more than points: architecting engagement through game design thinking

Grid Systems MORE THAN POINTS Architecting Engagement Through Game Design Thinking

Dustin DiTommaso | @DU5TBIN

WHAT IS A GAME?

WHAT IS A GAME? A Structured, Voluntary Experience with Rules and Goals that is Engaging and Fun.

FUN!!??!!?? O RLY??!!??

FARMVILLE

THREE THEORIES OF FUN

RAPH KOSTER – A THEORY OF FUN “Fun comes from Learning and Mastery”

NICOLE LAZZARO – FOUR KEYS TO FUN Hard Fun, Easy Fun, People Fun, Serious Fun

MARC LEBLANC – EIGHT KINDS OF FUN

EIGHT KINDS OF FUN

SENSATION: Game as sense-pleasure

FANTASY: Game as make-believe

NARRATIVE: Game as unfolding story

CHALLENGE: Game as obstacle course

FELLOWSHIP: Game as social framework

DISCOVERY: Game as uncharted territory

EXPRESSION: Game as soap box

SUBMISSION: Game as mindless pastime

WHAT IS GAMIFICATION?


“The process of using game design thinking and mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems.”



PROBLEMS?



PROBLEMS? PERSONAL: Self Improvement - Lose Weight, Learn Something SOCIETAL: Reduce Speeding, Encourage Eco-Friendly Behaviors, In!uence Charity SYSTEM: Obtain Data, Direct User Behavior, Teach Something, Quell Trolls

GAMIFICATION IS NOT

The adding of a super"cial layer of points and badges to your product or service.

GAMIFICATION IS NOT


A PANACEA. It cannot right the fundamental wrongs of a product set.

GAMIFICATION IS NOT



A GAME. (Necessarily)

GAMIFICATION IS NOT



A GAME. (Necessarily)

FUN. (Necessarily)

SO, WHY GAMIFICATION?

The goals of gami"cation are to achieve higher levels of engagement, change behaviors and stimulate innovation.

+ Game Mechanics are Levers to Drive User Behavior.

Game Design techniques are another tool you can use along with all the other methods we employ as Experience Designers to craft compelling experiences and products.

SO, WHY GAMIFICATION?

“50% of all Innovation process will be gami"ed by 2015” “70% of the Global 2000 will have a gami"ed app by they same year” “A gami"cation company will exist that is big as Facebook.”

+ Game Mechanics are Levers to Drive User Behavior.

Game Design techniques are another tool you can use along with all the other methods we employ as Experience Designers to craft compelling experiences and products.

The goals of gami"cation are to achieve higher levels of engagement, change behaviors and stimulate innovation.

GARTNER REPORT (MAY 2011)

FOURSQUARE

8 MILLION USERS

A set.

Daily Check-ins/User dropped from 0.5 to 0.34 when growing from 2 to 8 million accounts (foursquare 2011)

21% check in for the mayorship challenge and achievements 54% check in ONLY when discounts are involved

INTRINSIC TRUMPS EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Games are voluntary, leisure activities. If forced to play, it is no longer a game.

GAME DESIGNERS GOAL?

MOTIVATION, ENGAGEMENT & MEANINGFUL INTERACTIONS

User must be intrinsically motivated to engage with the game. Users subconsciously ask themselves "Is this activity worth my time? Does it gain me anything useful?"

Self-Improvement, Community Recognition & Belonging, Productivity, Sense of Meaning and Contribution, Entertainment & Fun

CREATE MEANING: Tie goals & rewards to goals of user. [Mint Goals] Offer users opportunity to inject their personal goals into the system [buy a house, get out of debt, take a vacation]

Extrinsic Motivations are the mechanics of the game: Points, Levels, Badges, Rewards

1. Identify the core intrinsic motivation in the hearts of your users – Emotion Drives Action and Engagement 2. Build an Engagement Framework that supports this

FLOW

Flow is completely focused motivation.

It is a single-minded immersion

and represents perhaps the ultimate in

harnessing emotions in the service of

performing and learning. - Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

DESIGNING FOR FLOW

1. Provide Clear Goals, challenges and direction containing just the right level of dif"culty.

2. Adjust the challenge based on changing skill and mastery.

3. Unfold the challenges over time in conjunction with developing mastery.

A NEW WAY OF SEEING USABILITY vs. GAME DESIGN

Make it Easy for the User Remove obstacles in the way of user goals Make it Impossible to Fail Clear Next Steps Can’t Miss Navigation Design for the perpetual intermediate [Cooper]

USABILITY

Design for Thinking, Challenge and Problem Solving Provide obstacles for the user to overcome Opportunities for Failure Encourage Exploration and Discovery Path to Mastery requires design focus on noobs & experts

GAME DESIGN

USABILITY vs. GAME DESIGN

Make it Easy for the User Remove obstacles in the way of user goals Make it Impossible to Fail Clear Next Steps Can’t Miss Navigation Design for the perpetual intermediate [Cooper]

USABILITY

GAME DESIGN

HOW DO WE EFFECTIVELY APPLY GAME DESIGN THINKING TO CRAFT ENGAGNING EXPERIENCES FOR OUR USERS?

