Gamification
Gamification is Legit – Time to Learn More
In a previous post I started talking about gamification, sharing some popular definitions and some links to start exploring the concept.
Well, the tide of discussion about gamification hasn’t receded: In fact, it keeps coming up in my conversations, the conversations of my colleagues, and in the variety of resources I read on a regular basis.
It would be unfair of me to not share some of the more inspiring gamification articles and resources with you all:
Gamification.co : Gabe Zichermann’s site is a great source of content about gamification. I’m enamored by Gabe’s intelligent, common-sense approach to explaining gamification in a way that never sacrifices an eye towards good business sensibility. A must read for those of you who are new to the concept of gamification.
avantgame.com : If you are interested in gaming and haven’t yet heard the name “Jane McGonigal,” then you may just be living under a rock. On the main page of Jane’s site you can watch her TED presentation “Gaming Can Change the World.” If you want to be inspired to stop thinking about games as the providence of children and a bonafide methodology for solving some of the world’s most complex problems, then you need to watch this video. Hell, even if you don’t want to be inspired, just watch the video – a few years from now you will thank me for directing you to it.
Gamepocalypse Now : I’ve referenced Jesse Schell before. He was the individual who really “let the cat out of the bag” for me as it applies to thinking about a potential future that could be saturated by games via his very influential DICE 2010 talk, “Design Outside the Box.” Gamepocalypse Now is Jesse’s blog dedicated to chronicling incidents of gamification in our everyday lives.
Just Add Points: What UX Can (and Cannot) Learn from Games : Sebastian Deterding provides us with a great resource regarding the use of gaming in other contexts (a discussion of the implementation of gamification without actually using the word “gamification”).
Paper.Li for Gamification : Want to know what the Twitter community is talking about regarding gamification? I’ve found the use of Paper.Li with the keyword of #Gamification to be very helpful for aggregating news and commentary about gamification. Give it a try!
Lee Sheldon’s XP Grading System : Professor Lee Sheldon gained some attention by ditching a normal grading system and replacing it with a role-playing style experience point (XP) system to gauge student performance. There are a lot of articles out there talking about this. Take your pick of which ones to read via this link – it collects a ton of them.
Game Mechanics for Interaction Design : An Interview with Amy Jo Kim : As a User Experience professional and amateur game designer, the relevance of how games can impact user interaction is a concept of utmost importance to me. This interview from 2009 is a great snapshot of where we were at about a year ago (notice that the term “gamification” is completely absent from this article – although the concept clearly is not). It stands the test of time by providing some sage advice about integrating gaming principles into user experience design.
I could continue to share links ad infinitum, but I suspect the plate is full. So go now, and learn from these experts.
Gamification. Really?!?!
I have become quite intrigued with the concept of “gamification” and the potential of a “gamepocalypse.”
Lets start with some definitions:
Gamification: “The integration of game mechanics or game dynamics into a website, service, community, campaign, or application in order to drive participation and engagement. In particular, gamification is the application of game technology and game design outside traditional ‘gamespaces,’ and the acceptance of games in non-gaming sectors” (via Wikipedia). The use of this term has been popularized by Gabe Zichermann, and it was through his research that I first encountered it.
Gamepocalypse: “The rapid advancement of sensor and computing technology will collide with human psychology to turn everything in life into a game.” This term, coined by Jesse Schell, gained popularity thanks to Jesse’s popular (and somewhat controversial) DICE 2010 presentation: “Design Outside the Box.”
When I was a boy (and young adult,even!), gaming (video games, board games, and heaven-forbid, role-playing games) were the providence of nerds. Never would you find gaming as a consideration for a serious pastime within a population of people who were well-adjusted and odor-free.
But here we are in 2010, and people are totally cool with it.
In fact, people that are way cooler than me are checking-in everywhere they go to get badges (or if they are lucky, the title of Mayor!), clicking and clacking for hours and hours to raise virtual crops, or translating Tweets just to “add a few levels.”
All of a sudden, gaming, or at least game-based mechanics and reward systems, seem to be everywhere.
Maybe it just took a few years for the nerds and geeks to grow up and gain prominence and power in popular culture.
Maybe it is the near ubiquity of mobile technology and social media that gave people easy access to games that they may have otherwise never played.
Or maybe, just maybe, technology is following an all-too-traditional developmental path: first things are useful (i.e. they help us solve a problem), then they become usable (we make them easier/faster/more effective), and finally, they become desirable (something we crave to experience).
When we think about some of these influencers and their context, is it then really so startling to believe in the possibility of gamification and the concept of a gamepocalypse? After all, at their very core, games are fun… and who doesn’t like a little fun here and there? Or, to put it in other words, fun is desirable – and as mentioned, desirability is our sought-after technological endgame and a key product differentiator in a packed marketplace.
So, my friends and colleagues, be on the lookout – I truly believe we are just at the start of a new, expansive trend which will bring games to our lives in new and unexpected ways. We can try to ignore the trend and be at the whimsy of those people who will lead the charge, or we can educate ourselves and help this movement take shape in productive, ethical, and exciting ways.