September 23, 2026
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design

How to Gamify Your Goals: A Step By Step Guide

Ivan Kuo1332 mins

When I started gamifying my goals last year, I didn’t think it would become something worth sharing. I simply wanted to create an effective system for tracking and achieving my goals – especially the ones that were in dire need of motivation. Despite its humble beginnings, this gamified system has far exceeded my expectations, and has even helped me acquire a dream job of sorts. It’s done a great deal of good for me, so I’d like to pass it along to you (in excruciating detail, of course).

This article contains the nitty-gritty details on the process of gamifying goals, along with a set of techniques that will help you get the most out of the system you ultimately create for yourself. So if you have (or intend to soon have) a challenging goal that would benefit from higher levels of motivation, it may be worth your while to read on.

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North Korea’s Crap Attempt at Gamified Propaganda: Pyongyang Racers

Ivan Kuo19 mins

A Chinese company called Koryo Tours has been commissioned (or forced…who knows) to create a game simulating a driving tour around Pyongyang called Pyongyang Racers. You’re placed in a nondescript car and need to drive around this ghost-town of a city to collect oil barrels and stamps to see monuments in Pyongyang. After taking about  45 minutes to finish this crude game, I’ve come to the conclusion that Pyongyang Racers is one of the worst gamified marketing efforts I’ve ever seen.

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Gamification Myths Part 2: Game Mechanics are Being Misused

Gabe Zichermann010 mins

One of the more vexing questions within game design is “what is a game mechanic” and its corollary — what isn’t. Along with some of the other major disagreements in game design, the mechanics question is both existential and crucial for understanding the interplay between games and gamification. Very long and interesting articles, papers, speeches and presentations (n.b. there are obviously thousands more) have been given on the topic of what is a game mechanic, how it works, what conflicts are, etc – most of them interesting, if academic.

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Challenging Games for Change’s Designers and Gabe’s Gamification History

Gabe Zichermann12 mins

I see some issues that require immediate attention with the Games for Change world. Principally a rapidly emerging gap between the promise and the track record of socially-oriented gamified interventions. Why, with all the good intentions, is success so fleeting? And what can the high-minded practitioners in the industry do about making it better?

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Gamify Your Morning Snooze with Wake N Shake

Ivan Kuo46 mins

Do you play endless mind games as you hit snooze on the alarm clock each morning? My rule of thumb is to never snooze more than three-times before a certain hour in the morning in order to give myself a “mission” to accomplish. However, a newly redesigned alarm app called Wake N Shake actually turns that morning snooze-fest into a gamified and social experience.

Wake N Shake was originally designed to be a “merciless” alarm application that forced you to shake your phone like a madman before it shuts off. Its new version now includes daily leaderboards and achievements to make the experience of daily phone shaking a little more interesting.

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Gamification Myths: The Difference Between Game Design and Gamification

Gabe Zichermann79 mins

One of the biggest ideological debates in the games industry today is about the role, meaning, value and place of gamification. There has been almost every kind of discussion, from polite to threatening, political to academic and expert to amateur. And while the arguments and syntax vary, they seem to always end up in a place familiar to contemporary American culture: the religious ideological war. In fact, what we’re witnessing is more of a schism than an outright battle, and my sense is that both disciplines will ultimately be better for it.

In order to contextualize the discussion, I want to lay out the Top Four biggest mistakes, myths and misunderstandings that game designers have about gamification, and how they can improve their comprehension. At the same time, I want to help explain how gamification designers can benefit from accepting criticism through a meaningful filter that can be useful to advance the art and science of engagement.

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Designer Jesse Schell Joins the Speaker List for GSummit SF 2013

Ivan Kuo03 mins

In addition to big names such as Will Wright, Tim Kring, and Kevin Werbach, Jesse Schell has been announced to be a speaker at GSummit SF 2013, taking place this April 16 – 18. Jesse’s academic work in games has spawned The Art of Game Design and an enormous DICE talk featured on TED, to supplement his current work as a professor of Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Melon and as the CEO of his own design firm, Schell Games…

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The Code of Gamification Ethics

Gabe Zichermann326 mins

For the last two years, I’ve been quietly talking about a gamification code of ethics. The discussion tends to come up most often at dinner parties and during GSummit, but it’s also been a hot topic during debates about gamification’s role in the future. I firmly believe that part of the reason we get so much snark online for Gamification is not because it’s a passing fad, but rather because it’s a powerful force for change that threatens the existing order. While we could dodge the question of gamification’s potential to cause harm to society, I don’t think we should.

That’s why I want to start a dialogue with the whole community about a code of ethics for our industry — and we need your involvement.

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How Important is Story in Gamification?

Gabe Zichermann55 mins

Do you need story in gamification? Today’s edition of Gamasutra carried an interesting article about legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s opinion about the role of story in his upcoming game, Super Paper Mario. The gist is that consumers appear to favor great gameplay over deep narrative, leading the development team to question its raison d’etre….

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