Introduction to

From games..

..to the real world

Akash Suresh Abhishek Pathak

What is gamification?It’s about learning from games and applying it to solve real world challenges.

Bob is a 10th grade student who loves playing an FPS game called Call for Strike. He is immersed in the game 2-4 hours a day.

Bob’s academic grade is “D’ and he is overweight.

What if we could find out what’s so engaging about Call for Strike and apply it to Bob’s studies and his health?

Stella runs an NGO which tackles social issues in her country.

She noticed that her team members love playing ‘Pictionary’.

What if Stella could find out what is it about the game that makes her team members play together, and apply it to the NGO’s projects to increase productivity within her team?

Ross is a businessman who makes products for college students.

Ross noticed that the current craze among the college students is a game called ChapelRun .

What if Ross could find out what’s so engaging about the game and apply it in his interaction with the customers to pump up his sales and marketing?

Useful terms

• Game elements : Tools/patterns used in building a game. E.g., points, levels, badges, characters, challenges, etc.

• Game design techniques : Concepts used in designing a game systematically, thoughtfully and artistically to make it fun. E.g., motivational design, behaviorism, reward structures, etc.

• Non game contexts : Objectives lying outside of a game. E.g., to get a job, to increase productivity, to promote greenery, to improve marks, etc.

DefinitionGamification is the use game elements and game design techniques in non game contexts.

Example : Nike plus made running into a game like experience to promote fitness and sales among customers. Check out how at http://nikeplus.nike.com/plus/

Categories

1. External gamification : Gamification for those outside the organization, like customers, for improving marketing, sales, customer engagement, etc.

2. Internal gamification : Gamification for people within an organization for human resource management, productivity enhancement, etc.

3. Behavior change : Gamification to cause a desired behavior change within an individual or a community for personal health, cleanliness of a city, energy conservation, etc.

In which category do you think gamification in the cases of Bob, Ross and Stella would fall under?

ExamplesExternal gamification : The USA network created Club Psych, a gamified website of their popular TV show called Psych.

They integrated the game mechanics with other aspects of the show (like pineapple) to make it feel like an extension of the show.

Check out : http://clubpsych.usanetwork.com/

Results : A big marketing bump

• Overall traffic on the USA network increased 30%.

• Online merchandise sales increased 50%.

• Page views increased 130%.

• Psych content shared 300,000 times on facebook, reaching 40 million users with original audience of 4.5 million.

Internal gamification : Windows 7 language quality game

Microsoft software is available in many languages across hundreds of countries. It’s a challenge to make sure all the text, dialog boxes and other interface elements are error free in all the languages.

The testing and QA group of Microsoft gamified the process to test the localization of the company.

Teams scored points for each error found and the team ranking was displayed on a leaderboard.

Microsoft volunteers saw it as a chance to compete against other Microsoft offices and to make their localization the best in the company.

This got them to do the otherwise boring task of reading dialog boxes, for free.

leaderboard

Results :

• 4,500 participants.

• Over 500,000 dialog boxes reviewed.

• 6,700 bugs reported.

• Hundreds of significant fixes.

Behavior change : Speed limit enforcement by speed camera lottery (The Fun Theory)

Cameras were set up to track speed of vehicles and show it to the drivers.As usual, those overspeeding were fined, but those who didn’t were automatically entered into a lottery, money for which came from the fines collected.

Result :

• Average speed in Stockholm trial decreased by over 20% from 32 to 25 kmph

Check out : http://www.thefuntheory.com/speed-camera-lottery-0

Checkpoint• Is gamification turning everything into games?

• Is gamification all about using game elements like points, leaderboards, rewards, etc into any situation?

• Will gamification produce desired results in every situation?

The answer is NO.

• Gamification is about learning from games and game designs.

• Gamification will not produce results in every area.

• Gamification is harder than it appears!

Now that you know what gamification is, the next question arises ‘Why gamification’?Ponder over the question and stick around for the answer.

References and links

Gamification course content by Prof. Kevin Werbach, Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/220532/MindTrek_Gamification_PrinterReady_110806_SDE_accepted_LEN_changes_1.pdf

http://www.accenture.com/us-en/blogs/technology-labs-blog/archive/2012/03/28/gamification-and-the-behavior-change-lifecycle.aspx

Contact us :Akash SureshCenter championCareerKraft Foundationemail - aakaashh.s@gmail.com

Abhishek PathakCenter championCareerKraft Foundationemail – abhishek.pat94@gmail.com

To know more about CareerKraft, visithttp://careerkraft.in/

Thank You!