Gamification

GAMIFICATION Image from Op-Expat

Neil Randall, Director English Department Experimental Digital Media ProgramStacey Scott, Associate Director Systems Design Engineering Department Collaborative Systems Lab

GAMES INSTITUTE GOALSCollaborative multi-disciplinary research and eventsCollaborative multi-institutional research and eventsOngoing graduate student training and researchCourses and programs in game design and developmentHub for games-related researchHub for the games industry provincially and nationallyExtensive outreach: community and all school levels

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTSPlayer Immersion, Presence, Addiction SSHRC Partnership Grant ProposalConverting Boardgames to Touch Surface Games Games Institute & Collaborative Systems LabCan a Game Make You Cry? Narrative and Emotional EngagementGamifying the Drive GI, WatCAR, and APC

RESEARCH THEMESGame Technologies – Surfaces, 3D, Sound, VR, etc.Narrative and GamesSerious Games & Educational GamesHealth and GamesSocial and Mobile GamingAugmented Reality and Virtual World GamesGames for Simulations & Trainingand … Gamification

EXERCISEWrite down the websites you’ve visitedthis week – those you remember.Write down the websites you visitregularlyWrite down the websites you’d like to visitmore often but don’t get around to

SO WHAT?Nobody knows how many websites are outthere - there’s no way to know for sure.But all reports seem to indicate thatthere are roughly 250 million.Yup – 250,000,000 – a quarter of a billion

AND … ?Let’s say you’re an amazing human beingand visit 125 of them semi-regularly.That means that you visit ONE-HALF OFA MILLIONTH of the World Wide Web.That’s not much. And it’s pretty typical.

MEANING…?If you have a website …… NOBODY CARES ABOUT IT.Well, not quite nobody. But mostlynobody. Very nearly completely nobody.Depressing if you’ve spent a lot of time,effort, and money on it.

SO…Give them.SOMETHING.to care about.

WHICH BRINGS US TO?Games … … of course

GAMIFICATIONGamification is the application of gamemechanics or game structures totraditionally non-game artifacts.Gamification currently is primarily aboutreward systems.But what about game mechanics andstructures?

PlayGenThe biggest obstacle to gamification is the ability of the metagames to appeal to those who do not normally play metagames or associate themselves with video games. This has tobe achieved by creating meta games which offer plenty ofrewards and the opportunity of gaining social status. Theprospect of competition as well as achievement are alsoimportant incentives in alluring non gamers via gamification.Finally the meta games must also be relatively simple andeasily understandable and they must, most crucially,encourage consumers to come back as this is what createssuccess out of a gamification strategy and product. PlayGen site

FarmvillePlayers are able to provide other Farmville players with giftssuch as livestock or a tree. These gifts are free to give andthe clever part is that they invite reciprocity from thereceiver. This encourages users to invite as many people aspossible to join the game so they can all start exchanginggifts and kitting out their farms with more desirable objects.Other than this method, items in the game can either bepurchased through virtual cash or players can actuallychoose to use real money to then buy virtual cash. The mostdesirable items are usually only affordable with real moneyso this encourages players to spend on Farmville. PlayGen site

Insider Circle• The Insider Circle Leaderboard - Ogilvy developed a brand advocacy platform called Insider Circle that manages a scalable community of fans and builds a productive relationship between brand and fan. Irfan Kamal who designed the platform argued for a "gamified premise form the start. Today it features a full leaderboard that allows community members to rack up points for actions taken and gauge how they are doing against other community members. This simple feature drives a competitive streak that motivates action. Digital Influence Mapping Project site

VW Roulette• VW Roulette - VW needed to impress upon car buyers that a particular vehicle is fuel efficient. To make the message memorable and drive people to authentically want to explore the features of the car that contribute to that fuel efficiency, they create a gamified experience that drew people in to follow a long driving challenge via a data- enhanced Google Map. People could essentially bet when the vehicle would run out of its single tank of gas. The best part of this model is that people who wanted the best chance of guessing well explored the features of the car that might contribute to fuel efficiency. Clearly they came away with knowledge of how many features were designed to improve fuel efficiency. Digital Influence Mapping Project site

HealthMonth• HealthMonth - One of the founders of HealthMonth started 43Things, one of my favorite sites to admire (but not really use). HealthMonth allows us each to set goals for ourselves in multiple categories from dieting to mental health. these selections get distilled into "life points" which you track, of course. You are also directed to groups of people who are also striving to reduce the amount of fried food they eat every week or increase meditation. The group support each other via Twitter. Another great example of behavioral economics and game mechanics at work. Digital Influence Mapping Project site

Nike +• Nike + - Showing how gamification can integrate seamlessy with the real world and stay completely focused on your brand, Nike offers a good example with the Nike+ tag running app. Here it links running directly with social gaming as users who have downloaded the app are then entered into a game of tag, where you have to tag other users and keep on running to avoid being ‘it’. If you run the shortest distance among the people in your game, then you’re it. So the incentive of course is to keep on running. Digital Influence Mapping Project site

bigdoor.com

BUILDING BLOCKSPointsLevelsTrophies, Badges, AchievementsVirtual GoodsLeaderboards bunchball.com site

WHAT IT SATISFIES Reward Status Achievement Self-expression Competition Altruism bunchball.com site

GAMIFICATION + Image from Op-Expat

HUH?+ Image from Op-Expat

IN THE CLASSROOMBadges – helping others, group workexcellence, answering questions, etc.Badges must come with rewardsLevels – similar to ranks, recognizedachievementExperience Points – grades, badges,privilegesQuests and storylines mrdaley.com sites

GAMIFICATION? + Image from Op-Expat

IS IT JUST MBF?Ian Bogost calls it “exploitationware”.MBF means concealment or coercion.“gamification is marketing [MBF], invented byconsultants as a means to capture the wild,coveted beast that is videogames and todomesticate it for use in the grey, hopelesswasteland of big business, where [MBF] alreadyreigns anyway.” bogost.com site

SO LET’S CHANGE IT

DEEP GAMIFICATION The game is not just grafted on. The game is CENTRAL to the interaction Customers / visitors / users MUST learn to play, and must learn to play increasingly well. Give them a way to become great players. Play is not frivolous. Play is essential. Just be sure to make it real. bogost.com site

Gamification

by University of Waterloo Stratford Campus

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Gamification Presentation Transcript