9.5 Theses on the power
and efficacy of gamification Sebastian Deterding (@dingstweets) Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, Hamburg University October 2012 cb

Education

Sustainability

Activism

Life

Everywhere

points badges leaderboards incentives Tracking,
Feedback Goals, surprise Competition Rewards The blueprint (still)

success stories sensors & analytics
practices & discourses The Enablers

1 Gamification is
nothing new.

»One purpose of this book
is to explore ways in which even routine activities can be transformed into personally meaningful games that provide optimal experiences.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 51)

Precursors and parallels Serious Digital
Alternate Reality/ Ludification Games Serious Games Pervasive Games of culture (1960+) (2001+) (2001+) (2006+) Precursors Repurposings UX Playfulness (1980+) (2001+) (2002+) (2005+) Hedonic attributes Ludic design Persuasive Tech (2002+) (2006+)

Precursors

User Experience

Playfulness

Ludic Design

Persuasive Technology

Serious Games

Pervasive Games

Alternate Reality Games

Ludification of Culture

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

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

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

Paidia Ludus play game improvisation
skill, effort exploration strategizing tumultuous ordered immoderate rule-bound Roger Caillois man, play, and games (1958)

Gaming
Playing
Gaming, not playing

Systems Elements Elements, not whole
systems

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

Non-Game Contexts

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

3 Gamification is an inadvertent
con.

»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.« Margaret Robertson can’t play, won’t play (2009)

si on fu 1 Con
#

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

Con(fusion) #1 Games are not
fun because they are games, but when they are well-designed.

si on fu 2 Con
#

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

Level: 1 (You rock!) Drop
all loot!

Score: 400 princesses (You rock!)
Get princess!

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

»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.« Raph Koster a theory of fun for game design (2005)

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

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

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

Con(fusion) #2 The fun in
playing games chiefly arises from intrinsic enjoyment, not extrinsic incentives.

si on fu 3 Con
# http://www.flickr.com/photos/apartmentlife/6559123353/

»Mowing the lawn or waiting
in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 51)

Con(fusion) #3 »Gaminess« is not
a feature you can add.

4 Motivational design is a
promising proposition.

How might we ... restructure
a system to support intrinsic enjoyment, using game design as a lens?

Put differently If this were
a game – in what ways is it broken?

Game Atoms model/skill goal action
rule system success! / failure! challenge feedback immediate/progress

Games in class > Class
as game

Games in school > School
as game

Games in Undergrad > You
get the idea ...

Feedback Accuracy, speed, friendliness in
comparison, w/ recommendations Goals Daily, weekly, monthly, annually w/ progress Challenge Training, job rotation, job enrichment Reality Check

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/4141140976/sizes/o/in/faves-7834371@N04/

5 Gamification is thinking inside
the box.

Game The Box A designed
artifact Playing A frame of engagement

»Even though we are involved
in a game, we are not always playing … Even though we are playing, we are not always involved in a game ... Playing a game is a special condition of both play and games.« Bernie de Koven the well-played game (1978/2002: 7)

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

So ... What about this
frame called playing?

»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.«

»Sometimes, you have to play,
you have to get further – and then, play is work.«

e nt Elem #1 »First
and foremost, all play is a voluntary activity.« Johan Huizinga homo ludens (1938/1950: 7)

»The key element of an
optimal experience is that it is an end in itself.« Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi flow (1990: 67)

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

Fun Voluntary
Voluntary Fun

e nt Elem#2 A vs.
Quality …safe space and Variety

»Psychosocial moratorium principle: Learners can
take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered.« James Paul Gee what video games have to teach us... (2003: 67)

e nt Elem # 3
Attunement http://www.flickr.com/photos/wondermonkey2k/6188527275

»When mother and child have
fun together, … they are establishing ... the convention that they take precedence over the fun. When the child cries, the mother stops having fun.« Bernie de Koven the well-played game (1978: 18)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/5709372593

»It is the nature of
a fun community to care more about the players than about the game. ... We are having fun. We are caring. We are safe with each other. This is what we want.« Bernie de Koven the well-played game (1978: 19-20)

e nt em 4 El
# Shared focus & attitude of exploring ... http://www.flickr.com/photos/docentjoyce/3138887652

… mastery, ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulgorman/1392988135

… benign transgression, ...

… and most importantly, fun
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bixentro/540642579

e nt Elem#5 I won‘t
let you fall. I‘ll know and say when it‘s too much. Trust http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucianvenutian/439410200

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

er ng 1 da #
Rewarded or mandatory games ... http://albanyny.bitsbytesbots.com/after-school-enrichment

… curbs autonomy through control

… detrains autonomous regulation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/4955407599/sizes/l/in/photostream/

er ng 2 da #
the rule of irrelevance

Framing as strategic instrumental action
http://www.rasmusen.org/x/images/pd.jpg

… crowds out communal ethics,
...

