Blog Page 96

Free GSummit Videos and Presentation Slides Now Available!

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We’re very happy to announce that 2 videos from GSummit are now completely free to watch on Fora.tv. These are talks from our own Gabe Zichermann and Demetri Detsaridis, General Manager of Zynga (formerly Producer at Area/Code).

The presentations from all of our speakers are also available on SlideShare for everyone to review.

GSummit is an event for people interested in gamification, where non-profits, marketing specialists and other non-game industry people can learn about the possibilities of these technique, how they work and how to apply them to other applications. Be on the look out for more content coming soon and information on future Gamification events.

The Oscars: A Film-Making Game

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The Academy Awards are this Sunday and as per usual, people are making their winning picks for Best Picture, and Best Actor/Actress. If The Oscars and other similar industry awards are the prizes, is the act of film making a game in and of itself? Earlier this week we mentioned Clinton Bonner’s idea to gamify the movie watching experience, while the movie making experience is really just an ongoing game of points and status. Movie success is often calculated not only by revenue numbers (i.e. points) but also by the clout (i.e. status) of those participating in its creation (i.e. players) – people want to see famous actors in movies by famous directors (often produced by famous actors and directors as well). But the “game” never really ends and whoever “wins” in one season may not be so lucky the next. This is not just related to mainstream films either as plenty of well-known indie films exist, and many top tier actors will often vie for roles in such films to get the actor-equivalent of “street cred”, which is really just a different kind of status.

The Academy Awards is a sub-game of movie making. Many films are created simply to contend for an Oscar (commonly known as “Oscar bait”), films have to be submitted to the Academy and voted in. Oscar films compete above and outside of other, often considering “lesser” films (by some). While the award in and of itself has no direct cash value, the real prize is in the permanent status upgrade. Having the tag “Oscar Award Winner” or even “Oscar Award Nominee” forever applied to an actor, director or producer’s name will automatically garner more respect, higher rate of pay and, presumably, more butts in the seats for their films. It’s only sad to say that winners of Best Costume, Best Special Effects and other technically awards don’t receive the same amount of awe from the general public. But I’m confident that amongst their peer set, the clout is similar.

There are also a couple of gamified iPhone/iPad apps available to add another level of sport to the main event this Sunday. Vanity Fair Hollywood: Oscar Edition is a free app that allows you to watch movie trailers and make your predictions for the winners and keep score amongst your friends via Facebook.

Redwind Software’s Movie Challenge: Oscar Special (99¢) offers over 2000 trivia questions from the past to the present, mini-games and a comprehensive guide of every winner and nominee from the history of the Academy Awards.

Download one or both so you can play while you watch and root for your favorites to win.

Gamification for a Better World: Speed Camera Lottery

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Kevin Richardson is the Senior Producer in Nickelodeon’s Kids and Family game unit in San Francisco.  He’s spent an equal number of years in the animated film/advertising business, and in games. Last year he won Volkswagen’s Fun Theory Award for his idea ‘The Speed Camera Lottery’. The basic question was “Can we get drivers to slow down through fun?”  The following is his story and thoughts on the experiment.

I’m an outdoors guy who picked, for some unknown reason, an almost entirely indoor profession. To honor the other side of myself, I’ve scoured my brain for ways to combine my love of the outdoors and game making. Ghost Town Mysteries: Bodie, was my first endeavor to combine these two passions.  Playing ghost-story-hunter in real ghost towns (like Bodie) led me to travel and shoot photos at ghost towns in remote places and play to my desire of being on some kind of adventure while working. Some people travel to write books or articles. I travel and make games.

About a year and half ago I learned about The Fun Theory.  The Piano Stairs YouTube video was circulating around the office and really intrigued me. After watching the experiment, where they demonstrated that more people would take the staircase than the escalator if it were FUN, I visited their site and learned that there was a competition to choose the next experiment.  “Can you change human behavior for the better through fun?” was the challenge.

This was another great opportunity to combine game design with the outside world. Designing for the real world does have its pros and cons. It’s the opposite of what most designers want – some design criteria and some limitations help focus designers on the task at hand. There need not be a points system, trophies, badges, or leaderboards, or even anything to click. The world is already in 3D, so no glasses, shutter or otherwise, are required. No monitor. No need for virtual reality, it is reality. The world is a huge canvas, with endless gamification possibilities, unlike a flat computer monitor.

