“Leaderboards, badges, agency” – these words are meaningless on their own. This presentation aims to give the “why” and “how” of using behavioural game theory in education, while avoiding psych jargon like “behavioural game theory”. By the end you’ll understand that humans make strange decisions. You’ll also walk away with a toolbox of questions and techniques to apply during design to improve what most learning wants to do anyway: change learner behaviour.
www.kineo.com
8. 8
AGENDA
A Dark Room
What is gamification, really?
How are games used now?
What are we missing?
An appeal to play
What else can games do?
9. 9
What is gamification, really?
But have you ever been asked, “What is a game?”
You might have been asked to
define this before.
“It’s the use of game-thinking and
game mechanics in a non-game
context in order to engage users
and solve problems.”
10. 10
No universally accepted academic definition
…engaging in
conflict (narrative)…
…games are
systems with
rules…
…art with a
goal…
Jane McGonigal Katie Salen /
Eric Zimmerman
Greg Costikayan
11. 11
Our definition for today?
Play is what happens when you freely and knowingly
bound your behaviour to a set of rules in the hope of
gaining some benefit.
Games are play you can lose.
Richard Bartle, PhD
(I bring up the PhD so play research sounds more legitimate)
13. 13
And here’s a picture of a dog with his head stuck
in a bucket of puffed cheesy balls
14. 14
Tip: Get a hold of your outcomes, of course
Image: Wuzzit Trouble by BrainQuake
Wuzzit Trouble
• Not procedural practice
• About number sense, not symbols
• Multiple solutions to complex
problems
Forbes
Interview with Slate
16. 16
Beat your score - StupidRobot
• Crowd-sourced metadata
tagging
• Two minutes to describe a
picture
• Words 4-10 letters long
• Friendly, challenging,
engaging
• Rewarded for Specificity
Image: StupidRobot, metadatagames.org
17. 17
Tip: Incentivise the behaviour.
Via: “Citizen Archivists at Play: Game Design for Gathering Metadata for Cultural Heritage Institutions.” Mary Flanagan, et al, 2013
Form the incentive around improving the the learner’s core value.
19. 19
CityVille leaderboards
• Complete tasks you
would be doing anyways.
• Earn prizes for top
positions.
Image: CityVille, Zynga
Fastest Growing City
Expand your city into the most
squares possible
• Time Limit 7 days
Most Productive City
• Earn points by collecting from
businesses
• Time Limit: 14 days
20. 20
Tip: Be aware of the N-Effect
More competitors = Less Motivation
Social-comparison pressure increases
in proximity to a standard
Ex: Rivals ranked 3 and 4, or 500 and
501 on the Fortune 500 list.
Rivals at 103 and 104 have minimal
competition.
The N-Effect, More Competitors, Less Competition. Stephen M. Garcia
and Avishalom Tor. Pyschological Science Vol 20 number 7. 2009.More competitors
Morecompetition
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Engagement is not “gamed”
“People claim [loyalty programmes] to be important
to their decision making, but the truth is they really
don’t seem to actually impact their behaviour over
the long run.
Andrew Lewis, managing director at TRA
New Zealand Marketing, July/August 2015
24. 24
Tip: Reward with personalisation, emotion
“What is evident when successful loyalty
programmes are examined against those
that fail to create change is that they create
stronger emotional bonds between the
customer and the brand.”
Andrew Lewis, managing director at TRA
New Zealand Marketing, July/August 2015
26. 26
AGENDA
A Dark Room
What is gamification, really?
How are games used now?
What are we missing?
An appeal to play
What else can games do?
27. 27
What are we missing?
1
2
3
Gamification now
Missing “magic sauce”
Meaningful Play
29. 29
That definition again
Play is what happens when you freely and knowingly
bound your behaviour to a set of rules in the hope of
gaining some benefit.
Games are play you can lose.
Play is fun. Fun is FLOW
32. 32
The Intrinsic Motivation RAMP
• “Socialiser” needs Social status, connections, a
sense of belonging
Relatedness
• “Free spirit” values creativity, choice, freedom, and
responsibility
Autonomy
• “Achiever” needs learning, personal development,
skill levels
Mastery
• Philanthropist needs a reason why, the bigger
picture. Values altruism.
Purpose
Based on Andrzej Marczewski
Gamified.uk
33. 33
Model – 4Keys 2Fun
Hard Fun
Easy Fun
Serious Fun
People Fun
(Meaning)
Excitement from changing
the player and their world.
(Novelty)
Curiosity from
exploration, role
play, and creativity.
(Challenge)
Fiero, the epic win, from
achieving a difficult goal.
(Friendship)
Amusement from
competition and
cooperation.
Nicole Lazzaro
Xeodesign.com
45. 45
AGENDA
A Dark Room
What is gamification, really?
How are games used now?
What are we missing?
An appeal to play
What else can games do?
49. 49
1. What are the learner’s motivations?
• We are making learning for humans. Involve their
psychology.
2. How can we incorporate fun?
• There’s more than high-score.
3. What are we measuring?
• Measuring something tells the learners that its
important. Grading it means they’ll “game” it.
Ask ourselves
Reference: A Dark Room, by Doublespeak Games: http://adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com/
Marco story .Games as learning vs. online textbooks
Without asking the further question, we will be relegated to surface levels of “game mechanics” that one finds in the cheap fix of gambling and addictive feedback loops.
We’ll come back to this idea of play. Natch.
Gamification too often means making a game out of learning, to win points/powers/or some other reward for practicing math, spelling or another school subject. The best educational games capture what’s already fun about learning and make That central to the game.
“If you’re good at arithmetic, Math Blaster’s fun, because it reinforces that you’re good at math. If you’re not understanding arithmetic, you’re getting nowhere with this.” - Eric Klopfer
“non-routine type that the students had been unlikely to have encountered before.” It was what education researchers call a “complex performance task.” That means it could have multiple solutions, but can’t be solved using the technique taught in class. Students first need to figure out what the question is even asking, then they need to make decisions about how to solve it. Eric Klopfer
Drugs for your brain.
Drugs for your brain.
winner by Magicon from the Noun Project
Drugs for your brain.
Down side – let’s do a global leaderboard! ~150
Link to research: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~smgarcia/pubs/n-effect.pdf
Works because the challenges are tied to the core experience and value users have.
Prizes work for the same reason, they are significant.
Works because the challenges are tied to the core experience and value users have.
Prizes work for the same reason, they are significant.
Example Monopoly, with a couple, where one keeps giving money to the other player.
Mee-hi Cheek-senth-mee-hi-ly
More to fun, than just challenge.
Reading a good story, is fun.
Exploring a cave is fun.
Image by Ehirsh (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Unless the learning is simple, rote, we should treat encouraging learning the same way as encouraging creativity.
Will form longevity of interest.
The FLOW as traditionally thought is primarily Hard Fun or Serious fun.
The FLOW as traditionally thought is primarily Hard Fun or Serious fun.
Ob