»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: 5)

… fixates thinking inside the
system and ... http://www.rasmusen.org/x/images/pd.jpg

… encourages gaming the system
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2347819903

In short: a ludic mindset
Paidia Ludus play game improvisation skill, effort exploration strategizing tumultuous ordered immoderate rule-bound Roger Caillois man, play, and games (1958)

er ng 3 da #
Utopia lost in amusement

»The unreality of games gives
notice that reality is not yet real. Unconsciously they rehearse the right life.« Theodor W. Adorno minima moralia (1951)

»Simply because the child deprives
the things with which he plays of their mediated usefulness, he seeks to rescue in them what is benign towards men and not what subserves the exchange relation that equally deforms men and things.« Theodor W. Adorno minima moralia (1951)

a thing enjoyed for its
own sake is a moment of life well-lived

»Amusement is the extension of
work in late capitalism. It is sought out by him who wants to escape the mechanised process of work only to become fit for it anew.« Theodor W. Adorno dialectics of enlightenment (1969)

6 Playful reframing is a
promising proposition.

Play

What we usually design
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlerone/405730185/sizes/o/

Who decides whether this is
play (or playing is allowed)

ip le nc 1 ri
# P Support autonomy http://ascottallison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/p1030286.jpg

ip le nc 2 ri
# P Create a safe space http://www.flickr.com/photos/charamelody/4613804703

ip le nc 3 ri
# P Metacommunicate: »This is play!«

Make a bow
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccun934/3604759449
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amrufm/2593920251/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Disrupt standing frames

Use cues and associations
http://www.flickr.com/photos/webatelier/5929298899

ip le nc 4 ri
# P … vs. Quality and Variety Model attitude and behaviors

ip le nc 5 ri
# P Offer generative tools/toys

Small pieces, loosely joined

»So when designing tools for
play, underspecify!« Kars Alfrink a playful stance (2008)

(Obligatory Minecraft slide)

FarmVille

MySpace!

ip le nc 6 ri
# P Provide invitations http://www.flickr.com/photos/purplemattfish/3205907410/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Autonomy Choice in goals &
strategies, concordant w/ values & needs Safe space Culture of trust, forgiveness, mutual care, zero blame Shared attitude Lived focus on exploring, mastery, benign transgression, shared joy Generative tools/toys Inviting openings for exploration and redesign

7 Gamification is
materializing morality.

ue iss #1 Evil mind
control?

»If you use the power
of games to give people an opportunity to do something they want to do, then you’re doing good. If you’re using the power of games to get people to do something you want them to do, then you’re doing evil.« Jane McGonigal digital ethics symposium (2011)

Technologies of power

Get your friends to shop
more

Technologies of the self

Help me meditate

… are technologies of control

Regularthe game.at the gym. Get
outin exercize associate employees. Not drinking too Move Moremore Happier. Fitter. with your much. on. Stay productive.

Stay in the game. Move
on.

ue iss #2 Implicit values,
virtues, normality

»Products ... are vivid arguments
about how we should lead our lives.« Richard Buchanan design and the new rhetoric (2001) http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_rhetoric/v034/34.3buchanan.html

The Good Life
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanky/1722371602

Compare. Compete. Be on top.

What vision of The Good
Life do your designs convey?

ue iss #3 “Extended willpower”
Implicit theory of social change

When discipline is reinforced, revolution
cannot fail!

»Commentators blithely assure us that
it is ‘all about who wants it the most’, as though sporting podiums are arranged exactly according to the amount of willpower that went into the struggle. Bronze: considerable self-belief; silver: still stronger self-belief; gold: self-belief on an epic scale. … Our own age has indulged a pseudoscientific cult of willpower: the deification of determination.« Ed Smith the voodoo cult of positive thinking (2012) http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2012/09/voodoo-cult-positive-thinking

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-
business/small-painless-behaviour-change

What theory of social change
do your designs convey?

8 Gamification is
worth researching.

ic op 1 T #
Motivational Design Marrying the psychology of motivation with the practice of design.

The Gameful Classroom

ic op 2 T #
Rule Design Studies The holistic study and design of rule systems.

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

ic op 3 T #
Playing Studies Understanding and designing for playful and gameful reframing.

Are you “playing” or “using”
it?

Mandatory or optional?

How to counteract a gaming
mindset? http://www.flickr.com/photos/5tein/2347819903

9 “Gamification” is a terrible
word to use.

ue ss 1 I #
»Gamification is bullshit.« Ian Bogost gamification is bullshit (2011) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4294/persuasive_games_shell_games.php

»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.« Ian Bogost exploitationware (2010)

ue ss 2 I #
What is a “game element”?* * Most game definitions have multiple necessary conditions

Game Atoms model/skill goal action
rule system success! / failure! challenge feedback immediate/progress

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

ue ss 3 I #
Encourgaing “add-on” thinking

Remember “Playfulness”?

Gamefulness!

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

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

1 Gamification is nothing new.
2 Gamification is the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. 3 Gamification is an inadvertent con. 4 Motivational design is a promising proposition. 5 Gamification is thinking inside the box. 6 Playful reframing is a promising proposition. 7 Gamification is materializing morality. 8 Gamification is worth researching 9 »Gamification« is a terrible word to use.

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

»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)

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