May 26, 2026
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fun

Cigarette Littering a Problem? Try Fumo!

Ivan Kuo03 mins

Around 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are tossed on sidewalks and streets each year, eventually filling waterways with plastic and chemicals that kill fish.Governments have imposed fines on cigarette littering, but that only works if you catch someone in the act. Chances are that only a small percentage of people will actually be caught. And not being caught becomes the motivation, instead of doing the right thing.

That is where Fumo comes in! Fumo uses positive reinforcement to motivate people to dispose of their cigarette butts properly.

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Google Maps Has a New Pokemon Catching Feature

Ivan Kuo13 mins

It’s no surprise that Google would create an amazing and elaborate April Fool’s joke that would seem so incredibly possible. What is this joke? Google created a game with Google Maps to catch Pokemon. It’s the stuff of every Poke-fanatic’s dream with the potential for a title of Pokemon Master, a fancy business card, and a job with Google.

The best part is: it may be only half a joke. An update for Google Maps has been released and will allow players to find Pokemon with an unlimited amount of Pokeballs while using Google Maps when they explore the terrain.

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calm

Calm: A Meditation App That Does Feedback Right

Gabe Zichermann35 mins

One of the most elemental concepts in good gamification design is what I call the three Fs: Feedback, Friends and Fun. They come in many forms, but together they form the foundational structure of how we create engagement. I’ve written and spoken about the three Fs at length, but I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about and designing effective feedback systems.  I also love to meditate.

At the intersection of both of these interests is the excellent and visually gorgeous app, Calm. It’s a guided meditation app for iOS that’s received a number of accolades for its simple design and great programming. The premise of guided meditations it that an instructor’s voice (and soothing music) help you relax, focus and create productive, healing brain states.

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nicole lazzaro

Nicole Lazzaro Explains The 4 Keys to Fun and Gamification

Ivan Kuo02 mins

The Gamification Revolution is the only live gamification webcast featuring Gabe Zichermann and fellow gamification experts every week. Join us and have all of your gamification questions answered by these experts. Today we’ll be looking at our last week’s guest: Nicole Lazzaro, President of XEODesign.

Be sure to catch our next episode this Thursday, August 29 at 1PM ET/1800 GMT, where we will feature Karl Kapp, Assistant Director of Bloomsburg University’s Institute for Interactive Technologies and prominent eLearning/gamification expert.

Remember you can participate in the show if you sign-in and RSVP! Signing in will allow you to receive show reminders, ask questions, and even join Gabe and our guest for a live question.

In last week’s episode, we explored the idea of fun. Would anybody even care about gamification if it didn’t produce something that was fun to do? Gamification practitioners have a responsibility of understanding how a fun system plays into their overall design and Nicole Lazzaro, came on the show to explain the psychology of fun and her theory on the 4 keys to all the types of fun that exist. Watch the video below to get the full scoop on what it means to have fun!



Download this episode (right click and save)

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The Psychology of Fun: Transform Awareness into Impact

Kevin Shane02 mins

Following up her main stage talk from GSummit 2012, Nicole Lazzaro took the main stage again at GSummit 2013 and gave us a new talk on how the emotional response from games can inspire people to take real actions for social impact.

We take a look at Nicole’s analysis on the psychology of fun and how her own game, Tilt World, was able to accomplish significant social impact by simply being fun.

Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get the latest videos from GSummit SF 2013 as they’re released. You can also download a copy of Nicole’s presentation by downloading it here.

If you have questions about this content or anything else related to gamification design, please join us tomorrow at 1PM ET as Nicole joins us as our live guest on the Gamification Revolution webshow.  RSVP and Sign-In to join the conversation!

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Getting Three Fs in Gamification

Gabe Zichermann88 mins

Over the last 3 years, I’ve had the privilege of analyzing, deconstructing and helping design gamification for many companies and non-profits. Since the publication of my first book, Game-Based Marketing (now available in audiobook format), there has been an ever-increasing clamor for process, methodology and systems that can be used to make gamification more repeatable…

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Day Two of the GSummit NYC!

Joselin01 mins

Good morning! Welcome back to the GSummit NYC. After yesterday’s line up of spectacular speakers and panel discussions, expectations are high. But I have a feeling this day will not disappoint. The day’s events will begin with Gabe Zichermann, GSummit Chair and author of the brand new book featuring some easy and powerful tools for…

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Community Rules: Using Gamification to Drive Publishing and Community Engagement, Part II

Joselin06 mins

Mediator Greg Johnson, of Fooda leads panelists Jesse Redniss, the head of digital at USA Networks, Rijat Paharia of Bunchball, Michael Ahern of Major League Baseball advanced media, Esteban Contreras of Samsung, and Brandon Evans founder of CrowdTap in a lively discussion about how you, the consumer, are the link between Twitter, democracy and crowdsourcing….

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