My talk at the 11/11/11 Interflex Conference "Games, Life, and Utopia" in Potsdam, Germany.

1. 9.5 Theses
on the power and efficacy
of gamification
Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets)
Interflex »Games, Life, and Utopia« Conference
November 11, 2011, Potsdam
c b

4. 1Gamification is
the cool new kid in town.

5. Productivity

6. Sustainability

7. Activism

8. Life

9. In Business Bibles

10. On Google Trends

11. On the Gartner Hype Curve
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1763814

12. Everywhere

13. The blueprint (still)
Points
Tracking, Feedback
Badges
Goals, surprise
Leaderboards
Competition
Incentives
Rewards

14. The Enablers
success stories
sensors & analytics practices & discourses

15. 2Gamification is
nothing new.

16. »Mowing the lawn or waiting in a
dentist’s office can become enjoyable
provided on restructures the activity by
providing goals, rules, and the other
elements of enjoyment to be reviewed
below.«
flow: the psychology of optimal experience
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

18. Precursors
(1980+)
man as computer
Cognitive sciences
man as machine
Ergonomics
man as meaning-maker
Human sciences
Repurposings
(2001+)
UX
(2002+)
Hedonic attributes
Game UX
Ludic design
(2002+)
Playfulness
(2005+)
CSCW
(2005+)
Persuasive Tech
(2006+)
Harrison, S., Tatar, D., and Sengers, P. The Three Paradigms of HCI. Proc. AltCHI 2007, ACM Press (2007).
HCI Prehistory

19. Precursors (1980-)

20. Repurposings (2001-)
Dennis Chao, Doom as an Interface for
Process Management (2001)
Louis von Ahn, Games with a Purpose (2006)

21. User Experience (2002-)

22. Game UX (2002-)

23. “Ludic Design” (2002-)

24. Playfulness (2005-)

25. CSCW (2005-)

26. Persuasive Technology (2006-)

27. Precursors
(1980+)
Repurposings
(2001+)
UX
(2002+)
Hedonic attributes
Game UX
Playfulness
(2005+)
Persuasive Tech
(2006+)
Ludic design
(2002+)
CSCW
(2005+)
Game Studies Prehistory

28. Precursors
(1980+)
Repurposings
(2001+)
UX
(2002+)
Hedonic attributes
Game UX
Playfulness
(2005+)
Persuasive Tech
(2006+)
Serious
Games
(1960+)
Digital
Serious Games
(2001+)
Alternate Reality/
Pervasive Games
(2001+)
Serious Gaming
(2006+)
Ludification
of culture
(2006+)
Ludic design
(2002+)
CSCW
(2005+)
Game Studies Prehistory

29. Serious Games (1960-)

30. Digital Serious Games (2001-)

31. Serious Gaming (2006-)

32. Alternate Reality Games (2001-)

33. Pervasive Games (2001-)

34. Ludification of Culture (2006-)

35. 3
Gamification is
the use of game design
elements in non-game
contexts.

36. Gamification:
The use of
game design elements
in non-game contexts

37. Gamification:
The use of
game design elements
in non-game contexts

38. Gaming, not playing

39. Gaming
Playing
Gaming, not playing

40. Roger Caillois
man, play, and games (1958)
LudusPaidia
play
improvisation
tumultuous
immoderate
game
skill, effort
ordered
rule-bound

41. Elements, not whole systems

42. Systems Elements
Elements, not whole systems

43. Game Design Elements
Game-based technology
Controllers, AI, 3D
engines, ...
Game-based practices Serious Gaming
Game-based design Gamification

44. Non-Game Contexts

45. System
Elements
Gaming
Playing
gamification(serious) games
playful design(serious) toys

46. 4Gamification is
not very playful.

47. Roger Caillois
man, play, and games (1958)
LudusPaidia
play
improvisation
tumultuous
immoderate
game
skill, effort
ordered
rule-bound

48. …vs.Quality andVarietyTrust and Safety

49. http://www.flickr.com/photos/titanas/1051688629/sizes/o/
Surprise

50. Expressive, generative toys

51. …vs.Quality andVarietyBenign Breaks of Social Rules

52. Room for Mischief

53. 5Gamification is
thinking inside the box.

56. The Box

57. The BoxGame
A designed artifact

58. The BoxGame
A designed artifact

59. The BoxGame
A designed artifact
Playing
A frame of engagement

61. debugging
playtesting/reviewing
presenting gameplay
making a machinima
a scientific study
learning (serious games)
sports (e-sports)
work (goldfarming)

62. “I need to be very routinized;
I mustn’t let myself drift.”
“I hammer it through.”
“Often, you have to force yourself to do it.”
“You’re under real pressure.”
“It’s extremely exhausting.”
“It wears you out.”
“My friends usually cannot comprehend how
stressful this is.”

63. “Sometimes, you have to play,
you have to get further –
and then, play is work.”

64. Question
When work can make the
best game tedious,
why should games make
work engaging?

65. Sociotechnical systems
Information ecologies
Situated action
Embodied interaction
Social contextures
...

66. Question
What about context?

67. “Sometimes, you have to play,
you have to get further –
and then, play is work.”

