Gamification course on Coursera

Gamification is the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-game contexts.

  • Gamification is about learning, learning from game design but also learning from fields like psychology and management and marketing and economics
  • Gamification is not turning everything into a game.
  • The first time that gamification was used in something like the current sense was 2003. When Nick Pelling, a British developer and a designer, set up a consulting firm called Conundra, which was there to promote gamification of consumer products.
  • Game theory has a deep relationship to games and therefore to Gamification,. But it’s something different. Game theory is a set of algorithms and formulas and quantitative techniques for analyzing strategic decision making.
  • Speed monitors only provides some feedback, seeing real time feedback causes a behavior loop, it causes people to react.
  • There are three main categories, three main areas, broadly speaking, where gamification adds value. And these are external, internal, and behavior change context
  • Using PBL - point, badges and leaderboards * Badges are status symbols. * The personalized leaderboard. Status is a very powerful motivator.
  • Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation
    • Intrictic - meaning, trusting in doing something, love it …
    • Extrinsic - money, recognition …
  • Games involve learning or problem solving. If they don’t, they’re play. Play can just be spontaneous energy output. Games have some structure, some objectives.
    • If you’re forced to do something, it’s not a game.
    • Thinking like a game designer is different than thinking like a gamer. Thinking like a gamer, means playing a game.
  • From Plants vs. Zombies - Guides, Highlighting, Feedback, Limited options, Limited monsters, Impossible to fail * The first aspect of the player journey is onboarding * The second aspect is scaffolding - Places where the game makes it easier and overcome some of the complexity that otherwise would get a user stuck * The final aspects is if the game enable the player to get to mastery
  • The player journey to have a beginning, a middle and an end. And ideally, those are in some sort of progression.
  • What can be FUN? - Winning, Problem-solving, Exploring, Chilling, Surprise, Sharing, Goofing off, Recognition, Imagination … * fun doesn’t just happen, it has to be designed
  • The pyramid of Elements - Dynamics < Mechanics < Components
    • Dynamics - implicit structure
    • Mechanics - moving the action forward - for example feedback
    • Components - Levels, points …
  • The behavioral economics says “let’s look at what people actually do”, and one thing that they do is they feel much more concerned about losses than gains
  • The operand conditioning introduces the notion of consequences. So we still have a stimulus, something happens and there is a behavior. But now the behavior has consequences. in behaviorism these are usually described as positive or negative reinforcements.
    • it works based on people learning to associate certain results from what happens in a game
  • Behaviorism talks about looking at behaviors. Looking externally at what people do. Cognitivism talks about mental states, what’s internally going on in people’s heads.
  • Rewards
    • what the rewards are contingent on
    • expected rewards vs. unexpected rewards
    • tangible rewards vs. intangible rewards
  • The brains are pattern recognition engines and they try to figure out problems
  • Hedonic treadmill means - Once you start doing giving people a reward, you better keep doing it because if people learn to respond to the reward, then they’re only going to respond when the reward is there.
  • SAPS framework which stands for Status, Access, Power and Stuff.
  • PERMA framework which stands for positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement
  • Design thinking
    • it’s purposive = it has a goal
    • it’s human centered
    • is’s balanced
  • Is gamificaiton right for my company?
    • Could I motivate people to participate?
    • Is it sufficiently interesting?
    • Is it structured?
    • Can it leads to potential conflicts?
  • Virtual economies
    • The designer has to constantly balance, to ensure that there’s not too much money, which leads to inflation and effectively devalues the currency, or too little, in which case, it’s too hard to get.
    • Anytime there is scarcity, when people make choices under those conditions of scarcity, they will tend to exhibit economic behavior
  • Collective action
    • Top-down (this is what I want you to do)
      • Comperative - Grants
      • Collaborative - Employees
    • Botton-up (let people be motivated on their own)
      • Comperative - Inducement of prizes
      • Collaborative - Crouwdsourcing
  • Finally, design thinking is iterative. In other words, it inherently expects that we’re not going to get it right the first time.
Written on May 10, 2020