Monkey

What’s With the Ninja Monkey?

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Ninja head What 8217 s With the Ninja Monkey

A question I am asked a lot (I get asked all sorts, you may have noticed), is why did you call the book Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play?

There are actually two answers to this, the “official” one and the “Unofficial” one. The official one is in the book and reads

I went through many iterations of the title. I went on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and more asking for advice. Then my daughter made an amazing comment. “Daddy, when I grow up I want to be a ninja or a unicorn with wings called Princess Unicorn.” Read More ...

Gamification User Types Dodecad – The HEXAD Expansion Pack!

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Dodecad 3 Gamification User Types Dodecad 8211 The HEXAD Expansion Pack

Ideas come from the funniest of places. Take this Dodecad thing. I had an email conversation with someone who liked my types, but wanted to change some of the names. I was not into the idea (the names took a really long time to work out!), so politely declined. That’s fine, so is the fact they said that they would go off and make their own with some references and credits to their inspirations. I was  chatting to the ever wise and awesome Dutch Driver about this and he jokingly said “They will make a dodecahedron version”. Read More ...

A few gamification tips

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20140414 090949 A few gamification tips

Whilst I am away for a few days, I though I would fill the gap with a quick post for you all. A few gamification tips.

  • Define your goal, you can’t expect anything to work if you have no reason to use it.
  • Extrinsic rewards like points and badges are useful for short term engagement only. They do not make a fully gamified system.
  • Intrinsic motivation is what you are aiming for. Consider RAMP (Relatedness, Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose).
  • Find out what the user wants and design around that. Sure, you have goals, but the user won’t buy into it unless if satisfies their needs in some way.
  • You can’t force fun. What you think will be fun, many will find insulting, patronising or down right enraging.
  • Gamification is not a magic bullet. You may see sudden increases in activity, but overall you will get small percentage increases. This is good as it is better than what you had!
  • Measure. If you don’t measure, you can’t report back on ROI and you will not be able to prove it works.
  • Fail, but learn from it. If something doesn’t work, try something else. There is no magic formula for engagement.
  • Ask for help. There is a huge community out there of people who want to help you – ask them.
  • Don’t believe everything you read, even the big analysts can be wrong. However, read everything!
  • Add monkeys or monkey ninjas. Everyone loves monkeys and everyone loves ninjas.
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