Why gamifying the news is tough, and three solutions.

1. The news is not
fun news is
Why gamifying the
harder than we think

2. The news is not
fun
Or is it?!

4. Gamification is the
addition of gameplay
elements onto non-
game applications.

5. Gamification is the
addition of gameplay
elements onto non-
game applications.
The idea is to make a
service fun so that you
and your network
continue using it.

7. One example is
Foursquare, which
uses points and
badges to get
people off their
couch.

10. Another example is
Epic Win, an app
that uses fantasy
elements like
heroes, quests, and
magic items to

12. Chris O'Brien was the first person to
write about news gamification.
He wrote “How can we 'gamify' the news
experience?" for PBS MediaShift.

14. I think too many people are coming to
gamification with the idea of making
money, and not making great experiences.

16. One talk from Amy
Kim asked marketers
to,
"think like game
designers".

17. One talk from Amy
Kim asked marketers
to,
"think like game
designers".
Which is about as
easy as asking
marketers to
"think like industrial
designers".

19. Marketers seem to think that making
games is all about badges and points.

20. Marketers seem to think that making
games is all about badges and points.
The problem with this model is that points
and badges aren't fun by themselves.

22. Most gamification is like a level of
Mario that has nothing but coins.

23. Most gamification is like a level of
Mario that has nothing but coins.
This isn't fun.

25. What makes Mario fun is that there are
killer mushrooms. And bullets. And jumps
that look impossible at first. Increasingly
complex challenges.

27. What Epic Win gets wrong is that there is
nothing challenging about doing laundry.

28. What Epic Win gets wrong is that there is
nothing challenging about doing laundry.
That's why we hate doing it.

30. We play video games because they are fun. Fun is
a mix of challenge, and reward, and play. Why do
we read the news? It's certainly not because it's
fun, or challenging, or playful. We read the news:

31. We play video games because they are fun. Fun is
a mix of challenge, and reward, and play. Why do
we read the news? It's certainly not because it's
fun, or challenging, or playful. We read the news:
★ to stay informed
★ to be an engaged citizen
★ to have something to talk about with
others
★ to inform opinion
★ to learn
★ to be entertained (not the same thing as
fun)

33. The news, however, can also be
meditative. It can become a ritual. Folding
papers, having a coffee, checking your RSS
feed. We read the news to be informed.
We enjoy the news because it becomes a
ritual.

35. The first concept:
A word game with unnecessary explosions.

37. The second concept:
An Facebook-style office sim that
generates readable content

39. The daily newspapers produced are pulled
from your RSS feed.

41. The third concept:
A meditative virtual newspaper that tracks your reading
habits.

43. The controls are complex, and the
newspaper tracks your reading
history in video-game detail.

44. fin