Ready Student One: Creating Playful Online Spaces

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Agenda

About Me
Ready Student player One
What is Gamification?
A Brief History of Gamification
What are Games?
Gamification as Praxis
Q/A

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Gamification of society through a virtual world.

Currently being adapted to film by Steven Spielberg.

Gamification occurs when gameful approaches are used within non-game spaces.

When gamification is done right, it combines our natural tendencies for:

socializing and learning
with elements of mastery
competition
achievement
status
self-expression — even selflessness — and the desire get to the end.

One of the most notable forms of gamification is awarding those who achieve specific goals with badges.

So, here you are: your achievement award! Thank you for coming. And if you make it through this entire session, you will be awarded with an additional achievement — stay tuned!

This isn’t the only form of gamification, of course, but it is a simple way to encourage playful competition between “players” as well as the pride of communal status…

Collecting achievements is often all it takes to motivate hard work and dedication in a learning environment.

We’ll talk about additional forms of gamification as we continue.

Early gamification strategies used rewards for players who accomplished desired tasks or competition to engage players.

Gamification in learning was originally devised to inspire students to learn by using video games. Several studies were conducted in the 1980s that proved how successful this tactic could be.

Of course, any game-type element — not just video games — can be integrated with learning environments, online or off.

The hope is that gamification will increase:

Enjoyment
Engagement
and experimentation

…through the use of games, making educational a more playful and, in fact, safer environment.

One of the earliest efforts in gamification was in 1896, when S&H began a marketing campaign where customers could collect green stamps and then, after filling a booklet with them, convert them to redeemable S&H merchandise and discounts.

In the 1970s companies began experimenting with motivating employees with feedback loops found in sports. In his book, ”The Game of Work,” seminal corporate gamification guru Chuck Coonradt discusses why people work harder at sports and recreation than they do on the job.

He covers concepts such as clearly defined goals, scorekeeping, more frequent feedback, the importance of personal choices, and frequent coaching and how they can increase productivity, employee satisfaction and motivation, and bottom-line profits…

Then, in 1980, Thomas Malone wrote a paper called, “‪What Makes Things Fun to Learn?: A Study of Intrinsically Motivating Computer Games‬.” This book stands out as one of the major motivators of bringing gamification to the classroom.

Of course, a lot of industries and educational institutions have engaged in gamification since, devising loyalty programs such as frequent flyer miles, discount clubs, and so on.

But is wasn’t until 2002 that the term “gamification” was actually coined, by a computer game programmer named, Nick Pelling.

In order to engage in something like gamification of a subject matter, it is important to know what exactly a ”game” is…

But before we get into what a game is, it is important to consider the fact that games have always been a feature of human existence. (In fact, even many non-human species like playing games!) The earliest game pieces date back to 7,000 B.C. and countless cultural histories provide accounts for the importance of gameplay in their society.

Think about gameplay in your own lives… How many times have you resorted to a game of Rock Paper Scissors to decide on something in your lives? How many times have you turned a mundane task like tossing a piece of paper in the wastebasket into a competitive game of basketball?

Games are crucial. They’re ingrained in humanity’s DNA. So why shouldn’t games be a part of our learning process as well?

While it would take a while to adequately define games, as well as explore techniques for devising good game designs, we can summarize what games are pretty easily.

In fact, all games can be boiled down into what we can refer to as the “Three Cs”:

Challenges (for achieving goals)
Choices (voluntary participation)
Consequences (feedback systems)

These elements aren’t always easy to support in a classroom environment, but it is clear that…

When presented with a challenge, we have to make a choice, and every choice has a consequence.

Of course, this sounds a lot like life as well, so what makes games different? It’s the feedback loop. When players make the wrong choices in games, they are not failed or told that they didn’t try hard enough, rather they are given opportunities to go back and try again.

This is where games excel above all other forms of active engagement…

In her book, “Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World,” game designer and theorist Jane McGonigal states that…

“The real world just doesn’t offer up as easily the carefully designed pleasures, the thrilling challenges, and the powerful social bonding afforded by virtual environments. Reality doesn’t motivate us as effectively. Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from the bottom up to make us happy. And so, there is a growing perception in the gaming community: Reality, compared to games, is broken.”

She goes on to say that…

“A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.”

So how do we gamify our learning environments?

We need to begin thinking of our courses, not as classrooms, but as games…

Instead of Modules, our courses can be constructed like levels in a game. Often, merely changing terminology is enough to change a student’s mindset about a class.

An old metaphor for games is something called a “Magic Circle.” It’s a place we all enter once gameplay begins — it’s a special place where people learn and discuss and form relationships in ways that vary greatly from that of a classroom. Players bring the outside world into the magic circle and often take some of the magic circle back out. Think about your experiences playing games… Typically, whether you win or lose, you have probably formed a bond with those you played with that far supercedes other non-game expriences.

Games are a journey through time and space and worlds that we don’t often encounter in real life. Again, terminology is an easy change that goes a long way.

So if our Modules are now Levels and our course content is now gameplay, what else can we change about our courses? In games, when a player gains skills and levels up, they are typically faced with a challenge that tests those skills and powers. Often, these challenges come in the form of boss fights — battles against monsters or foes that wouldn’t have been possible if a player hadn’t made it through the preceding levels. We can use quizzes and other summative assessments as out boss fights.

Once again, we need to think of everything in terms of gameplay:

Think fast! A nasty, snarling ogre wants your brain! In order to defeat this treacherous beast you must now traverse back into the depths of your past, picking through bits and pieces your memory.

But have no fear! You have successfully made it through the first three levels of your quest! You even successfully found the secret level! Now it is time to use your acquired knowledge and skills to defeat this boss, who will stop at nothing to let you pass.

You can't fail! While in the secret level you found the Vial of Infinite Healing. If you don't defeat the ogre the first time, you can always try again. But beware! The ogre never asks his questions in quite the same way.

Good luck!

Continuing to think of our courses as games mean that we need a new way to track student player progress.

As stated already, achievements are one of the simplest ways to drive player engagement through gameful competition. Achievements really work.

Finding ways for students to engage with each other in ways that don’t affect their grades is important as well. This can be done whether online or on-ground. Minigames are typically small games found inside of larger ones that allow players to take a break from regular gameplay. Most of the time they don’t impact the larger game construct, although sometimes players find bonuses by playing.

In this example, the Discussion Forum has been used to allow students to play together and get to know one another in a way that’s not typical to class time activity.

Most importantly, we need to stop thinking of classes as classes, but as quests…

Our students are not just in school. They’re on an epic quest through a life full of dangerous twists and turns. In the end, the school part has consumed over 10,000 hours of that time. It’s up to us to be their sages not their enemies.

Do what you can to make learning fun — and forgiving. Allow students to fail and try again until they can withstand those boss fights that seem unbearable in the real world.

Games are not just fun, they’re fundamental.

And as promised! Here is your achievement for making it through this session… Be sure to download the Fusion Mobile App to log this session code — and the codes for each session you attend. There will be prizes for the most points at the end of the conference!

Are there any questions?

Thank you very much for coming.

Ready Student One: Creating Playful Online Spaces

Tim Samoff

Ready Student One: Creating Playful Online Spaces