Category: Gamification Nation

Rough and ready transcript of the podcast to date, just to get it out. We will improve it in the coming days with a bit of human touch.

Welcome to this week’s a Question of Gamification. And this week’s question is a question from Remco one of our clients who bought a gamification card deck. It’s our physical card deck that we designed a while ago, to help us to explain what game design is all about. For those people that don’t like games don’t play games don’t understand the beginning or the end have anything to do with game design. And also for an awful lot of people who just basically want to level up their skills and practice their game design. So both audiences buy our gamification decks, actually, to be perfectly honest.

For us, it was very much a solution to a need, because a lot of the time when I did HR workshops, and learning and development workshops, I had people in the room that actually admittedly said, I don’t like games. And I’ve never played games, or only when I had to when I was younger, did I ever play games.

In order to address that, and still bring them along on a journey, where they could actually end up doing a gamification design for their company, I needed a tool. So that’s why the gamification design card deck was born. And the first thing I always say is to find out what it is or aim your design at someone.

Now for the purpose of workshops, the other challenge was that typically, many people came with such a diverse set of audiences, that it was really hard to design something together. So I needed the card set that would address that.

So the first card sets that I would focus on is either it’s aimed at learners, in which case you have learner types. And it’s either aimed at employees, in which case you choose employee types, or the gamification is aimed at customers and then you aim it at customer types.

So let’s imagine we are working on something for our employees, which means we have the green cards in front of us. And we just decide, okay, which of these are most likely to be the employees that work for me in the company or work with me in the company. So let’s say we have the corporate career makers that work in the company. So I’ve chosen one card.

Now, typically, I say, you can choose however many that apply to your audience, and apply to the people that you have working for you. Now, so because we’re dealing across customers, learners and employees, one is ideal to start with. You can choose more than one, if you’re already a bit confident. Once you have three different types all playing together, what I would say is consider having specific experiences to suit each and every one of those audiences, because what you need for each of them for them to make sense and for it to be good and useful, maybe quite different.

So for the purpose of today, we have a corporate career climbers, so that’s our target audience, then every game needs to fit in a category. So that’s where the type of game cards come in. Now, I’ve listed 13 different kinds of games. But there are more and you know, mashups can work. So what I would suggest here is that you can pick up to maximum two of the type of game types.

If you’re an absolute beginner, you can pick only one, reason for that is you want to keep it simple when you start out, because the game mechanics once you start mashing them up makes the game more complex, makes it harder to create, makes it harder to do many things. So imagine that for this purpose. For our career makers, we have a resource management game.

Now, a resource management game is a game where you have to collect items, nurture items, and you have to make sure that you have enough resources to do everything that you need to do. So things like Sim City, things like Farmville are the types of kind of resource management games that we’re talking about here.

Now, for a corporate career maker, what could be the types of things that they would love to collect? Maybe it could be experiences, as in, you know, experience to do different types of things within the organization’s, level steps up on the ladder, because if they want to go from A to the top dog over the top position, you basically need to help them get there. And by giving them things to collect along the way, you may actually provide them that path to get you there. So once you have the game type, you know who you’re aiming it out, the next thing you need to choose is the win conditions.

So effectively, every good way game has win conditions. Now you don’t have to stick to the ones that are completely fitting to your game, you can be creative with that. And that’s why there’s a whole lot more than 13 of win conditions.

Let’s say I’ve picked winning streaks as one of my win conditions. And the second win condition is control. So I’ve chosen control. So again, up to two or three win conditions are manageable. Anything way beyond that becomes hard. Effectively, you only need one target audience, one type of game and one win condition. And you you have the bare bones of a game. So effectively, you could stop here. And you could say, well, actually, I have resource management with winning streaks and control as the leverage points and that’s enough. So in this case, what we would have is a game where if they have enough winning streaks and winning streaks are things that you get through regularity through consistency. So for example, showing up on time, every every day for six months, practicing a bit of learning every day for an expected an amount of time for an employee could be delivering all your projects in on time, on budget, etc.

