Companies can leverage game thinking (gamification) to delight customers, increase usage and achieve business goals. The following deck is an overview of my research on the topic of gamification and game thinking. Enjoy!
15. Game Mechanics are actions and systems that make progress visible. Source: Amy Jo Kim, Ph.D
16. Fun and Games can: Drive engagement Motivate desired behavior Increasing user participation That can help business.
17. 1.0 Get Started Fun & games can drive engagement, motivate, & increase participation. Game Dynamics are motivational desires overtime. Game Mechanics are actions and systems that make progress visible.
28. Game thinking is morethan loyalty. 120 million people accrue airline points Points + Gifts
29. Game thinking can change behavior. eBay rating drives transactions Levels + Status
30. Game thinking is in your car. Zero emissions Social Comparison +points
31. Game thinking can change you. Virgin Health Miles Challenges + Achievement
32. Game thinking can have big impact. Urgent Evoke Challenges + Narrative
33. 2.0 The Basics A game are unnecessary obstacles we volunteer to tackle. Design for a player and a journey. Find a balance between challenge & ability. Don’t start with game dynamics & mechanics.
41. What is all the buzz about Gamification? Not motivated? Make a game of it The Tech Industry's Tea Party Business Looks to Win at 'Gamification' SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck Play to win: The game-based economy
42. Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage users Source: Gabe Zichermann & Bunchball, Inc. 2010
43. Gamification proponents consider game mechanics to be a kind of monosodium glutamate or sweetener. Just add to any product to give it a kick, to make it more fun, motivating and engaging. Source: Will Wright (Game Designer, SimCity)
48. Gamification can be surprising. Get Yourself Tested (an STD NPO) partnered with Foursquare to promote awareness. GYT and Foursquare Places + Badges
49. Mobile makes it that much better! Leaderboards & Status Reward & Virtual Goods Points & Competition
50. Nike + Apple 1.8 million people use Nike+ iPod Challenges + Achievement
51. Leverage the unique features of mobile. Location (GPS) Camera Multi-touch Accelerometer Gyroscope When combined with Gamification can be a winning combination.
53. 3.0 Playing. Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage users. Gamification can be addictive. Mobile amplifies Gamification.
54.
55. Applied game thinking Determine what lever (business goal) to promote. Apply game thinking to increase engagement. Select and test appropriate game dynamics and mechanics. Case study
56. Familiar game mechanic and dynamic patterns. Eight familiar game mechanics More: Secret Game Deck
57. Collecting Foodspotting Review & Places Users snap photos of food earning badges Yelp Reviews Users check-in and review to earn badges Gowalla Places Users check-in to collect badges, items and accomplish trips
58. Points / Currency Big Brain Trivia Users complete games to earn points and compete with friends and the community EpicWin To Do Users assign value to item to collect points and grow character
59. Social Comparison Foursquare Places Users compete based on unique check-ins to become a Mayer Digg Feeds Followers rate likes an dislike to share and promote feed Arcade Hockey Game Provides badges and points, but promotes competition by sharing with friends.
60. Narrative Pocket Zoo Places Promote exploration using maps and places to explore the zoo. HomeFinder Realestate Leverage treks to create open house trips for potential buyers. Scvngr Places Users define or participate in treks. Treks complete an experience.
61. Reinforcement Babies Photography Encourages usage with reminds to capture photos. Second Opinion Question Post a question to the community and encourage participation. Hot or Not Dating Users rate community profiles for exposure. The system encourages profile completion
62. Customization Farmville Game Users play, compete and collect in a virtual world. Gowalla Places Users can commission places with customized, icons and content. Bobba Bar Messaging Allows user to create personal avatars while interacting with a social space.
63. Virtual Goods Mafia Game To gain a competitive advantage users purchase virtual items. Hipstamatic Photography For photographic results users can purchase new lenses, film or flashes.
64. Surprises Tweetie Tiny Message Easter Eggs provide surprise and reward for frequent users while delivering information. Chase Banking A simple puzzle and interactions leveraging the camera to accomplish a boring task. Urbanspoon Reviews Randomization adds delight and discoverability to find a local restaurant.
65. Go beyond Field Agent Research Users get cash incentives for accomplishing a task. TapTap Game Users play for points and credits to customize. Collection of credits can be leveraged. Hipstamatic Photography Beyond photography users can order prints.
