Where is the Killer / Winner Type in your HEXAD?

Dodecad 3 Where is the Killer Winner Type in your HEXAD

This is a question I get asked all the time. “I love it, but where is the Killer/ Winner type?”

The first thing to address here is that Winner and Killer are not interchangeable terms in the world of types. In Bartle’s types, the Killer is a type of player who gets pleasure from domination and humiliation of other players. This is not the same as wanting to win. If winning is what crushes the spirit of other players, then the killer would probably do their best to win – but that is not their driver. Read More ...

Gamification Thoughts in the Medium of Memes

Information power responsibility Gamification Thoughts in the Medium of Memes

Hi all, busy week last week, but did get time to throw out some words of “wisdom” via memes. I thought I would put them here for easy reference and explain on of them a little better!

I think this first one is pretty self-explanatory. Engagement is about people wanting to do things. They find value in the activity. If they feel that they are forced to do it and that outweighs the value, they will never be fully engaged.

A brief set of definitions. There is more to be found on this in my Serious Games vs Gamification / Game Thinking page Read More ...

An Interview With Dr David Chandross

Interview with 1 An Interview With Dr David Chandross

I have been pleased to call David Chandross a friend for a couple of years now. We “met” through our shared love of games and gamification over Twitter and Facebook. Since then I have come to know him as a fierce proponent of using games to help people learn and gain a deeper understanding of topics in the healthcare industry. Not a man who backs down from a fight, I have had my share of arguments with him, but his intelligence and depth of knowledge always impress me. I wanted to learn a little bit more about him, so asked him if I could put out a short interview with him. Please read and enjoy! If you want to get in touch with him to find out more, drop him an email [email protected] Read More ...

Do Things Just Because They Amuse You

Even ninja title Do Things Just Because They Amuse You

Anyone who knows me, knows that I often do stuff simply because it amuses me. A good example of that is the title of my book, Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play. I went through dozens of iterations whilst trying to come up with a name. In the book there is an official reason for the name – which is partially true. My daughters crazy imagination and desire to be a pink unicorn with wings was the key inspiration for the name. However, there is another less obvious and far less grown up reason.

Not long before, I wrote the book, I was trying to work out a way for people to be able to reference the User Types Hexad in academic papers. A few people had issues referencing from a website, turns out the academic world is not so keen on blogs. Anyway, I decided to write a paper and submit it with a little help.  Long story short, the paper was rejected. In a wonderful leap of circular logic, the fact that the user types were already on my blog, meant they were not original work and so a paper was not an option. Whilst trying to figure out another plan, I was told that often it was far more acceptable to cite a book than a blog. So, I decided to get the book done. Read More ...

“If This Then That” Logic in Gamification

If this then that 8220 If This Then That 8221 Logic in Gamification

One of the things I love about coding is the simple logical basis that it is all built on.  A lot of it can be boiled down to four simple words: If This Then That. If a condition is met, then do something.

There is obviously more to it than that. We have And, Or, Else, ElseIf, When etc, but the heart for me is If This Then That.

For example, in a game, you could have

  • IF player presses a button (THIS) THEN make the player jump (THAT).
  • In gamification, you could see IF user gets 500 points (THIS) THEN give user badge (THAT).

Of course, we can expand on that sort of logic with the operators I mentioned before. Read More ...