This document outlines a summer school course on gamification in relation to social media and online communities. It includes details about the schedule, blog assignments, project submissions, and emphasizes the importance of community engagement through gamification techniques such as points and badges, while also addressing criticisms of gamification. The document concludes with an assignment focused on exploring and improving the gamification strategies of a selected social media service.

1. COMP 113
Social Media & Online Communities, Summer School 2012
11: Gamification

2. This week (Week 6!!!)
 Tuesday (day 16):
– Gamification
 Wednesday (day 17):
– Your pitch
 Thursday (day 18):
– End of everything / exam prep & goodbyes 
 Miscellany:
– Blog assignment 3 marks out
– Project: Submit report & page link (by Friday 12:00pm)
– Make Chris & I admins on your page (for insights)
– Group effort distribution (meet with Coordinator)
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3. Tomorrow is pitch day!
 Be at the lab by 9:50 for setup
 Be prepared
 Be courteous to the other students:
– Listen
– Clap
– Be supportive
 What order will the groups present?
 Have fun!
 Any final questions?
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4. 4

5. PART 1: Gamification
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6. Recall  “We want a growing and
thriving community!”

7. 7

8. Engagement
Completion
Loyalty
Behaviour

9. One solution

12. 12

13. 13

15. What is gamification?
 A neologism
 “... is the use of game design techniques and
mechanics to solve problems and engage
audiences”
 Apply game motivation techniques to non-
gaming environments
 Inspire desirable activity from community
 Satisfaction through feedback cycle

16. Typical approaches
 Points  Recognition
 Badges  Currency
 Levels  Exchange
 Leader boards  Challenges
 Progress bar  Casual games
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17. Criticisms of gamification
 Insulting to gamers, game developers &
targets
 Based around psychological manipulation
 Omits deepest elements of games (skill,
mastery, risk-taking)
 Lacks “the narrative quality of games”
 Creates appearance of skill development
 Attempts to cloak poor products/services
 Risks “short-term sugar rush” then crash

18. Criticisms continued
“ ... gamification is marketing bullshit, invented
by consultants as a means to capture the wild,
coveted beast that is videogames and to
domesticate it for use in the grey, hopeless
wasteland of big business, where bullshit
already reigns anyway.” – Ian Bogost
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19. Examples
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27. Business gamification

31. 31

36. Gaming in the real world

38. END OF PART 1

39. PART 2: You
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40. Your job
1. Find a social media service that employs
gamification (not Foursquare or others already
covered).
2. Document what gamification approaches they
use and to what end.
3. Consider how you might improve their
gamification approaches using your experience
with games.
4. Would you be more motivated to complete
coursework if gamification approaches were
used?

41. Class discussion
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42. THE END
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