66. 4.0 Applied Focus on the primary lever. Keep a game thinking mindset. Leverage familiar game mechanics. Apply game thinking design principles.
68. Game Thinking Design Principles Define specific goals, actions & measurements Make actions realistic, explicit and accessible Define relationship between action and goals Foursquare Action = Check-in Goals = Mayor, coming Get Deals Measurement = Points and Social status Accessible = Primary action Source: Sebastian Deterding
69. Design Principles cont. Provide clear status and measurements Provide clear instant feedback Make challenges progressively more difficult Create social comparisons Source: Sebastian Deterding
70. Summary Companies can leverage game thinking to delight customers, increase usage and achieve business goals.
72. Questions Stephen Gay Intuit - DIG Design Innovation Group info@stephengay.com Twitter: stephengay Interested in more? Send me an email.
Editor's Notes
The toy cash register is a great metaphor. It beings back a time when playing was fun. In this case playing with money, shopping and transactions was a game. In our adult life this activities can be seen as dull parts of every day. Why can’t it still be fun? Can we say fun is an important motivator for engagement.
Alright, welcome to “The Business of Games” game. I’m going to take you on a journey:We’ll get started and learn how game thinking can really help business.We’ll go through the basics of what is a game, game thinking and what makes game compelling.We’ll look at what’s trending right now in the industryFinally we’ll look at applied game thinking and best practices.Lets get started!
We agree that Fun can be a strong motivator.Gaming is a $60 Billion per year market
Game DynamicsOur desire is to recycle the bottles, but make it easy. The motivation is to be environmental by recycling, but by adding elements of fun and play. The user wants to engage more. Add points and beating the high score feeds the need to achieve and compete. This increase engagement and motivation.
Game MechanicsThe action is empty our at home recycle bin by bring the bottles to a public recycle centerThe behavior is frustrating since it’s remote, the user must carry heavy bottles, time consumingThe mechanism is the user puts the bottles in the bin through holes
Gaming is a $60 Billion per year market
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's when there isn't a high correlation between the challenge (the height of the mountain, depth of the dive) and the ability to meet that challenge, fun is something we're definitely not having.
Consider the main axis between Challenge and Ability. When the challenge is greater than our abilities, we become anxious and frustrated. When the challenge is significantly less than that of which we are worthy, we become bored and unsatisfied.
American Airlines rewards program is about selling and rewarding flyers. The challenge and ability is collecting points by flying. It gets progressively more difficult to move up the levels form Gold, Platinum to Executive Platinum. The mechanic is points and levels.
Ebay is about selling products from random people. The challenge and ability is the user must maintain the challenge of remaining a top seller (i.e. don’t frustrate the buyer) . The mechanic is a members ranking score, badge and status.
Finally the user experience mechanics adds dimension to the product, but should be rooted in the previous drivers of success, engagement and efficiency. Carefully choosing the right mechanics from a cornucopia of options can certainly lead to a delightful experience.
1. Usability versus Game thinking.Usability is concerned the ease of use on how quickly a user can understand how to use an application. Game thinking is concerned with finding the balance between challenge and ability. These two concerns can be at odds when designing a product. Finding the balance between usability and game thinking can be challenging. Consider leveraging the positive aspects of fun (emotion and reward) with the efficiency of usability (speed and simplification)
Receny:occurring at a time immediately before the present.Frequency: condition of occurring at frequent intervals.Duration: Continuance or persistence in time.Virality: Degree which content has been or might be shared in a short amount of time.Ratings:Appraisal of the value of something
Foursquare’s growth has been accelerating rapidly lately. The service hit 2.6 million users on August 2, up from 725,000 in March 2010.Foursquare now has more than 3 million users, if the site’s public user registration numbers are correct on August 2010.
Get Yourself Tested (an STD NPO) partnered with Foursquare to promote awareness. Thousands of badges (and tests) were doled out in just the first few weeks alone.
Case Study: Foursquare the primary lever is “Check in”. All the gamification is geared towards promoting that business goalApplied game thinking to increase engagement. Four square thinks about challenge and ability and the journey. It’s easy to get a badge immediately, but difficult overtime. They’ve designed the system for a journey with fun and surprises along the way.Foursquare didn’t get there over night, they selected and tested the game dynamics and mechanics overtime. For example they didn’t include how many check-ins until becoming the mayor.
Beyond (Incentives, Commerce)
----- Meeting Notes (11/30/10 14:49) -----Check out when will I be mayor? - Sites