RESEARCH DRIVES DECISIONS

Who are your Users? What are their needs and goals? Why are they Playing? What is their Primary Play Style? (Solo, Competitive, Cooperative) Who are they Playing With? What Social Actions do they "nd enjoyable – and why? What Metrics do they care about?

CRITICAL STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONS: 1. What is the main reason for Gamifying your product / service? 2. How does it bene"t the user? 3. Will they enjoy it?

PLAYER QUESTIONS:

What Actions do you want your players to take? What are the goals of the business? How do you get the users to ful"ll those goals?

BUSINESS QUESTIONS:

RESEARCH DRIVES DECISIONS

POSSIBLE DIFFERENCES FROM UCD METHODS When conducting user research and creating player personas pay attention to: Demographic Data: Gender, Age, Geographical Data Motivations: Goals aren’t enough, we need to get to underlying motivation. Motivations contain the emotions that drive goals. Why would they use the product? What are they hoping to get out of it? Online Identity: How do they interact online? Do they prefer anonymity? How closely do they blend real-life Identity with Online and Game identity? Frustrations: What are their current frustrations? How might Gami"cation remedy this?

BARTLE’S PLAYER TYPES

EXPLORER

Gets positive experience by "nding new things in world around them (Secrets, Unlocks, Easter Eggs) Find own route around the game system Engage in Open-Ended Play Learn or acquire information during gameplay Achieve their Goals in their own way on their own time (Autonomous play) Prefers to play at own pace. Likes to customize their experience and feels restricted when game forces them to move on before they are ready.

LIKES TO:

DESIGN CHALLENGE:

ACHIEVER

Motivated by a Sense of Progress and Mastery of the System Measure Objectives in the Game Make Progress towards objectives Gain Recognition for their successes Complete Collections of Rewards Acquire Unique or Rare Objects or Status Analyze and Understand Game Mechanics Can be hard to design proper level of challenge for these folks. Flow State.

LIKES TO:

DESIGN CHALLENGE:

SOCIALIZER

Play games mostly to connect with other people Gain Friends and In!uence People Join or Lead Groups Organize Cooperative Activities Comment, Share, Award Be Liked Gain Prestige Building a sustainable community for interaction among players

LIKES TO:

DESIGN CHALLENGE:

KILLER

Similar to Achiever, except play Win/Lose game and want to show others ”Look at Me, I Won!” Compete Win Show-Off Trash Talk, Taunt Hitting the right dif"culty level Keeping them in Check from Hacking the System or Disrupting the Community

LIKES TO:

DESIGN CHALLENGE:

CONSIDER THE CONTINUUM

QUICK TIPS FOR ENGAGEMENT

Design the Experience Over Time Create Journey Maps (Timelines of player actions, reactions & emotions) What does that Journey Towards Mastery look like? Get In, Get Busy, Tell People, Come Back

ENGAGEMENT IS A JOURNEY

Focus on N00B and First Time Experience The First 60 seconds are crucial Guide the User - N00B Can’t Lose Action / Reward / Action / Action / Reward / Register / Invite Friends

ONBOARDING

GIVE THEN GET Provide Value immediately when users arrive. Give them the opportunity to engage, personalize and express preferences before asking them to register.

QUICK TIPS FOR ENGAGEMENT

Know your audience intimately and create enough Juicy Feedback for all levels of the Journey (N00B, Regular, Master) Light the Path of the Journey with Progress Mechanics Achievable short term goals that work towards overarching long term goals

PICK THE RIGHT REWARDS AND FEEDBACK

If you’ve created the RIGHT Rewards/Achievements then your Players will WANT to share their Status with others.

SOCIAL HOOKS

DESIGN ETHICALLY

Addiction is not the same as Engagement There is certainly ‘Click-Whir’ Behavioral Psych at work behind many mechanics. Use them Responsibly.

REFERENCES: A PATH TO MASTERY

Nic Kelman, “Yes, but is it a game?” from Games : Required essay from a not so required book. Raph Koster, A Theory of Fun for Game Design : It’s not a game if it’s not fun Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design – A Book of Lenses : Tactical and practical James Paul Gee, What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning & Literacy : Pairs nicely with Koster’s book Marc Leblanc, 8 Types of Fun : Many implications for creating engagement architectures

100,000 POINTS

Marc Leblanc, MDA a Formal Process of Game Design : Origin of the Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics framework Mihály Csikszentmihályi, Flow – The Psychology of Optimal Experience : Many implications for creating engagement architectures Bateman, Boon, 21st Century Game Design : Pragmatic approach to Game Design

50,000 POINTS

REFERENCES: A PATH TO MASTERY

Nicole Lazzaro, Why We Play Games : Four Kinds of Fun / Keys to Player Experience Daniel Pink, Drive : Cliff Notes approach to Motivation Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken : Overeaching, Games will Save the World Treatise Zicherman, Linder, Game-Based Marketing : Enthusiastic, Behaviorist argument for Gami!cation Pro!teering.

25,000 POINTS

Bartle Player Type Quiz : http://www.game-on-book.com/bartle Jesse Schell, DICE2010 Gamepocalypse Preso [VIDEO] : http://bit.ly/jT6LvD Daniel Pink, The Surprising Science of Motivation [VIDEO] : http://bit.ly/j7PVke

BONUS POINTS

Dustin DiTommaso Experience Design Director Email: [email protected] Twitter: @DU5TBIN