Gamification can be a ‘game-changing’ strategy when used to Listen & Monitor your audience.
“Fun is just another word for learning… Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun. With games, learning is the drug.” — Raph Koster (link to slides below)
Jane McGonigal is a game designer. In fact she is a total game nerd. I first discovered her delivering an extra-nerdy report about video games while I was watching news on XBox Live. The only reason this is noteworthy is because her demographic qualities imply that she is she is not your typical gamer and is therefore not assumed to like video games just because of who she it. The fact that it is Her delivering the message, I am more willing to accept it.
In the video below, she argues that people do not play enough games. As a nation, we invest 3 billion hours weekly playing online games. Jane states that we need 21 billion hours of gameplay per week to really develop our gaming skills to the point that they can be used to solved real-world problems; such as hunger, poverty, global conflict, climate change, obesity,… ect. (link to video below)
Jane describes an interesting phenomena happens when gamers play games for a while. They often reach achievements or goals along the way to some bigger goal. As they work their way towards this bigger goal, and just before they reach this larger goal, they discover that there was an even bigger goal to complete. They realize that they are actually closer to achieving it than they thought. And at that moment, Gamers experience an emotion that is all but vacant in the natural Human experience. This experience is called an “Epic Win.” It is defined as the experience associated with being on the verge of an achievement that is so great that it wasn’t understood that it was possible until it happens.
Game worlds are different. In a game world, we collaborate, we coordinate, we achieve more, we do something that matters, we get to “play again” after a failure. Gamers in their element, are likely to stick with a problem and to help at a moments notice.
Game worlds also provide two additional characteristics that enable an opportunity for an ‘Epic Win’:
- Many users willing to give you a mission (to save the world)
- Eager Collaboration. By playing games, we are evolving to become a more collaborative and hardy species.
Interesting Facts:
- Average young person in a gaming rich culture spends 10,000 hrs playing online games by the age of 21.
- It takes 10,080 hours to complete 5th grade to graduation.
- An entire generation of individuals are learning as much about games as they are about school.
- Malcolm Gladwell is known for his theory of achieving the skill level in any subject simply by spending 10,000 hours doing it.
So these Gamers are getting good, but at what? Jane says are getting good at several things:
1. Urgent Optimism
2. Social Fabric
3. Blissful Productivity
4. Epic Meaning
This is significant because if you look at the behavior of an individual playing a game, you notice that they can work for very long hours, are excited to do the work, and relentlessly seek solutions to problems. These Gamers are ‘Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals’ who believe they are able to change the world.
To Jane, the challenge is to make the real-world work like a game. Examples of this include: World without Oil, foldit.com/org, Superstuct (institute for the future), and Evoke ( social innovation) These are all examples of free games that can be played online and are designed to solve real-world problems.
Describing general human motivation, Jane states that “Nobody wants to change the way they live because its good for the world or because we are suppose to, but if you immerse them in an epic adventure and tell them the ‘World is running out of oil. This is an amazing story / challenge for you to go on,’ then you will see people get engaged.
Please View in Storify for the Super Cool look and feel !!!
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Fun post, Nic! I like the point you made: Players get to play again. That’s true that in a real-world, we don’t always get to have a second or third try. And it’s true that before we master something or really develp our interests, we lose our motivation because of one time failure etc. Do you see any negative sides of gamification?
I’m glad you made a post about gamification. After all, it is what Angry Birds and Healthcare Industry have in common. Contrary to popular belief that gamification is for games targeting young adults, there are a lot of evident that it actually being applied to a broad range of industries. Take healthcare as an example. Gamification is being introduced to reduce attrition patients may develop over time with regards to healthcare activities. 100 Pushups app, for instance, introduces small, easily-digestible bite of info and exercise goals that can be achieved on daily basis, essentially fostering daily habit, and thus keeping patients coming back to use the app. I’d like to see more application of gamification on a larger scale.
Wow, some of the statistics you included are mind boggling. Personally, I don’t get the whole gaming thing, but my brother is glued to his PS3. It’s interesting that some companies are adding game-like applications to their sites. A couple years ago I was building a website for a fish and aquarium story and we decided to make a whole page an interactive game-type selection tool. Users could drag sand, rocks, fish, and foliage into an empty tank to design their “perfect” aquarium. I had fun making it and hope users enjoyed playing around.
Judging by the numbers of people who play Farmville and other Facebook games, I think it is safe to say that Americans love games. Maybe people are bored at their desk jobs?
Very fun read. Do you find any danger in the notion that people are more willing to engage in problems if they exist in a digital realm? I haven’t really thought about it but can hear the social conservative backlash in my head as I read the article. The concept of unity and cooperation as it relates to the gaming world is very fascinating though.
I don’t think the Gladwell comparison was fair because gaming isn’t really even a genre or subculture in as much it’s a culture. Playing 10,000 hours of games in general will make you an expert at games in general, but if you wanted to become an expert in a specific field, you’d have to find a game related to that topic that would be playable for 10,000 hours, and I’ve never really played a game that I’d dedicate that large amount of time (MMORPGs included, you eventually get sick of them or sick of your addiction to them).
Unrelated, but great layout and the end picture was the best. Might want to make the links stand out a little more (click on Janet’s name to find the Youtube video and receive bonus points!!!@#!@).
Thanks Guys! You can see a more robust version on Storify, complete with a full section of resources. http://sfy.co/8q0
Jody, you make a valid point about how spreading those 10,000 hours over many different games and not any single one doesn’t allow for Mastery of any single subject. But isn’t that how our education system works too? We might focus on a subject later on in our studies, but gamers generally pick genres of games that they prefer as well. After all, Professional Gamers get paid because they are good at games—all games. That’s a skill that takes a long time to learn.
I’m actually inclined to agree with you, but not for the same reason. I would argue that the earlier an individual starts learning and immersing themselves in an activity, the easier it is for them to learn it and the more intuitive it becomes. It might only really require 5,000 or 1,000 or even just 50 quality hours. Who knows? I’ve raced Go-Karts professionally my entire life and I can tell you for certain that earlier you start doing something AND continue without any long breaks, the more natural it will become at it and the fewer mistakes you will make doing it. Gaming is no different.
Great post! Being a fan of video games myself its interesting to see some of these statistics. What I think is really cool now is how companies are integrating their businesses into video games. Many games now display advertisements for real companies that are constantly changing. I bet in the future that many companies will train employees by integrating training sessions into video games.