My presentation to the Fanboy event at Creative Social, London, 5 October 2011

1. PAT KANE THEPLAYETHIC.COM RADICALANIMAL.NET THOUGHTLAND.INFO UNDERSTANDING PLAY/GAME & THE CONSEQUENCES 4 COMMS

2. SEBASTIAN DETERDING : So why is playing games fun (Marc LeBlanc, Raph Koster, Nicole Lazzaro, Scott Rigby and Richard Ryan)? - The aesthetic joys of beauty and pattern; - The autonomy in choosing who to be, what goals to pursue and what strategies to pick in doing so - The creative expression of yourself - Novelty and humour - Excitement in suspense and its release - The sensual pleasures of physical movement

3. SEBASTIAN DETERDING : So why is playing games fun (Marc LeBlanc, Raph Koster, Nicole Lazzaro, Scott Rigby and Richard Ryan)? - The immersion in exotic fictional worlds and stories - The relaxing reassurance of affecting and ordering a constrained world with minimum effort - Supporting others and being supported by them - Having a pretext to socialize.

4. SEBASTIAN DETERDING : So why is playing games fun? MOST OF ALL...MASTERING CHALLENGES “ We enjoy games because games are purpose-built to provide opportunities to overcome a challenge – a puzzle to solve, a chasm to jump, a monster to beat – and the joy of succeeding in doing so.” MEANING, MASTERY, AUTONOMY “ Fun is just another word for learning” (Raph Koster)

5. THAT'S PLAY & GAMES... “ GAMIFICATION” MEANS SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT: GABE ZICHERMANN “ Like games , sex has the unusual ability to make people do things that are not necessarily in their best long-term interest.” “Uniquely, games are able to get people to take actions that are not always in their best interest, without the use of force, in a predictable way”

6. “ GAMIFICATION” = “POINTSIFICATION” ( Margaret Robertson, “Can't Play/Won't Play ) REWARDING PEOPLE WITH POINTS FOR AN EFFORT OR ACTIVITY... … AND DOING SO IN A SOCIALLY-COMPETITIVE, STATUS-DRIVEN CONTEXT... … ARE ONLY TINY SLICES OF THE COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT MAKES UP A COMPELLING GAME OR PLAY-FORM ...AND WE USED TO CALL IT A “LOYALTY-SCHEME” ANYWAY

7. BUT SHOULD ADVERTISERS GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE RICH HUMANISM OF PLAY-GAME SCHOLARSHIP? “ The cost of producing customer loyalty has dropped precipitously. It used to be 10 cents on the dollar—buy 10 get 1 free. Now, for applications like FarmVille or Foursquare, costs are nearly zero. ” “ When something is designed well, it feels intrinsic to the player. He perceived that it was intrinsically driven whether or not it was (just as a good sales person can convince the buyer it was his idea to buy that set of encyclopedias in the first place)” (Zichermann)

8. BUT SHOULD ADVERTISERS GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE RICH HUMANISM OF PLAY-GAME SCHOLARSHIP? “ No matter what the player thinks, the house will always win a well-designed game. Just as any honest casino manager will tell you, while the illusion of winning is vital to motivating use and play, actually winning is much harder than it seems... You have a fundamental choice: either be the house, or get played. ” (Zichermann) DETERDING : what happened to Cluetrain, 'markets as conversations', user-centric design, authentic customer relationships....??

9. FOR ADVERTISERS/COMMS TO GET GAMES AND PLAY RIGHT, MIGHT MEAN QUESTIONING WHAT THEY'RE FUNDAMENTALLY DOING... IF MEANING | MASTERY | AUTONOMY IS WHAT MAKES GAMES ENDURINGLY ENGAGING TO PEOPLE... … TO WHAT EXTENT DOES A BRAND CAMPAIGN SERVE THOSE ENDS?

10. TO WHAT EXTENT IS A BRANDED PRODUCT OR SERVICE... ...LIKE THE RICH SYSTEMS OF A GREAT GAME OR PLAY-FORM? EG: APPLE - MEANING: “THE INTERSECTION OF LIBERAL ARTS & TECHNOLOGY” (THO WATCH FOR FOXCOMM DEATHS, CARBON-HEAVINESS, INNOVATION CYCLE, FAN PERSECUTION) - MASTERY: “HOW WILL I STRETCH TO USING THIS IPAD INTERFACE?... AHH...” - AUTONOMY: TAHRIR SQUARE – CLICK – USE YOUR ENTHUSIASM – CLICK – JAMIE OLIVER – CLICK - GARAGEBAND PODCAST – CLICK... (THO WATCH FOR NET NEUTRALITY, APP CENSORSHIP)

11. TOY IFICATION CRAFT IFICATION SANDBOX IFICATION TOOLBOX IFICATION LEGO IFICATION (...all Ivan Illich's 'Tools For Conviviality') Ads/Comms to impress upon clients the urgency of making their prod/services as rich a system for MMA as possible ... ...as the carbon/debt hammer hits hard...& status-consumption becomes an elusive, toxic pleasure...

12. PAT KANE THEPLAYETHIC.COM RADICALANIMAL.NET THOUGHTLAND.INFO @theplayethic @radicalanimals UNDERSTANDING PLAY/GAME & THE CONSEQUENCES 4 COMMS CREATIVE SOCIAL, LONDON, 5/10/11