“It turns out video games are just a Trojan horse for studying interest-driven learning” – Constance Steinkeuhler Jesse Schell lead the development of an educational game called Lexicawith the goal of developing life-long habits of reading in children. Lexicais set up as an action game, and in order to progress in the video game the…
“It’s all about money, not freedom, ya’ll, okay? Nothing to do with freedom. If you think you’re free, try going somewhere without money, okay?” – Bill Hicks, comedian Much has been written in the area of enterprise gamification about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the basic ideas being as follows: – Because money is considered an…
Learn Techniques Used by Addictive Cloud Games To Engage Your Players And Customers More It’s a SERVICE. Not a game. It’s a WORLD. Not a game. It’s a COMMUNITY. Not a game. Anyone who says, “it’s just a game” is missing the point.” The Laws of Online World Design The secret to keeping players engaged…
Tailor Gamification to Different Types of Systems Understanding systems theory is crucial for designing successful educational and enterprise projects. There are two basic types of systems: open and closed. Closed systems are relatively stable, highly constrained and consist of repetition. In business, an example of such systems is manufacturing. Engineering metaphors work in these systems. Efficiency and…
“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable I have noticed that the terms “flow” and “deliberate practice” are being used interchangeably in the gamification community. This leads to misinterpretations that I feel should be addressed. The term “flow” is one of the…
“The child amidst his baubles is learning the action of light, motion, gravity, muscular force…” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Time For Work And Time For Play Anthropologists define “play” as activities involving games, stories or art. Children love these activities because they’re fun, but there is also a serious evolutionary purpose behind them: implicit learning. Through…
Engagement Science That Makes GSummit Irresistible At Gamification Co we have been working hard to provide the best quality content for gamification in the industry, and there is so much that can be shared, learned and experienced at a live event! Here are a few scientific reasons why you should come hang out with us…
Latinoamérica se Interesa por la Gamificación Tanto en Latinoamérica como en España, el interés por la gamificación ha ido en aumento. El año pasado, Gabe Zichermann estuvo viajando por todo el mundo para interactuar con directivos y educadores que buscan aumentar el engagement de los clientes y los estudiantes a través de principios lúdicos. En estos…
The power of STEM and Intrinsic Gamification Successful people in every domain seem to have an intrinsic love for their profession. This love creates a lifelong engagement in their careers, constantly learning and expanding their skills and expertise. As game designer Raph Koster said about fun, “Fun is another word for learning.” Yet can we…
There’s a very interesting phenomena in biology I’ve been wanting to link to gamification called “the winner effect.” When any animal, from fish to humans, wins a contest, they have a large release of testosterone and dopamine in the brain. Over time this changes their brains structure and chemical makeup, making them more confident, smarter, and able to take on larger challenges than before.
Games are tools for rewiring your brain. When you’re playing a game what you’re essentially doing is building new neurological connections and strengthening them with a process called myelination.
You build new networks that can be used outside the game, then strengthen them through repetition. Now there’s the highly contextualized questions of what skills the game is creating and if its transferable outside that game into the real world. Not all games develop the same skills and not all skills are used in particular fields (these studies are relatively new so expect new insights in the future). Knowledge management has two terms I adopted to understand knowledge transfer from games: adaptation and exaptation, which can acts a lens to understand knowledge transfer from playing games.
Aristotle believed there was two types of intelligence. One is translated as “theoretical wisdom”, which refers to book smarts, and the other is “practical wisdom”, which refers to the ability to apply theoretical wisdom into action. Aristotle gives an example of a student learning geometry: this student will come out of school with theoretical wisdom, but must also learn to apply it into the real world. An example would be to carry out a work of architecture with the geometry he learned in school. We need both of these intelligences to be functional; Praxis gives you this.
Gamification practioners should not only study how to create a great game, but also how gamers acquire skills from using complex games outside play. A great example of this comes from the game of chess. In order to become a Grandmaster at chess you must read entire libraries on the theory of the game, play it, and intensely reflect on your performance and those of others. This loop of theory, play and reflection is called Praxis.
How Gaming Keeps Us Learning for Longer “In the realm of strategy, only contradiction and paradox work. Common sense and straightforward linear logic always fails” – Edward Luttwak According to Charles Handy, success belongs to those who learn to embrace complexity by reconciling the contradictions of this world. Gabe Zichermann gives an example of these contradictions with…
Experimental economics show that people are more likely to cooperate and avoid competition in the prisoner’s dilemma or public goods game if their identity is revealed as opposed to playing anonymously. If you believe you’re being watched there’s a potential gain for behaving yourself: you establish a good reputation.