To the annoyance of my wife, I stayed up late that night and thought about the things I believe are wrong with the world and how I could change them through fun. I’ve been haunted for years after witnessing three children struck by autos, and I wondered if there was anything I could come up with to get drivers to slow down.  We’ve had speed camera lights at intersections for years, but they don’t really work.

I also am against robotizing law enforcement and am acutely aware of the possibilities of unintended consequences from bad design. For example: city managers are shortening the length of the yellow light to increase the likelihood of a motorist getting caught by speed cameras, perversely making driving less safe.   Current cameras also cause accidents because they make drivers overly cautious, sometimes causing them to slam on the brakes when it’s unsafe to do so – principally to avoid a ticket.  And, if that weren’t enough, cameras are frequently operated by a company in Arizona (I’m in California), owned by a company in Australia. We are exporting our hard earned money, and importing tons of misery.

The Speed Camera Lottery sits in the cross-hairs of these factors, and was designed with the following limitations:

  • Speed cameras aren’t going away so how can we change them?
  • Can we make driving the speed limit more fun?
  • Can we make this a FAIR system?
  • How do we take the profit incentive away so we can focus on safety?

One troubling observation is the obscene amount of energy that goes to the one bad driver who speeds. Police, courts, fines, traffic school, points, increased insurance, and on and on. And where is the reward for people doing the RIGHT thing?  What happened to that? Obeying the law is a pretty lonely endeavor. So the way my idea works is simple: Photograph everyone. Fine the Speeders. Give money back to those that obey the law.  No drama. It’s fun. Its fair. it’s local.

My take away from this gamification experiment is this: Take the thing you want to gamify at face value. Identify what’s making it frustrating, boring or otherwise not fun and decide how to remove these problems. Work backwards from the result you want. Design for that. Get results through positive feedback aimed at the things you want the player to do, and minimally if at all on the negative. Focus on the FUN. There are very few things in the world that can’t be made more fun in small or large ways. Computers are not required, only your imagination, and tapping into our most primal of all desires, which is to enjoy life and play. Watch children. Remember what it was to play as a child and try to bottle that in your design.

The Science and Psychology of Gamification

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Michael Wu, PhD, principal scientific analyst for Lithium,  has started a mini-series of blog posts at their Lithosphere blog that delve into the science behind gamification. His first entry broke down the basics, explaining what is gamification, and the distinction between game mechanics versus game dynamics.

“[Game mechanics] are principles, rules, and/or mechanisms (much like mechanics in physics) that govern a behavior through a system of incentives, feedback, and rewards with reasonably predictable outcome.”

– and –

“Gaming dynamics are temporal evolution and patterns of both the game and the players that make the game (or any gamified activity) more enjoyable.”

In his most recent post, “The Magic Potion of Game Dynamics” he focuses on the technical side of how game dynamics actually work. The goal of which, of course, is to drive behaviors to a predictable degree. Using the Fogg Behavior Model, developed by Prof. B.J. Fogg, experimental psychologist of Standford University, he breaks down any desired behavior into three necessary factors: motivation, ability and trigger. When designing a gamified system, players must be given a motivation to do something (emotional investment, promise of reward, etc), the ability to complete the action (which isn’t the same as skill. Ability can simply mean having the time or the game options) and a trigger or cue to complete the action. The structure is all about timing – if all components don’t fire simultaneously then the player will lose interest or become frustrated.

Dr. Wu also makes it a point to mention the importance of the positive feedback loop. This is one possibility for the “motivation” part of  the Fogg model. He also states, as we at Gamification Co have mentioned many times, a positive feedback mechanism is always more successful than any negative reinforcement as people are more willing to continuously carry out series of behaviors for a positive outcome. A punishment for not completing the action will typically cause the player to disengage entirely.

Some people assume that gamification is nothing more than slapping badges and points on a mediocre website in order to grab attention and only creates a superficial experience. Michael Wu’s writing is able to show that there is real science and psychology behind gamification. Those who are sincerely interested in gamification, the power it has over motivation and how it can improve daily life would benefit greatly from reading these articles and those that will follow.