So whatever the case may be that’s relevant to your end user. So always pick tied back to your end user. So our corporate career climbers will want to know what are they measured in terms of the winning streaks so that they can climb the ladder so they want transparent, so we need to be able to show, okay, if I do that I get done. So that’s something they definitely want. Now, the other wind condition I chose here was control and control is an interesting one. So it basically tells you the power to control the territory of the game or power over others. And the virtue of leveling up in the corporate career actually would mean that, you know, you gain that element of control. But it could be a lot more trivial. It could be you can deliver karma to other people as in some something good. Or you can take away some things or negative, you know, you can again be playful around that. So they do these are game mechanics that give the feeling of progress that give the feeling of achievement. That’s why they’re called win conditions.

Every simple game from a puzzle to Candy Crush to World of Warcraft, to Fortnite to Minecraft have some elements of win conditions, they may be self imposed, or they may be explicit. So for example, completing a puzzle is effectively the win condition for a puzzle game. Minecraft, it may well be that you have built a fantastic looking item and it’s you that judges and it’s built. And then you have to hope that nobody comes and crushes it. In Fortnite, it’s a lot more finite. So it’s it’s you know, you you get basically ruled out by other players being the last one standing, the one that can do the victory dance is effectively what you will want in a Fortnite situation. So as it stands, we’ve chosen a customer type. So an employee type, customer type or learner type, we’ve chosen a type of game, always chosen to win conditions. So 112 so far.

And then you have these lovely, I think it’s about 60 something game mechanics. Now game mechanics, is what makes the game interesting. It’s what makes you come back, it’s what makes you play more often, it’s what engages you to take that next level step. Typically, what I do in workshops is I say you can pick as many as you like, but imagine that each card and each game mechanic costs you 10,000 of whatever money you’re in. So let’s say we’re in the UK, we have pound, so 10,000 pounds per card. In the EU, it’s 10,000 euros in the US it can be dollars in you know, you take it to the currency and make it a meaningfully high number. So let’s say we can pick five because our budget is 50,000 with a bit of extra for setup, and you know, the other game mechanics that we didn’t count for. So let’s say we have played Joker, bit of a treasure hunt, we have unlocking of new items, a bit of a team quest. And then let’s say we want the boss battle. So that’s my five. That’s my budget spend.

Now, realistically, you can use all as many as you like. And what I would do in a workshop with a client is we look at Okay, what are the game mechanics that are going to attract people in as an invite to come and play your game? Then the second step is what are the game mechanics I get them started. So there may be tutorial game mechanics in is your maybe little things you get them to do to have that initial boost and happiness that comes from hoo I won.

So what is the first first next step? Then there are game mechanics in the deck here, keep people engaged and coming back for more. So you know, you may have a couple of those. And then you need to decide if there is an end game.

So for example, in Minecraft or in Lego, there is no end game unless you choose there is an end. But in games, like Fortnite, there is a winner. So there is definitely a winner or loser. So if you are designing games for work, also look at what’s the part of the loser can they play again? Is it serious? Is it just trivial? Or is it just a game that keeps refreshing every quarter every month every year. So you know, there are more than one consideration to take into account when you’re using this for business. But let’s say we have the player Joker. So in a corporate career, you may have moments where you’re so busy, that you may have to play Joker not to lose your place. And because we had these winning streaks as part of our game, it might be really important to have a joker so you can keep your position in the control sense of things.

So the player Joker is to keep your standing in the ranking as it is, then I also picked unlocking of new items. Now these can be hidden, they can be unlocked through the things you do so imagine and it’s you know, you’ve succeeded at 10 winning streaks in a row or you have achieved 10 consecutive days of achievement. And you know, guess what, that works quite neatly with the control game element that we already had as a win condition because the unlocking of new items can actually give you the control over an area for example. The same with the treasure hunt. So I like treasure hunts, I think they’re they’re kind of cute. You can do them with augmented reality, you can do them in reality with clues, you could do them on email, you can do anything any, you know, completely digital. So they actually suit a lot of good things. So if you have a new communications campaign coming out treasure hunt, could be great fun. But a treasure hunt may also be a way of earning that control in your game. And in resource management. It’s a tool that unlocks may be special effects, special boosters, because effectively you are collecting treasures on some level, because we have a resource management game. And that could be competencies, or could be very job related items that unlock more responsibility, more abilities as such.

