Gamification

Why Games Are So Important – and other news

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Games 1424086420 Why Games Are So Important 8211 and other news

It’s 2016 and what a lot has gone on already!

The biggest change is that I am now no longer part of Capgemini. I am now at G2G3 working on gamification – so a dream come true for me! I want to take a moment to thank everyone at Capgemini that supported me over the last 5 or so years.

Loads more to come, but you will see more content coming from me around work and from the G2G3 blog with luck.

In the mean time I have spent a while going back to the start of what gamification is and why I find it so important and interesting. Read More ...

Posts of 2015 – Gamification and much more!

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2015 Posts of 2015 8211 Gamification and much more

So, as is tradition, here is a round up of 2015. What a year!!! Research papers, Gamification World Congress, a new book, poetry and loads of exciting projects have made this a most excellent year. Between you and me, next year will be even better!

As with every year, the User Types Hexad has been really popular, but this year my most popular content by far has been the 47 Gamification elements, mechanics and ideas – an old post I pinned! Shows the power of the homepage 🙂 Other big hits this year have been my reaction to Gartner forgetting about gamification (The Hype is Over – Gamification is Here to Stay) and my essay on the 4 essential neurotransmitters in gamification! Read More ...

Gamification World Congress 2015

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FullSizeRender Gamification World Congress 2015

Well, I am back from the 2015 edition of Gamification World Congress in Barcelona and what an event it was! The organisers put on a slick, deep and incredibly rewarding conference.

Day one saw a series of workshops, with me kicking off with Gamification Design Thinking. Feedback was positive and personally I had a great time delivering it! I also attended Yu-Kai Chou’s Octalisys workshop as well as Monica Cornetti’s. Both were a wirlwind of useful information!

Day two was the first day of talks. There were many inspiring talks, but two stood out for me. An Coppens did a fantastic talk on the feminine viewpoint around gamification. Lots of food for thought about how men and women differ and how to build for that. She also got us to dance…. for the second year running! The other talk that stuck in my mind was Pete Jenkins’s talk on gamified CRMs. It may have been the “Kerching” sound effect, but it was interesting and opened my eyes to certain possibilities! Read More ...

Being Kind When Discussing Gamification

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Minecraft Being Kind When Discussing Gamification

I talk to people about gamification quite a lot! The conversation usually starts with a little curiosity, then some scepticism and if I have done well, enthusiasm.

One thing that happens in probably 9 out of 10 conversations is a little section I like to call “No, it’s not about making games”. You all know this one. The person you are talking to suddenly has a moment of revelation as the think they have understood what you are talking about and say “Oh yeah. Minecraft!”. Read More ...

Balancing rewards against effort in Gamification

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Perceived value vs effort Balancing rewards against effort in Gamification

I have said it before, if you are going to use rewards, you have to get it right. Whilst there are arguments about the value and / or damage of rewards in gamified systems, they are still being used and I feel they are of value.

One of the keys to getting the use of rewards right, is understanding their value to the user relative to the actions or activities you want them to undertake. You have to consider the effort it will take. Effort here is: skill, time, physical effort, mental effort etc.

For example, if you offer a user an iPad for posting a single two line comment on your blog, you are setting the reward far too high for the relative effort expected of the user. If you offered an iPad to the person who finds the most bugs in your system, knowing that they will have to spend hours of their own time doing it, that is a better match of reward against relative effort. Read More ...