You can read more of Michael Wu’s blog here, and even ask questions in the comments section that he’s very likely to answer.

Gamifying Theme Parks in Blooloop

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Gabe Zichermann was recently interviewed for an article by BlooLoop called: “Gamepocalypse or Gametopia : What Can Gamification Offer Theme Parks And Attractions?” In it, GSummit is noted for its success and the attention it garnered for gamification from various industries, including parks and attractions and the potential there is for merging them together. “Building engagement for an attraction is not much different than any consumer-facing experience,” said Gabe.

Dave Cobb, Creative Director of Thinkwell Design & Production was also interviewed for the piece, following a a gamification focused seminar for the IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) for which Gabe participated on a panel.

Read the entire article here to learn more about the rise of gamification, how it can be incorporated for large attractions, and pitfalls to avoid.

Gamifying the Movie Experience

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Clinton Bonner brings up some really interesting ideas about gamifying the movie theater experience in his recent blog post “Please Turn Your Cell Phones On! – The Future Movie Experience“. There have been many different attempts over the years to make watching films more interactive, from 3D glasses to the gimmicky catalog of director William Castle. Most of these effects were largely passive, they were merely things that happened to the audience. Recalling reading “Choose Your Own Adventure” books as a child, where the reader would reach a fork in the storyline and have to select how it would continue, Mr. Bonner considers how this can be tied into films. He suggests the idea of the audience voting via mobile devices to determine the outcome of  the film.

Mr. Bonner’s idea goes further by suggesting a game that proceeds the screening, so that audience members can accrue points that give them more clout in the process. A higher ranking player’s vote would be worth more than a newbie player’s. This would provide the opportunity for online communities, promotional deals and separate interactive screenings that would be priced higher than the standard screening. This idea is not entirely new. In William Castle’s Mr. Sardonicus (1961), the audience was instructed to vote for the film’s ending with a ballot card, but it’s been widely argued as to whether or not alternative reels actually existed and if the voting process made any difference. In the internet age, where fans are more able to sniff out scams and trade information, duping people into a fake voting situation would never work. Directors would have to do it for real.

The idea creates an interesting potential for creative film making as directors could include previously deleted scenes and alternate endings without responsibility if they don’t work well. (“It’s not my fault, you people voted for it!”) Of course it also creates possibilities for marketing and advertising tie-ins. Companies could offer points for the film’s online game for purchasing products or TV stations could offer special codes during a show. It might even encourage people who have fallen in love with home viewing options like Hulu and Netflix back into the theater by making movies more fun.

Read more about Clinton Bonner’s idea by checking out the full post here.

Play your way to a better life with Mindbloom

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It’s really easy to get stuck in a rut in your life. You may want to change things, but don’t know how to get started. MindBloom’s Life Game offers stress-free, simple ways to improve your life, one step at a time. Start by picking the three aspects of your life you’d like to focus on from a comprehensive list: Health, Career, Creativity, Spirituality, Leisure, Lifestyle, Finances, or Relationships. Each one of these categories is represented by a branch on your tree.

Add actions to your branch and fulfill them in real life to keep its leaves green and healthy. These actions can be big like “Find a new job” or smaller daily actions like “start flossing”.

Every time you complete an action you earn seed points. These can be used to add additional branches to your tree, items on your action list or unlock special content like music selections and additional options. Invite friends to join you and grow a forest nearby. Unlock special achievement “blooms” for completing tasks and trying out different features like the journal option. You can also buy seeds or earn them by completing sponsored offers.

MindBloom is also integrated with Facebook and Twitter so you can share your goals with followers and have them cheer you on. Or if you prefer not to brag, keep things private and enjoy your victories yourself. If you’re going to make all of your tasks private, I would like to see them add an option send yourself email or text reminders to check on your tree. If you haven’t gotten used to your new routine yet it’s easy to forget and later get frustrated at your lack of progress.

There have been a lot of gamified apps and websites focused around self-improvement and to-do lists. For those who would rather not have an action-packed RPG experience like EpicWin, MindBloom offers a soothing experience where the you can go through at your own pace. As you do better, your tree flourishes. It’s easy to get started and see if you’re doing well. You can even upload inspirational photos, songs and video to keep you going. The more you play, the more you’re able to personalize your space and create the perfect scenario for success. Mindbloom empowers you to “grow the life you want”, but just like a tree, it takes time and patience.

