Engagement can have different meanings and interpretations. It is important to consider how users or players will perceive and experience engagement. Engagement should not simply be about entertaining users or "leading them into a trap", but rather about respecting their perceptions and facilitating learning through playful experiences with depth. True engagement provides challenges that match growing skills, allows users to perceive complexity, and leads to learning something useful through well-designed mechanics and crafting within a given system or application. The goal of smarter engagement is to facilitate learning while respecting how people experience and evaluate their interactions.

1. Engagement
as playful
learning
Pietro Polsinelli
@ppolsinelli
for
Smarter Engagement 2016
http://2016.smarterengagement.com/
1

2. 2
“Smarter Engagement”

3. 3
What does that mean?

4. Engagement
: an agreement to be married : the
act of becoming engaged or the state
of being engaged to be married
: a promise to meet or be present at
a particular place and time
: a job as a performer
4

5. Smart
: clean, tidy, and well dressed.
"you look very smart“
synonyms: well dressed, well
turned out, fashionably dressed,
having or showing a quick-witted
intelligence.
5

6. So Smarter Engagement
means ...
6

7. Well dressed fiancé
ceremonies
“Fidanzarsi ben vestiti”
* Actual takeway.
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8. 8

9. 9

10. Engagement is a *very* ambiguous
term. 10

11. What you intend by
engagement relies on a
definition of user /
target / player
11

12. 12
The very idea of
“customer engagement”
can be interpreted in
two deeply different ways

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as using entertainment along a fun path that
leads potential customers
“into the trap”
or
as the result of a research that uses the
learning dimensions (of play) to translate the
genuine content of the topic at hand.

14. 1: Engagement as... going to a party!
14

15. This is...Wrong.You are not providing a
party. Rage ensues. 15

16. Gamification as intentional,
programmatic lack of depth.
Just go through the usual tricks
people will fall for it.

17. Many use this user model.

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I believe instead that people
evaluation of engagement
is *very* refined.
People may not know
*why* they like / dislike
an experience,
but they know they do.

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2. Engagement as
respecting player’s
refined perceptions.

20. 20
We will explore the second meaning via a
few real world examples of playful
applications
in the fields of health, social intervention,
urban planning, art.

21. EXAMPLES
21

22. Transformation
Games for
Social Impact

23. Learn how to deal with neglect and abuse

24. Pick a mod, just change the labels ...
24

25. In this game player is “dropped” inside her / his
current situation, in a town where she can move
about, go to places and meet people. 25

26. The game continually generates new life situations (generally,
problematic) which the player has to respond to, by going places and
meeting people.

28. Playing *is* learning
about the topic.
28

29. Progression in flow is put
to use in several
interpretations.
29

30. But why “its addictive”?
A second hypothesis.
30

31. Perception of depth in
gameplay
31

32. Autography
or
Graffiti of Love

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34. Again, what is our model
of the graffiti maker
(artist)?
Just an idiot?
34

35. There are patterns in graffiti.
35

36. Desire to leave a sign.
Frustrate that – cameras,
police.
Facilitate that: give them
a tablet.
36

37. Facilitate that:
Give them rewards for
not making a graffiti
(gamification).
Or ... give them a tablet.
37

38. Design an application
that is built around the
idea of “more graffiti”!
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41. Result:
- No graffitis on the walls
and objects.
- Hundreds of cool graffitis
(yep, still graffitis) every
day.
41

42. Power of “in context”.
Multi-dimensional depth
perception.
42

43. Transformation
Games for a
Sustainable
Future

44. UNESCO Gaming Challenge: won with We
Are Muesli and Daniele Giardini
44

45. ONCE UPON A TILE
Growth and sustainability 45

46. REZONE THE GAME
Desires for urban rezoning

47. Engagement in
games with depth

48. Need of depth is an utopic,
abstract reasoning?
Its actually everywhere.
48

49. Clash Royale: game design is *very*
refined, game feel even more. 49

50. “After all, Clash Royale is a mix of various well-
known gaming genres.
You’ve got TCG (Trading Card Game) elements that
remind us of Hearthstone, Real-Time Strategy
mechanics, and an MOBA-styled level layout. Well,
that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?
Of course, with a mix like this, you’d expect there to
be a very steep learning curve. Well, there isn’t.”
http://www.deconstructoroffun.com/2016/02/clash-
royale-next-billion-dollar-game.html

51. Kardashian Hollywood - Copy and rhythm

52. THREE
WORKING
HYPOTHESES
52

53. Koster, Raph. 2004. A Theory of Fun for Game
Design. Scottsdale,AZ: Paraglyph Press.
53

54. Koster – Deterding definition of fun.

55. “Fun is
about
learning in a
context
where there
is no
pressure”
But in school there is, and there has to be, pressure.There is here a dynamic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x5YtkTw4wn4#!

56. “A core feature of engaging game design is a well-balanced
difficulty curve, in which players are faced with
challenges whose difficulty matches their growing skill” 56

57. 3. Curiosity is perception of
depth
57
1. Engagement *as* learning
2. Learning can be a flow
experience

58. DEPTH?
58

59. 59

60. “Depth” is always along
specific dimensions.
60

61. Engagement is relative
to other engaging
experiences: that is the
problem, as standards
are very high.
61

62. Depth dimension – have some depth, maybe no all
...

63. Game Grammars
http://www.raphkoster.com/games/presentations
/game-grammar/

64. Does your solution have a “mechanic”?
http://www.lizengland.com/blog/2014/04/the-door-
problem/

65. Raph Koster “Teaching to Fish”
http://www.raphkoster.com/games/presentations/teaching-to-fish/

66. Careful crafting ...
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/271809/Video_20_lessons_learn
ed_from_20_years_of_making_Magic_The_Gathering.php

67. Engagement is about
complexity, because its
about people.
You may be making
systems that are playing
with NP hard problems.
67

68. Smarter Engagement can
be just a way to lead
people into
learning something
beautiful
and/as useful
68

69. My twitter stream is
mostly dedicated to
game design
@ppolsinelli
A blog on game design
designagame.eu
69

70. Beyond

73. Persuasive UIs

74. Addiction by Design Natascha Schull
http://gelconference.com/videos/2008/natasha_schull
97% is given by the slot machine – study IT

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76. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar
ticle-2313961/Engagement-photos-
make-happy-youre-single.html
http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/
Image credit.