Think Archives - Gamified UK - #Gamification Expert

7 Deadly sins of making serious / educational games

May 22, 2015April 14, 2015 by Andrzej Marczewski

I wanted to add a short post just highlighting 7 things that I repeatedly see people doing wrong when they are making or considering making serious / educational games. This is by no means an exhaustive list though – I just like the idea of 7 deadly sins 😀

Assume because you think it is fun that everyone else will.
Forget that it is actually a game.
Forget that it is meant to teach something or provide a message.
Test with the wrong people.
Think that it doesn’t need to look good.
Think that playing games will make you a good game designer.
Underestimate how hard it is to make a good game.

In a little more detail.

Assume because you think it is fun that everyone else will.

Fun is really subjective and just because you think it is amazing doesn’t mean that the rest of us will! See sin 2…

Is it gamification if….?

November 20, 2014 by Andrzej Marczewski

This is a question I get asked all the time. Is it gamification if x,y or z. Depending on my mood and their question, I answer a little differently at first but always end the same way. Is it taking something that is not a game and making it more game like in some way? If it is, then you could call it gamification – but you are likely to get people complain one way or the other!

As you may or may not know, I have spent a great deal of time trying to organise my thoughts on this and define gamificaiton, which is how I settled on Game Thinking. This is my umbrella term that covers everything from making interfaces look a little more “gamey”, to making full fledged games. Read More ...