Gamification

GAMIFICATION

Image from Op-Expat

Neil Randall, DirectorEnglish DepartmentExperimental Digital Media Program

Stacey Scott, Associate DirectorSystems Design Engineering DepartmentCollaborative Systems Lab

GAMES INSTITUTE GOALS

Collaborative multi-disciplinary research and events

Collaborative multi-institutional research and events

Courses and programs in game design and development

Hub for games-related research

Hub for the games industry provincially and nationally

Ongoing graduate student training and research

Extensive outreach: community and all school levels

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Player Immersion, Presence, AddictionSSHRC Partnership Grant Proposal

Can a Game Make You Cry? Narrative and Emotional Engagement

Converting Boardgames to Touch Surface GamesGames Institute & Collaborative Systems Lab

Gamifying the Drive GI, WatCAR, and APC

RESEARCH THEMESGame Technologies – Surfaces, 3D, Sound, VR, etc.

Narrative and Games

Health and Games

and … Gamification

Social and Mobile Gaming

Augmented Reality and Virtual World Games

Games for Simulations & Training

Serious Games & Educational Games

EXERCISEWrite down the websites you’ve visited this week – those you remember.

Write down the websites you visit regularly

Write down the websites you’d like to visit more often but don’t get around to

SO WHAT?Nobody knows how many websites are out there - there’s no way to know for sure.

But all reports seem to indicate that there are roughly 250 million.

Yup – 250,000,000 – a quarter of a billion

AND … ?Let’s say you’re an amazing human being and visit 125 of them semi-regularly.

That means that you visit ONE-HALF OF A 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 mostly nobody. 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 game mechanics or game structures to traditionally non-game artifacts.Gamification currently is primarily about reward systems.But what about game mechanics and structures?

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

PlayGen site

FarmvillePlayers are able to provide other Farmville players with gifts such as livestock or a tree. These gifts are free to give and the clever part is that they invite reciprocity from the receiver. This encourages users to invite as many people as possible to join the game so they can all start exchanging gifts and kitting out their farms with more desirable objects. Other than this method, items in the game can either be purchased through virtual cash or players can actually choose to use real money to then buy virtual cash. The most desirable items are usually only affordable with real money so this encourages players to spend on Farmville.

PlayGen site

Insider CircleThe 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 RouletteVW 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

HealthMonthHealthMonth - 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

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BUILDING BLOCKSPoints

Levels

Trophies, Badges, Achievements

Virtual Goods

Leaderboards

bunchball.com site

WHAT IT SATISFIESReward

Status

Achievement

Self-expression

Competition

bunchball.com site

Altruism

GAMIFICATION

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GAMIFICATION

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GAMIFICATION

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GAMIFICATION

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GAMIFICATION

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GAMIFICATION

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HUH?

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IN THE CLASSROOMBadges – helping others, group work excellence, answering questions, etc.Badges must come with rewardsLevels – similar to ranks, recognized achievementExperience Points – grades, badges, privileges

mrdaley.com sites

Quests and storylines

GAMIFICATION?

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GAMIFICATION?

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GAMIFICATION?

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GAMIFICATION?

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GAMIFICATION?

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GAMIFICATION?

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IS IT JUST MBF?Ian Bogost calls it “exploitationware”.

MBF means concealment or coercion.

“gamification is marketing [MBF], 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 [MBF] already reigns anyway.”

bogost.com site

SO LET’S CHANGE IT

DEEP GAMIFICATIONThe game is not just grafted on.

The game is CENTRAL to the interaction

bogost.com site

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.