From the very first time I started researching Bartle’s player types, I’ve been fascinated by how well this taxonomy of player motivations for games maps to my understanding of the “non-game world”. For those who aren’t familiar, Bartle’s player types are a typology developed by Richard Bartle to understand the motivations of people who play…
It’s not a secret, and it’s not new – kids hate school. Of course as adults it’s our job to tout the importance of education and how it can build your future, but we can all remember how much we hated school when we were kids. Students often find school, tedious and boring and the…
It’s long been said that the best way to develop the future is to learn from the past. Jane McGonigal’s new collaboration with the New York Public Library, Playmatics and Natron Baxter Applied Gaming does just that by challenging players to complete quests to become one of 500 finalists who will stay overnight in the…
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) recently launched their Games & Experimental Entertainment Lab (GEElab). During SXSW GEElab director Dr. Steffen P. Walz handed out cards, co-created with Lancaster University’s Dr. Paul Coulton, for Gamification: The Rhetoric Wars. Designed in the style of Magic: The Gathering, these cards depict 5 different guilds that represent…
Can you take a classic toy and and gamify it even further? That’s what the developers of Sifteo have done with one of the most basic instruments of play- the block. The building block has been stimulating motor skills, and creative and analytical brain development for generations. Now the block has been built upon once…
Education in the United States is in dark times. Although we are one of the richest nations in the world, based upon international testing, our 9th graders are 28th in math, 22nd in science, and 18th in reading. Of course standardized testing as a measurement receives its fare share of criticism, but an even more insidious culprit in America’s…
Game-Based Marketing has made waves since its launch in April. As the first book to cover the burgeoning field of gamification, it’s done a lot to help frame the discussion for marketers and product designers. Book writing being what it is, it’s not always possible to get every hot topic in the manuscript – there…
Gamification is the integration of game dynamics into any medium such as website, community and school etc in order to drive a positive response, participation and engagement from a target audience. Without a doubt, gamification will be popular in education and educational technology in 2011. Already we’re seeing many interesting developments within education and the…
No matter how advanced technology becomes, there will always be some things that human beings just do better, such as recognizing distinctions in colors and patterns and prioritizing complex decisions. In the fields of human biology and DNA analysis, these skills are key to understanding genetic structure. Being able to recognize similarities and make distinctions…
Thanks for attending the Gamification Workshops in SF and NYC! We hope you enjoyed the day, and we look forward to welcoming you at the Gamification Summit 2011 – be sure to invite your colleagues and friends before it sells out. Below you’ll find the main material from the sessions. Please follow @gzicherm or @amyjokim…
Bunchball has recently released a new white paper entitled “Gamification 101: An Introduction To The Use Of Game Dynamics to Influence Behavior”. The document is a great informational summary for people new to the industry and business owners looking to understand these new marketing tools and concepts. It starts off with an easy break down…
