A lot of people who are new to Gamification assume it comes in two flavors: Reward the user with virtual badges Reward the user with prizes and monetary rewards I’ll skip right to the big reveal: successful Gamification usually involves neither … Continue reading »
Last week I introduced the first three of six critical game mechanics to consider when designing a leaderboard. Here are the final three visualization considerations that can significantly affect your leaderboard’s effectiveness: multiple leaderboards, points, and metadata. Multiple Leaderboards Many … Continue reading »
There is perhaps no other game feature as easily misused as the leaderboard. Not all leaderboards are created equally. The right one can transform a boring experience into a tense competition, while the wrong one can transform a pleasant experience … Continue reading »
A key component of game design, that can be traced all the way down to operant conditioning, is the concept of a rewards schedule. The idea that an individual is more likely to engage in an activity if he expects … Continue reading »
With the explosion of gamification, there seems to be a lot of confusion around what a Game Mechanic is. While using the word as a blanket term to cover all aspects of game design isn’t exactly a crime against humanity, … Continue reading »
I was reading through Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers recently and I came across a chapter where he lists our workplace motivations as: Autonomy Complexity Reward I was reminded Daniel Pink’s stance on the topic in his book Drive. Pink lists our workplace … Continue reading »
The final installment in my series on What Makes Games Fun on Gamasutra.com I investigate the phenomenon psychologists call ‘Flow‘ and how it relates to the intangible aspects of games that make them seem ‘addictive’. I cover the commonly held … Continue reading »
Any fool riding a bandwagon can tell you what gamification has in common with a social game, or even a slot machine.  It’s the psychological triggers, the positive reinforcement. However, the better question to ask, and the one that will … Continue reading »
At its fundamental level, Gamification involves measuring behaviors and rewarding them. Rewards can be thought of as coming in 3 basic forms: Monetary Privileges Labels Monetary describes rewards with measurable cash value. Things like discounts, free shipping, trips to Hawaii … Continue reading »
The third installment in my series on What Makes Games Fun on Gamasutra , I investigate the concepts of Choice and Competition and discuss their influence and how they can be used in non-game experiences. In the first half of the article, … Continue reading »
