Using the Gamification User Types in the Real World

Supporting gamification user types Using the Gamification User Types in the Real World

One of the main questions I get about my User Types, is how do you actually make use of them?

What I have provided is a simple framework to look at basic motivations of users who are using your system. However, if it was just an analytical tool, it would not be all that much use really! The main reason I developed the user types was to help you in the planning and design phase – not just with analytics and improvements!

There are two main ways to go about using the user types in the early phases of your design. Read More ...

Game Thinking – Breaking it Down

Game Thinking 4 Game Thinking 8211 Breaking it Down

Ever since I first started considering Game Thinking, I have been trying to come up with a way to break down all of the parts that make it up. The first attempt was my article about the differences between serious games and gamification. This gave me a basic outline of the 4 areas I considered to make up Game Thinking.

Since then, I have been thinking about this a lot. I have been trying to break it down even further. The next step was my article on the term serious games. This broke serious games up into 4 basic types. Teaching Games, Simulations,  Meaningful games and Purposeful games. Read More ...

Bartle’s Killers . A misunderstood group of people.

Andrzej gwc13 news Bartle s Killers A misunderstood group of people

Last week I had the opportunity to present at the fabulous Gamification World Congress 2013. Among other things, it was the first and probably only times I would see my face on a 10 foot screen on the front of a building!

Another highlight in a day of highlights, was getting the opportunity to spend a few hours with Richard Bartle.  Many of you will have seen me mention him before, the creator of the Bartle Player Types. These types are often spoken about by people involved in gamification and are one of the main inspirations for my User Types.  Originally written to model the behaviour of players in his MUD virtual world (the grandfather of all MMO’s like World of Warcraft), the Bartle Player Types have also been adopted by many in gamification. Read More ...

Different Types of Users in Gamification

User types1 Different Types of Users in Gamification

There is rather an important update at the end after Richard Bartle offered me some advice!

It had to happen eventually. I had to look at some kind of “player type” theory.  Many people have one, Richard Bartle probably having the most famous and most abused of the player type theories out there.

What’s it all about Richard?

For those that don’t know, Richard Bartle labelled players as one of four types to help him understand how they interacted with each other and their environments in MMO games (Massively Multiplayer Online). The labels he used initially were; Read More ...

An Interview with Richard Bartle about Gamification

20121231 083851 An Interview with Richard Bartle about Gamification

Happy New Year everyone. To start the year with a nice bang, I present an interview that Richard Bartle was kind enough to do with me. You may know the name, without him games like World of Warcraft would never have existed. He also gave us the Player Type Theory. Here I ask him a few questions about his thoughts on Gamification.

How would you define gamification?

In the old days, gamification meant changing something that wasn’t a game into a game. For example, you might have some kind of simulation that you would “gamify” by adding gameplay to it. Read More ...