68. Johan Huizinga
»First and foremost,
all play is a voluntary
activity.«
homo ludens (1938)

69. Johan Huizinga
»First and foremost,
all play is a voluntary
activity.«
homo ludens (1938)
a.k.a.
“autonomy”

70. 6 Gamification is
an inadvertent con.

71. Margaret Robertson
»Gamification is an inadvertent con. It
tricks people into believing that there’s a
simple way to imbue their thing ... with the
psychological, emotional and social power
of a great game.«
can’t play, won’t play (2009)

72. Confusion
#1

74. Earn 1,000,000,000,000 points
Score: 964,000,000,000,000
(You rock!)

77. Raph Koster
»Fun is just another word
for learning.«
a theory of fun for game design (2005)

78. Raph Koster
»Fun from games arises out of mastery. It
arises out of comprehension. It is the act
of solving puzzles that makes games fun.
With games, learning is the drug.«
a theory of fun for game design (2005)

81. Feedback without challenge

82. http://www.flickr.com/photos/diego_rivera/4261964210
Extrinsic motivation

84. Intrinsic motivation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/areyoumyrik/308908967

85. Edward Deci, Richard Ryan
»An understanding of human motivation
requires a consideration of innate
psychological needs for competence,
autonomy, and relatedness.«
the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)

86. The fun in playing games
chiefly arises from
intrinsic enjoyment, not
extrinsic incentives.
Con(fusion) number 1

87. Confusion
#2

88. Confusion
#2

90. Theodore Sturgeon
»Ninety percent
of everything is crud.«
sturgeon‘s revelation (1958)

97. Games are not fun because
they‘re games, but when
they are well-designed.
Con(fusion) number 2

98. 7 Gamification is
promising to designers.

99. As a source of patterns

100. As a source of lenses/heuristics

103. As a source of models
Hard Fun
Fiero
People Fun
Amusement
Easy Fun
Curiosity
Serious
Fun
Relaxation
emotion < choice < mechanic > choice > emotion

104. As a source of methods

105. As a field

106. 8Gamification is
worth researching.

107. Motivational Design
Marrying the psychology
of motivation with the
practice of design.
Topic
#1

109. Rule Design Studies
The holistic study and
design of rule systems.
Topic
#2

111. Law
Economics
Sociology
CS
Game Studies
Governance
Public Policy
Interpretation
Social order
Institutionalization
Scripts (STS)
Algorithms
Modeling, abstraction,
automation, simulation
Game Theory
Incentives
Business processes
Design
Dynamics & Aesthetics
Semiotics

112. Play Studies
Understanding playing and
gaming in their relation to
games and toys.
Topic
#3

113. Player Studies

114. Player Studies

115. Are you “playing” or “using” it?

116. (IMHO)

117. 9“Gamification” is
a terrible word to use.

118. Ian Bogost
»Unlike liars, bullshitters have no use for
the truth. All that matters to them is
hiding their ignorance or bringing about
their own benefit. Gamification is
bullshit.«
gamification is bullshit (2011)
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php
Issue
#1

119. Ian Bogost
»This is why gamification is such an
effective term. It keeps the term game and
puts it right up in front, drawing attention
to the form’s mysterious power. But the
kicker comes at the end: the -ify suffix
makes applying that medium to any given
purpose seem facile and automatic.«
exploitationware (2010)

120. What is a “game element”?*
* Most game definitions have multiple necessary conditions
Issue
#2

121. gamification
Rules
Goals
Avatars
Story
Redeemable rewards
Commitment
Analytics
Notifications
Comments
Quantitative feedback

122. gamification
Rules
Goals
Avatars
Story
not game-specific
Redeemable rewards
Commitment
Analytics
Notifications
Comments
Quantitative feedback

123. gamification
Rules
Goals
Avatars
Story
not game-specific
Redeemable rewards
Commitment
Analytics
Notifications
Comments
not game-related
Quantitative feedback

124. Remember “Playfulness”?

125. Gamefulness!

126. System/Artefact
Elements
Gaming
Playing
gamification(serious) games
playful design(serious) toys

127. System/Artefact
Elements
Gaming
Playing
gamification(serious) games
playful design(serious) toys
Quality/mode

128. System/Artefact
Elements
Gaming
Playing
gamification(serious) games
playful design(serious) toys
Gameful Design
Quality/mode

129. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Gamification is the cool new kid in town.
Gamification is nothing new.
Gamification is the use of game design
elements in non-game contexts.
Gamification is not very playful.
Gamification is thinking inside the box.
Gamification is an inadvertent con.
Gamification is promising to designers.
Gamification is worth researching.
»Gamification« is a terrible word to use.

130. 9.5Ceterum Censeo
You should all read
The Well-Played Game

132. »It is through a community of people
who care more about fun than winning
that the Well-Played Game happens.«
Bernie de Koven
the well-played game (1978/2002)

133. »Inscribed in gold in our flag
is the motto If you can’t play it,
change it, and woven into our
banner are the words
If it helps, cheat.«
Bernie de Koven
the well-played game (1978/2002)

134. sebastian@codingconduct.cc
@dingstweets
codingconduct.cc
Thank You.