Prof. Kevin Werbach Dept. of Legal Studies & Business Ethics Wharton School, Univ. of Pennsylvania

werbach@wharton.upenn.edu Twitter: @kwerb

Gami!cation as Motivational Architecture

Regulation

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boulton_and_Watt_centrifugal_governor-MJ.jp

Nudges •  We are “predictably irrational” (Ariely), prone

to mental “mistakes” (Kahnman & Tversky) –  E.g., loss aversion, anchoring, temporal biases

•  Insight: leverage this knowledge to create “choice architectures” (Sunstein & "aler) –  E.g., changing defaults,

mandating disclosure –  Governments applying,

especially U.S., U.K.

My Grudge with Nudge •  Not the standard conservative critique!

–  (the “Nanny State”)

•  Choice limited to behaviorist conception –  What people do, not why they do it –  Deviations from “rationality” aren’t all “mistakes” –  Good data (“RECAP”) doesn’t always produce good results

•  Architecture reduced to construction –  Real architecture is a design practice

Missing Piece: Motivation •  How does the experience satisfy human needs? •  Why do people comply? •  Can we go beyond basic compliance?

•  Behaviorism is right… until it isn’t –  Teresa Amabile’s research on creativity –  Deci & Ryan on motivation in the workplace, school, etc.

Games as Motivational Design •  Good games are fun

–  Challenges, contingency, competition, teamwork, etc. –  Voluntariness necessitates engagement techniques

•  Games are designed artifacts –  Process: iterative, human-centered, goal-oriented –  Rich palette (e.g., points, levels, avatars, virtual goods) –  Developed practice (e.g. playtesting, narrative, balance) –  Focus on the player journey –  Recognition that users will game the system

Beyond Nudges

vs. vs.

Average speed in 3-day Stockholm test decreased

from 32 to 25 kmph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iynzHWwJXaA

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/11/23/games-grand-challenges

Private Sector Gami!cation

Models

Pointsi!cation as Motivational Design

Recyclebank

Fortunately, it gets better

Social Dynamics

OPower

Integrated Experiences

Zamzee (Hope Labs)

Rewards+Chance+Social

CAPRI (Balaji Prabhakar)

Data Protection Issues •  All interactions trackable •  Granular user data feeds analytics

–  “We’re running several hundred tests at any given time for every one of our games.” – Mark Pincus, Zynga (2010)

•  To whom do achievements belong?

Reasons for Optimism •  Public sector doesn’t need to monetize

–  Nascent industry of gami!cation vendors and adopters seeking guidance

•  Player-centric design •  Gami!ed UX for privacy policies (Calo)

Gamify the Privacy Policy?

!ank you!