Gamification, Fun, and Sex at the Engage Expo

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The Engage Expo is wrapping up here in New York. The conference focuses on engaging kids and youth with digital games, with thematic tracks ranging from “App Strategy” to “Creative, Design, and Development”, and of course our favorite, gamification. Speakers in the gamification track included a panel with Rajat Paharia, Chief Product Officer at Bunchball, Steve Sims, Vice President at Badgeville, and Keith Smith, CEO of BigDoor, as well as a presentation on legal issues by James Gatto, Entertainment and Technology Team Leader with Pillsbury, LLP.

The Expo kicked off on Tuesday with a keynote presentation from Brian Reynolds, Chief Game Designer at Zynga. His speech promised  to reveal Zynga’s playbook and tricks for creating the massive appeal and virality of its “-Ville” series of social games, and it did a good job of delivering.

Some of the topics Brian covered included his aunt’s love for her nephew, and how she openly expressed her love when Brian delivered some much needed energy packs. This demonstrates one aspect of the mass appeal of the -Ville games: their ability to keep people in touch with friends and loved ones.

FrontierVille demonstrates some tactics for virality at the EngageExpo
FrontierVille demonstrates some tactics for virality at the EngageExpo

Brian also shared secrets on ways to make an update about sheep getting lost immediately  shareable: allusions to sex. Although this may seem like the lowest common denominator and an odd topic for a keynote at a conference focusing upon digital games for kids and youth, their is some logic to it. He described that many of Zynga’s customers are adults and updates that operate on different levels of understanding are immediately more viral.

On the gamification side of the event, one event was a panel moderated by Patrick Murck from BigDoor with Michael Saunders at Dotmenu, Sally Wood of Kapitall, and Vincent Beerman from SpectrumDNA. Saunders summed up the field very well stating that both “creative types and economics majors are needed” in order to create an engaging, gamified experience as well as “just make it fun”.

There were also many interesting case studies of brands using game mechanics and game thinking in order to engage users and improve loyalty. Rajat brought up some classics such as Nike+ and Club Psych, as well as some newcomers to the space such as Hopelab’s new venture Zamzee. Steve Sims reviewed ActiveTrainer and their methods for arranging content on exercise within an engaging framework in order to make people more, well, active.

Rajat also demonstrated how something as simple as Microsoft’s Beta1 Game from the Vista release can increase the number of users. With different levels of involvement in the Windows Vista Beta, testers received either a “b”, “e”, “t”, or an “a”. This extremely simple game mechanic led to a 400% increase in the number of beta testers.

Each of these examples of gamification demonstrate how the movement is beginning to take off as well as how powerful something as simple as spelling “beta” can be. As we say around here, just a spoonful of engagement results in huge increases in frequency, duration, virality, and ratings.

More coverage on the gaming (not gamification) side of the Engage Expo can be found at PCWorld.

Gamification in the Globe and Mail

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“How long till life is one big video game?” asks Ivor Tossell in his recent article in the Innovation section of The Globe and Mail. In the piece he gives and introductory definition of gamification and quotes Gabe Zichermann for his insights as someone “at the forefront of a new strain of marketing thinking” and references his now-famous SAPS concept on player rewards.

Also quoted in the article are representatives of really interesting gamified Canadian start-ups: Duleepa Wijayawardhana, CEO of Empire Avenue and Lenny Rachitsky, founder of LocalMind. You can read the full article here.

GSummit in Pictures: Tag, You’re It!

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For those of you who kept up with Twitter, you know that there were a lot of really cool pictures taken at the inaugural Gamification Summit (Jan 20), the VIP Pre-Party (Jan 19) and the Gamification Workshop (Jan 21). Many photos were posted in that realtime stream, but we have a lot more thanks to our award-winning international iphoneographer, Sion Fullana.

Were you one of the good-looking attendees or speakers snapped by Sion? Visit our updated Facebook page and tag yourself in the pictures and join our community there.

Looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming GSummit event soon!

And, if you’re interested in the “social photo” trend of iPhoneography, check out Sion’s upcoming lecture, February 18th, at the Apple Store Soho.

