without anything else changing.

So, how can I steal this idea and start to add a new dimension to my Engagement Channel Model. Well, I’m glad you didn’t ask!

The Engagement Channel Model 2.0

To simplify the original concept, what I am now proposing is that fun can act as a buffer between engagement, frustration and boredom, essentially widening the Engagement Channel.

Now, I am not trying to tell you what your users may find fun, what I am saying is the older I get, the more I realise that fun makes a huge difference to your motivation to do things, even if they are really hard or if they are slightly boring. Adding that element of fun can make all the difference.

Free Printable Games

by
Wraith King Screen Free Printable Games

Hi all.

In this crazy time, I thought I would share a few games that I have made over the last couple of years to either entertain myself or the kids! They are all very simple but might help kill a few hours. Any feedback on them would be also greatly appreciated. They are all very simple looking btw, no fancy graphics!

There will be one more soon, once the kids have had a chance to play it. But head to the gamification hub on Facebook if you want to get a try now. It is a simple escape room type puzzle game.

Wraith King

This is the most complex. It is a solo or co-op tile-based dungeon crawl. I enjoy playing this from time to time when I am stuck for something to do. The world evolves as you play to try and defeat the Wraith King in his lair.

Download Wraith King

Shortcut

This is my favourite (and the kids). It was born on a napkin in a restaurant when my youngest was very board. I wanted something more interesting than snakes and ladders. I bought some drywipe pens and some drywipe sleeves to make the game reusable.

Pens: https://amzn.to/2XkkxEL

Sleeves: https://amzn.to/3bW1qoC

Download Shortcut

Driver

The simplest game, with 2 difficulty “settings”. Just race around the track!

Download Driver

Encourage Play, Don’t Force Fun

by
Pool table 1570703002 Encourage Play Don t Force Fun

I’ve said it here many times, you can’t force people to have fun. Putting a pool table in the coffee room, forcing everyone to play an online game and join a leaderboard, team building games during inductions etc. All generally seek to force you to have a fun experience. However, as soon as something becomes mandatory or forced, it is very hard (but not impossible) to find it enjoyable.

Of course, if the experience is well designed, even if you are forced to engage with it, it can be fun. There are times during some of those “ice breaker” games that I hate so much, that despite myself I find I am having fun. But those tend to be the ones that create an environment that encourages play – even if it is a little bit structured.

Let Them Play

Rather than the whole experience being dictated down to the last action, the ones that are most enjoyable offer a few key opportunities

  1. You feel safe to get things wrong (psychological safety).
  2. Participants are able to express themselves in their own way (self-expression).
  3. You don’t feel you are being patronised or belittled.
  4. Often the rules set have room for “interpretation”.

Basically, whilst there is a set task, you get to play with it. Lego Serious Play is an amazing example of this. The tasks are set, the outcomes are explained – but how you get to them involves an awful lot of play and creativity!

So, next time you are thinking about forcing your employees or your workshop attendees to engage in something you think is fun, consider how you could encourage them to play a little instead. Maybe my Practical Play Framework will help you.

Whilst you are here – if you don’t have it already – I am still selling my Book, Toolkit and Card bundle. You get Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play (Digital) Unicorn Edition, My Gamification Design Toolkit and a digital copy of my gamification inspiration cards. Bargain!!

[purchase_link id=”7087″ style=”button” color=”orange” text=”Buy it now!”]