What can we learn from game design?
10 game mechanics that will make
your web community more successful.
Barcamp Berlin, november 3rd, 2007
mail@holger-dieterich.de

Who am I?
‣ Holger Dieterich
‣ E-business graduand, University of the Arts Berlin
‣ Junior product manager, moviepilot.de

Agenda
‣ What are games, game mechanics?
‣ 10 game mechanics applied to web communities
‣ Conclusion

Games are..
‣ fun and
entertaining
‣ inducing flow,
engaging
‣ social
‣ repetitive

Example: Rules for „3-to-15“
1. Two players alternate turns.
2. On your turn, pick a number from 1 to 9.
3. Yo may not pick a number that has already been
picked by either player. If you have a set of exactly 3
numbers that sum to 15, you win.

2 9 4
7 5 3
6 1 8

Rules for Tic-Tac-Toe
1. Play occurs on a 3 by 3 grid of 9 empty squares.
2. Two players alternate marking empty squares, the
first player marking Xs and the second player
marking Os.
3. If one player places three of the same marks in a
row, that player wins.
4. If the spaces are all filled and there is no winner,
the game ends in a draw.

2 9 4
7 5 3
6 1 8

Game mechanics are..
‣ abstract patterns of games.
‣ a set of interconnected
feedback loops.
‣ a set of rules intended to
produce an enjoyable game.

Games are..
‣ fun and
entertaining
‣ inducing flow,
engaging
‣ social
‣ repetitive

..and web communities?
‣ A virtual place for people to meet. They exchange
information, spend time „there“ and come back.
‣ They are very similar to games already!

So let‘s get inspiration from games!

Game mechanics applied to web communities

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment

Max Payne

Max Payne

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. competition

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. competition
7. quick games and games in games

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. competition
7. quick games and games in games
8. randomness and luck

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. social interaction and competition
7. quick games and games in games
8. randomness and luck
9. rewards

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. social interaction and competition
7. quick games and games in games
8. randomness and luck
9. rewards
10.spectators

Game mechanics applied to web communities
1. collecting stuff
2. Feedback and game status
3. Obsctacles and Resources
4. dynamic difficulty adjustment
5. customization
6. social interaction and competition
7. quick games and games in games
8. randomness and luck
9. rewards
10.spectators

Conclusion
‣ Web communities can learn from game design
because they share common goals like engaging and
entertaing the users.
‣ Game mechanics can give a starting point for
transforming elements of good games to web
communities.
‣ But there will not be a 1:1 conversion from one to
the other.

References
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‣
Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide. Indianapolis, Indiana : New Riders Publishing, 2003.
Björk, Staffan and Holopainen, Jussi. 2005. Patterns in Game Design. Boston, Massachusetts : Charles River Media, 2005.
‣
Gottlieb, Harry. 1997. The jack principles of the interactive conversation interface - the short version. [Online] 1997. http://www.jellyvision.com/
‣
ici/jp/jackprinciplesshort.pdf.
Huizinga, Johan. 1956. Homo Ludens. Vom Ursprung der Kultur im Spiel. s.l. : Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1956.
‣
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‣
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Rheingold, Howard. 1994. Der Alltag in meiner virtuellen Gemeinschaft. [Buchverf.] Manfred Faßler und Wulf R. Halbach. Cyberspace:
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Salem, Katie and Zimmerman, Eric. 2004. Rules of play: game design fundamentals. s.l. : The MIT Press, 2004.
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Schlütz, Daniela. 2002. Bildschirmspiele und ihre Faszination. München : Verlag Reinhard Fischer, 2002.
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Schneider, Daniela. 2003. Online-Community - neues Medium und/oder neue Sozialform? [Buchverf.] Christian Eigner, et al. Online
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Communities, Weblogs und die soziale Rückeroberung des Netzes. Graz : Verlag Nausner & Nausner, 2003.

Creative Commons photos from flickr users

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