KPCB’s Top Mobile Internet Trends for 2011

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Matt Murphy and Mary Meeker, analysts for the leading venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), recently released a research presentation entitled “Top Mobile Internet Trends” for 2011. It  gives a detailed look at how social networking and the mobile web have been booming all over the world, changing the face of media and marketing. The presentation points to the overlap of information sharing, commerce and gaming – gamification – as the combination that is changing behavior and driving revenue. In fact, gamification is referred to as “…the ultimate way to engage a new generation of audiences.”

As our regular readers know, we here at Gamification Co have been predicting 2011 will be the “the year of gamification” for some time. Seeing the same conclusions being drawn by such highly respected analysts for the prestigious firm KPCB only confirms the important role that gamification will be playing in media and marketing the coming months.

It’s a super interesting presentation. View it here to learn more about “the early innings of a massive phenomenon”.

Bring your social skills back to IRL networking

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Everyone born after 1975 has grown up gaming. And everyone born after 1990 has grown up online. Between these two points of fact, many young American adults have forgotten how to be social. As in IRL. (Or maybe it’s just everyone I know?)  Sure, we’ll “friend” each other on Facebook, play cooperatively in Farmville, IM and text like mad – but when it comes to real life interaction many adults in their early thirties, or just on the outskirts, seem to have developed various degrees of social anxiety.

We once knew how to exist in the real world. We had play dates and pool parties and the whole deal as kids. But the online world made connecting so much easier, and new technology entered our lives so gradually, actually meeting real people, face-to-face seemed somewhat…inefficient and taxing. Now this also happens to be a generation of over-educated, over-qualified, unemployed or underemployed people trying to find decent work during one of the worst economic crises the US has ever seen. Many young adults would rather search sites like Craig’s List, Monster or Career Builder than actually have to “pound the pavement” or call potential employees. While the internet and social media are really helpful tools, there’s nothing quite as effective as getting your face out there and meeting people.

Networking parties are a great way to make new contacts that can help lead you to your dream career. If you’re one of these types that get timid in crowds or have forgotten the art of conversation, you can play it off. The beauty of networking parties is that it’s already set up like a game and everyone knows the  main objective is to shake as many hands and trade as many business cards as possible. Once you find an event here are some suggested guidelines for playing the networking game. Your first time out, show up with at least 15 business cards. Next time, bring 30. Since many of these functions have open bars or discounted ones, get yourself a drink every 100 points and snack every 50 if they have free nibbles:

  • 1 point for every person you talk to –
  • 5 points for every conversation you initiate –
  • 2 points for every business card you get –
  • 5 points for each of your business cards you give away (Must make conversation first!)
  • 10 bonus points for every conversation you start with something other than your name, what you “do”, where you’re from or asking that of the other person –
  • You ran out of cards already? 30 bonus points!

If you still really don’t want to go it alone, bring a friend along with you. Play head-to-head or cooperatively, but don’t forget the most important part is the follow-up. The next day, sort your loot (i.e. the cards you collected) by most useful or desirable contacts and work your way down the list. Give yourself 5 points for every contact you reach out to – every time you receive a reply it’s 10 points.

Email is ok for this one, but you’ll eventually have to level up to a phone call or (*gasp*) meeting again in person if all goes well. You might even make it to a “boss stage” where you’ll  be put in touch with someone with a job opportunity that’s perfect for you. Just like most games, this one may take a few tries to win. But if you put yourself out there and appreciate the small accomplishments, they can pay off in a big way down the line.

Gamification Law: FTC Guidelines

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Ed Note: When it comes to social media, online interactions and gamification, many people often overlook how the law factors in. Working in an industry surrounded by ever-changing technology and innovation, legal precedents and regulations are also in a constant evolution in order to keep up. These laws exist to protect users, developers and business owners alike – but we can’t work within the guidelines unless we first understand what they are. Thankfully we have the insight of James Gatto, Partner at Pillsbury, Winthrop and leader of the firm’s Social Media, Entertainment and Technology group to lend us some of his expertise in the fields of intellectual property, internet and technology law. – Gabe Zichermann

As many people are aware, in 2009 the FTC implemented guidelines that addressed the use of endorsements and testimonials by bloggers. The mainstream press highlighted just the part of these guidelines that require disclosure by bloggers of compensation received for recommending a product or service.  However, the guidelines include some lesser known provisions which apply more broadly to consumer generated media and to gamification.