Because we’re dealing with corporate career makers, I added in a bit of a competitive element of boss battle, who knows most or who is best. And that’s where you invite maybe a colleague to be in a duel with you. And you decide on, you know, how you battle it out how, who’s the better of the two of you in a chosen area. So it could be about consistency, it could be about control. It could be about knowledge, it could be about projects, you know, you can set it as the game master you you set the controls. But you can also leave an element of freedom to the players where you can say, well look, you know, within reason you can have a boss battle once a quarter on, you know, who knows most and it could be a tournament style.

The one I usually include in game designs for companies is a team quest, where some of the achievements that you earn to win control or to have a winning streak is that you do something for the team. Most organizations I know depend on the team to deliver and to achieve the results. So therefore, team quests work really well. So that’s my five, that’s my budget spend. So now it’s off to design studio to make the game.

That’s how we would use the gamification design card deck. I hope that explains it a little bit, what we’re going to do is we’re going to create a challenge. And once a week, we’ll post three cards or maybe more to have you decide on what kind of game would you create for those cards. That way you’ll get the flex the muscles will take part in this we’ll get my team to take part in it. And what we’ll do is we’re going to get you to post ideas, and worked out game play based on the different cards that we choose.

In this case, we would have chosen the card called the corporate career makers, we would have chosen a resource management. And we would have chosen a win conditions of winning streaks and control. And then the five game mechanics, and one was to play a joker the other was boss battle team quest, treasure hunt, and unlocking of new items.

Based on these cards, what would you make? What kind of game? What’s the gameplay? What’s the narrative? How would you make that out? Where would you use it? Your call. So each week will set a different challenge. And you can join us in our group to give your version of what you would do with those cards with those names. And you never know. There may be prizes. They may not be, you may just enjoy it. Anyway, thanks for tuning in on this week’s Question of Gamification. So thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. And I hope that you enjoy taking part in our challenge. And if you enjoy listening to me and to the nuggets I hopefully share with you. Let’s hear your questions. Let’s have a review of the podcast on the system that you are listening to. We’d love to hear from you. And we’d love to answer more of your questions. So if you have a burning question about games vacation, send them my way. Thank you for listening,

Top 5 questions to ask before embarking on a gamification project

The post Podcast 19: How to use our Gamification Card Deck? appeared first on Gamification Nation.

In gamification design, we are typically adding game elements to a business process. People don’t need to step out into a game world but rather stay involved in what they were doing all along. Sometimes narrative can help but other times a character or avatar can be used. We occassionally get the question, when is a character or avatar useful and when is better to stick with regular text or forward ndging through game mechanics. Here are our top reasons to include a character or avatar in your gamification design.

Top reasons to include a character or avatar in your gamification design

Guide

A character can act as a guide through a process. Those of us old enough remember Clippy the helpful annoying assistant that travelled with the early version of Microsoft Office. As a concept the intention of giving help is a good reason to have them, having the character randomly pop-up makes it annoying. Some companies opt for text based on-boarding on new tools with speech bubbles indicating what you should do next and in others we have used and seen avatars representing the company guiding people through the process. In some of our learning related quests we use relatable or specifically chosen characters to give instructions. Especially if in real life on the job, a person will give you direction, then using it in learning and other communications seems like a natural extension.

Personification of something desired or undesired

Away from and towards motivation are strong reasons why we do or don’t do some activities. In gamification we are often tasked to steer people away from undesirable behaviours and towards desired behaviours. By creating a character that represents this undesirable, we can create a bit of fun narrative to help people build a new habit. We are working on an application called Stressy, where the monster Stressy is a monster character representing your stress levels. The key is to keep your monster in check. A bit of stress will get us functioning, but too much over sustained periods of time will become toxic. So we encourage people to take focused action to destress.

We have used characters in compliance and certification training that has to be renewed. In some professions a yearly course or renewal of a certification has to be taken to be allowed to use certain equipment, carry out specific duties, etc. Think of the care professions, health and safety personnel, firemen, etc. In a care proposal we used a flower that blossoms when all your certifications are up to date. Once specific areas of your work represented by the flower petals started to come up for renewal the flower would start to wilt and the petal for that specific skill would eventually drop when it is out of date.

