Recently, I decided to put down in words a simple set of rules I try to live by. Think Gibbs in NCIS – be fewer rules! I wanted to be able to give them to my kids, something they can refer back to in their mind when they are making decisions or looking to the the future. These are not grand declarations or world-changing insights, just small truths that I’ve learned (and often relearned) over time.
Here they are:
- Be yourself, accept others.
- Be kind, starting with you.
- Be honest, take responsibility.
- Be curious, seek truth.
- Fear ignorance, not failure.
- Be brave, never reckless.
- Be strong, but don’t harden.
- Be confident, but humble.
- Be playful, never foolish.
- Seek joy, live with purpose.
That’s it. Ten rules. But as I looked at them written down, I realised something else—they form the bones of how I approach gamification too. These personal rules could just as easily be a quiet manifesto for ethical, human-focused design. So here’s the deeper dive: what each rule means to me, and how it maps to designing meaningful gamified experiences.