The guidelines are not limited to bloggers, but cover any advertising message, including consumer-generated media, that consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experiences of the endorser. This includes consumer testimonials, such as reviews or recommendations endorsing a product or service on any social media site, not just blogs. When a connection exists between the endorser and the seller of an advertised product that might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement, such connection must be fully disclosed. In one example, the FTC says that if a blogger gets a free video game to evaluate and review, he must clearly and conspicuously disclose that he received the game for free. In another example, it states that if someone receives redeemable points each time they tell friends about a product, this fact needs to be clearly and conspicuously disclosed. Since points and other rewards are often given in exchange for sharing links through Twitter, “liking” on Facebook or otherwise sharing with a friend, this is extremely important for developers of gamified apps to consider. A virtual economy needs to have a real-world value that users can easily understand.

The FTC also states that the company needs to advise the consumer giving the testimonial that this connection should be disclosed, and it should have procedures in place to try to monitor the consumer’s postings for compliance. The company and the consumer both need to be responsible for following these guidelines, but the greater burden falls on the company. Advertisers are subject to liability for false or unsubstantiated statements made through endorsements, or for failing to disclose material connections between themselves and their endorsers – but endorsers may also be liable. Whenever an advertisement represents, directly or by implication, that the endorser is an expert with respect to the endorsement message, then the endorser’s qualifications must in fact give the endorser the expertise that he or she is represented as possessing with respect to the endorsement. This raises potential gamification issues with leader boards, badges and expert status to the extent that this implies an “expert” status that the user does not actually posses.

These are just a few of many examples of little known laws that relate to gamification and social media.  Business owner and developers must be careful in their relationships to their users, especially as the users become more engaged and involved in the app or site. For more information on legal issues with gamification contact James Gatto below:

____________________________________________________________

James Gatto created and is the leader of the firm’s Virtual Worlds & Video Games team and co-leader of the Open Source team. He leverages his unique combination of over 25 years of IP experience, business insights and attention to technology trends to help companies develop IP and other legal strategies that are aligned with their business objectives. His practice focuses on all aspects of intellectual property, internet and technology law, including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and open source. He was also a speaker at the inaugural GSummit – his presentation “Managing Legal Risk in Gamification” can be viewed as streaming video.

Gamification and Cheaters at Gizmodo

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Stephen Totilo of Gizmodo isn’t completely sure how he feels about gamification, but he certainly hates cheaters. In his recent post called “You’re All Liars“, Totilo writes about how he became a frequent user of the check-in apps Foursquare and MyTown, the issues that arose as the apps changed to combat cheaters, how he himself was tempted to “game” the systems and what it says about the psychology behind the apps.

Fundamentally, anytime there is something of value to be had in a system or market, users will try to extract that value by any means necessary. Gaming a system can occur for many different reasons (including users’ needing to feel challenged), but it’s always going to happen. That’s why good gamified experiences must have great user and systemic protections.

Totilo also makes mention of the GSummit, how it marked the significance of gamification, showcased some of its “champions” and evangelized how gaming can improve life. Read the full article here.

Gabe Talks Gamification at Social Media Week

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Gabe Zichermann participated a great deal in Social Media Week, New York. On Monday he gave a talk at Time Inc. called “The Year of Gamification” where he discusses the trends we can expect to see in 2011 and the possibilities for the future of gamification. You can see the presentation slides here.

He was also a panelist yesterday for the session “Gamify Me: How Game Mechanics Have Infiltrated Marketing” moderated by David Rosenberg, the Director of Emerging Media at JWT New York, with recent GSummit speakers Rajat Paharia of Bunchball, Samantha Skey of Recycle Bank, and Demetri Detsaridis of Zynga NY. Watch the full video now via LiveStream.

Kevin Haughwout wrote a blog entry summarizing their panel on the official Social Media Week blog. The panel was also covered by other blogs including Karen Seiger at Sirene Media Works and Kyle Monson at Ad Geek.  Gabe also did an interview of Social Media Week – video should be available very soon. Be sure to check back here for more updates!