Games Archives - Gamified UK - #Gamification Expert

Some AI Insights into the HEXAD User Types

November 27, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

I recently downloaded the latest response stats for the HEXAD 12 User Types test, and fed them into ChatGPT to analyse. I thought it was very interesting what came back, and it supported what I had observed in the past – so thought I would share it here!

1. Gender-Based Trends

Females:

Predominantly align with Socialiser and Philanthropist types, indicating a strong preference for community engagement and altruistic behaviors.
The dominance of Socialiser decreases slightly in older age groups, replaced by Philanthropist, reflecting a shift toward purpose-driven motivations.

Males:

Tend to exhibit Achiever and Player traits, emphasizing goal-oriented behaviors, competitions, and extrinsic rewards.
Achiever remains a strong motivator across all age groups for males, with Player peaking in younger users and declining over time.

2. Age Group Dominance

Younger Users (18–29):

Continue to show higher prevalence of Free Spirit traits, reflecting a desire for autonomy, exploration, and creative freedom.
Player traits are also slightly stronger in this age group, indicating the appeal of rewards and achievements early in life.

Older Users (30–49):

Display more balanced traits, with notable increases in Philanthropist motivations, suggesting a shift toward altruism and purpose-driven engagement.
Achiever remains prominent, indicating continued goal-oriented behavior.

3. Gender and Age Interaction

Younger Females (18–20):

Exhibit strong Socialiser and Philanthropist tendencies, valuing relationships, community, and purpose.
Free Spirit is also significant, reflecting creativity and independence.

Older Males (30–49):

Demonstrate higher inclinations toward Achiever and Free Spirit, focusing on mastery, autonomy, and personal growth.

4. Players Are Reward-Oriented but Underrepresented

Player remains one of the least dominant traits across all groups but is more pronounced in younger users (18–20), aligning with early-stage life goals and aspirations.
This suggests that gamified reward systems may resonate well with younger users but require a balanced approach for older demographics.

5. Philanthropists Increase with Age Read More ...

Why Gorillas (and Games) are such good Teachers

November 12, 2024 by Andrzej Marczewski

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 ...

The 8 Pillars of Playful Design

March 3, 2023February 24, 2023 by Andrzej Marczewski

I’ve messed around with formalising a way to introduce play into experiences in the past, but this is the first time I have tried to plot out the key features of playful experiences in a way that becomes replicable in some way.

First, it is really important to understand what I mean by Play and Playful!

Play

Play is free form and unlike a game does not need to have a point or a goal to it. It exists within a set of rules created by the person or people playing and is born in the imagination. Often it is a way of exploring the boundaries and extremes of something, in search of new and novel experiences. It is undertaken for its own sake often for fun and joy. To quote myself (!!) Read More ...

Learning from Games: Managing Expectations – Part 1

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022 by Andrzej Marczewski

R4ywfvvwtq8 Learning from Games Managing Expectations 8211 Part 1

Every time I do a talk, I go on about how gamification is mostly about learning from games. Seeing how games manage certain situations and apply them to everyday life in some way.

Today, I want to briefly consider how games manage the player’s expectations, from how they introduce players to what they can expect from the game itself, to how they keep players informed throughout the game.

Attraction: What are you going to play?

When I was young, the video game playing experience often started with reading previews and reviews in magazines. This would get me interested at first, creating hype around what the game was going to be, hints as to what the gameplay would be like, peaks at the graphics and so on. Read More ...

The Danger of Unbalanced Incentives and Negative Expectations

September 6, 2021 by Andrzej Marczewski

I recently saw a news article that certain parts of America were trialling an incentive program to try and encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The idea was that individuals could earn $100 by getting vaccinated.

If you have ever read any of my work, you will probably know that I am not a big fan of large incentives to do things that should be done for intrinsic reasons. To me staying safe and keeping people safe is reason enough to take the vaccine – but hey – we are not all the same.

Very quickly I started to see people on Twitter complaining. Not that this was a bad idea, but that they wished they had not taken the vaccine already and could be eligible to get the free money!

In isolation that may not seem an issue, however, it does have a potential knock as effect should anything like this ever happen again as a negative expectation has been set. Rather than people taking the vaccine early, they will wait until the Government gets desperate and starts to incentivise people to take it – after all, that is what happened the last time.

I accept that this probably seemed like a good idea at the time, I mean, when do politicians ever think about unintended consequences!?

How could this be prevented then?

Well, I’m glad you asked! If you think you will need to incentivise behaviour, do it at the start and reward positive and early action higher than late. This sets the expectation that being early is better than being late. For instance, a parking ticket encourages you to pay quickly or the fine doubles!

In our vaccination example, set the initial incentive as $100 if you get it in the first round and drop it to $50 if you are late.

However, even better than that, educate people more effectively. Provide simple, truthful and unsensationlaised information that explains the benefits and potential risks whilst shutting down conspiracies and silliness as early as possible.

In gamification, we know all of this. You only incentivise when you absolutely have to and you make sure that the most positive and constructive actions are highly rewarded compared to other behaviours and actions.