Gamification is hot buzzword at the moment; pity it sucks, eh?
Game mechanics and game design techniques have been a much proliferated meme in the UX, IxD, and design worlds as of late (for varying definitions of ‘late’). Touted as a ‘solution’ to the challenge of motivating certain behaviour in users, or making experiences more engaging, sadly these elements of the game development world are often blindly applied without finesse or elegance – akin to to hitting the user over the head with a colourful hammer.
I’ve given countless talks on gamification products, adding game mechanics to services, and motivating and engaging users through glorious interrelated feedback systems. All of it, well — most of it — was wrong.
Game design techniques aren’t applicable to every interaction design situation, but when they are they can make the experience that much more compelling, sticky and entertaining. The situations where they are truly, deeply applicable are few and far between. This session will help you spot those situations.
Using examples from the last half a decade of building gamified and non-gamified services and apps for consumers, this session will show you exactly why gamification sucks, why that’s actually quite a pity, and how you can fix it.
This session is about putting the heart and soul of game design into designing experiences, and using it to focus the well-meaning intention of games in the first place: making stuff more fun! This session is for everyone.
6. How many people like chocolate?
Would every food be vastly improved by
the application of layer of chocolate?
7. Gamification is th e use of game play
elements for no n-game applications
Gamification works by making
technology more engaging
taking advantage of humans'
psychological predisposition to
engage in gaming.
The technique can en courage people to perform
chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as
completing surveys, s hopping, or reading web sites.
8. why would you want to do that?
Gamification is the use of game play
elements for non-game applications
Gamification works by making
technology more engaging
how does it do that?
9. thing game social
mechanics
thing is now more appealing
people are going to go nuts for this
27. Gamification is reassuring. It gives Vice Presidents and
Brand Managers comfort: they're doing everything right,
and they can do even better by adding "a games
strategy" to their existing products, slathering on
"gaminess" like aioli on ciabatta at the consultant's
indulgent sales lunch.
49. What we have learned from our users is that any
game aspect has to be, at least for finance, more
oriented toward some specific thing that you are
working toward: I want to buy a house or a car,
take a vacation, get out of debt, save for my
retirement or buy a big-screen TV, or whatever it
may be. Otherwise you have a system of points with
no levels or no end game.
Aaron Patzer
70. If he had been a great and wise
philosopher, like the writer of this book, he
would now have comprehended that Work
consists of whatever a body is obliged to
do, and that Play consists of whatever a
body is not obliged to do.
Mark Twain
72. wo rk!
great
Less autonomous
Sloppy & less creative
More likely to cheat
More likely to quit