Cultural or organisational fit

Some companies have a leading figure or historic figure that played a great role, who can be the guiding character for communications, learning etc. Using a living person as a character can well add a dimension that people pay attention to. For one company, one of the senior executives was used in augmented reality and through a number of clues people would discover where she would show up next. The purpose of this was a launch campaign for a new product, team and some exciting new information. It was only revealed in a peace meal way and teams across the company had to collaborate to unlock the challenge. This worked because the person was senior in the company and known to spread important news, but also the company culture of collaboration across borders was essential to make it happen.

When not to use an avatar or character

No value add

When there is no extra value gained by having the character there. In each of the above examples the character had a purpose and were a good fit. The acid test is when you start asking yourself ‘why’ is it there. When pilot testers are asking you why a certain character or avatar exists, you must equally find out why they are asking and whether they find it a useful addition or not. I think in the example of Clippy, he was useful at times to help you do something, but the fact that he intruded and popped up when you didn’t need him made him annoying.

Interruption

As we already alluded in the previous paragraph, having a character that interrupts someone in mid-flow is never appreciated. Most of us don’t respond well to pop-ups and interruptions of any kind, hence having a character or avatar doing it will increase frustration levels. Most characters, avatars and I would even say bots, should let the user know they are there, but hide when not in play or not needed. Unless off course a pattern interrupt is what you are specifically trying to achieve.

Unrelatable

When a character is unrelatable either by what it triggers in terms of feelings or because it is so far away from what is acceptable in a specific culture, then I would say don’t use it. Imagine a frivolous Pokemon in a military setting, to me that just doesn’t fit, however a captain or commander that is more lifelike would work. Again use your pilot testers to give you feedback. If they have very strong reactions against a character, then dig deeper and find out why and potentially consider removing it. When you want to personify a feeling, it is typically better to use an abstract character like a monster or friendly ghost instead of a human avatar. That way you avoid creating bias against people that look alike.

The post How to decide whether to use characters and avatars in gamification appeared first on Gamification Nation.

In gamification design, we always start with strategic questions first. Often that is part one of the project and in some cases also where it finishes. The reasons can vary, sometimes it has unlocked questions at senior levels that hadn’t been considered before, other times people didn’t understand that rolling out gamification also by default means a behaviour change process. In corporate circles, the latter aka changing the status quo scares the hell out of people.

On a few occasions, the strategy work identifies other parts to be of higher priority. Often the people that were responsible for starting the project are no longer the people that finish the project, they may have moved on or their expertise is not the most relevant for the implementation step. In one or two situations budget or IT reasons were the cause of non-implementation. By engaging IT from the start, you can often find ways around the problems.

Top tips on moving on with your gamification strategy implementation

Here are our top tips to keep things moving towards implementation:

1. Run one pilot roll-out

The scariest step is the first one, in any new implementation. Moving forward with a strategy towards implementation in most cases takes a leap of faith. To mitigate big risks, the first step can simply be to run a pilot trial with one team, one department, one region, one course or one product line. It is prudent to set up a pilot in my view, with clear success measures and a set timeframe so that you can then move forward towards complete roll-out afterwards. Pick a team or area that is representative of the wider group and start there. When you have a well-working pilot in that area, then move forward one team or region or product line at a time.

2. Gain buy-in and ownership through co-creation

It is very hard to stop a moving train. By engaging your target audience from the outset in your strategy design even, you build an expectation and the start of momentum. What I have found in over 15 years in change management that people when consulted about what the future of their organisation looks like, will also want to remain involved long term. When in our gamification design workshops, people get actively involved in creating new tools. As soon as they are co-creating, they also develop a sense of ownership. In change management theory moving people from buy-in to ownership is key to igniting a clear movement towards a goal.

3. Gamify the implementation process

I am assuming that you have at this stage bought into gamification and how it can work. It then shouldn’t come as a big surprise to have the suggestion of gamifying the implementation process. Each early step forward should trigger some encouragement to keep moving. Once movement and momentum are established the trigger becomes more focused on regular progress towards the goal. Having visuals to go with this whether it is growing from seed to full-grown plant with flowers or a planet populating with nurturing as a key activity to make plants blossom.

Remember that change is never popular, even when it is desired by many and bringing people along one step at a time is key to making it work.

Does gamification improve engagement?

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