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Transcript of Learning Solutions 2015 Gamification Materials
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
Page 1
March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify Presented by Valary Oleinik
The following quick sheet provides some highlights from the other session materials and discussion questions that can be used to start a GAME Plan to gamify your learning events and environment.
Gamification shares a number of important concepts with good instructional design. Both undertake to engage and motivate learners and change behaviors. Gamification focuses on the learner's progression and providing an engaging experience which encourages more frequent interaction, a key factor in obtaining and retaining new skills. Perhaps the greatest lesson gamification brings us from game design is the value of frequent feedback to create an engagement loop fueled by dopamine. The cycle of challenge, achievement, and pleasure is vital to keeping a player playing or a learner learning. Gamification supports this process by making progress and achievements visible. Gamification also helps to create the social structure that can support the desire for status, self‐expression, collaboration or competition.
Gamification is "the use of game elements and game design techniques in non‐game contexts." Kevin Werbach
"You aren't going to make games. You're going to make games work for you." Gabe Zichermann
"I came to see games as 'deliberate practice' machines." Raph Koster
"The power of progress is fundamental to human nature, but few managers understand it or know how to leverage progress to boost motivation.” Teresa Amabile
For additional information please contact me. Email me at [email protected] <Valary Oleinik> or tweet me @valarywithawhy Connect with me on other social media sites through http://about.me/valary Check out my curated content on gamification at http://www.scoop.it/t/what‐s‐your‐game‐plan Follow my blog at http://valarywithawhy.tumblr.com
Goals Does your training have clear short‐term and long‐term
goals for the learner? What are the important metrics?
Audience What motivates your learners? What types and frequency of feedback do your learners
find most useful and engaging?
Mechanics How can you make progress and achievements visible for
the learners? Which game mechanics align with your goals and
audience?
Experience How will you monitor and adjust the gamification system
over time? Do you have the human and technical resources to ensure
a good user experience?
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
Page 1
March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify Presented by Valary A Oleinik
Introduction Gamification seems to be everywhere these days. It is a buzzword du jour and was even a runner‐up for
Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2011.[1] Over the past decade, people have hyped it, criticized it,
tried it, succeeded with it, and failed at it. The research firm Gartner suggests that it is in the "trough of
disillusionment" phase of the hype cycle,[2] so what does that mean to those in the learning sphere? It
could mean that it is just the right time to consider using it. There are enough examples and experiences
with it, both good and bad, to start to see how gamification can be a productive tool in our learning
solutions toolkit.
Whether you add gamification to your learning plan or not, having a basic understanding of how it works
may spark other innovative ideas. Gamification can increase engagement and provide a creative
problem solving space when done well, or be a candy‐coated demotivating factor when applied badly.
So should you be using it? Maybe. Like any tool, it can be a robust addition to your toolbox but is not
appropriate for every situation. Gamification may be appropriate for a particular learning event or for
helping to build a learning culture and more collaborative environment for virtual teams within an
organization. In some cases, it may also help bridge the gap between specific courses and performance
support or provide additional pathways to connect learning with other talent management functions
such as evaluations.
So if you do decide to use gamification, having a GAME plan comes in handy. By determining your Goals
and understanding your Audience you can select the appropriate game Mechanics to create the best
user Experience.
What is gamification? Before we can work on the GAME plan, we need to understand a little more about what gamification is
... and is not. Gabe Zichermann sets the stage by saying: "You aren't going to make games. You're going
to make games work for you."[3] The real power in the gamification engine comes from dissecting
games and figuring out what makes them so addictively fun, challenging, and engaging. Creatively
mixing and matching the individual parts can open up countless solutions. However, Jesse Schell warns
us against "chocolification," pointing out that while chocolate may be great on sweets it isn't going to
improve broccoli or staplers.[4] Likewise, gamification isn’t a cure‐all.
Let's start with a very succinct definition put forth by Kevin Werbach who describes gamification as "the
use of game elements and game design techniques in non‐game contexts."[5] Another useful definition
that goes more to the application of gamification comes from Karl Kapp who says that "Gamification is
using game‐based mechanics, aesthetics and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote
learning, and solve problems."[6]
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
Page 2
March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
Developing a GAME plan
Goals The first step, before even deciding whether to incorporate gamification into your solution, is to
determine what problem you are try to solve. What is your goal? Until you can answer that question, in
the immortal words of the Monopoly board, “Do not pass Go” or collect anything. One of the most
common mistakes is to decide to gamify before establishing goals. Other misguided notions include
gamifying because it worked in some other situation or because you heard that it makes learning more
fun.
Once you have identified the goal, remember that gamification is an answer, not the answer. Think
about the purpose of the learning and the behaviors you are trying to change. Think about the culture of
the organization. Is there buy‐in? If not, perhaps gamification is not appropriate or needs to be
relabeled as an engagement initiative or motivation support. What metrics are important? What is their
current recognition system? What types of performance support do they have? Perhaps gamification
can help you drive learners to ongoing practice and reduce the effects of the forgetting curve. As we will
see shortly, gamification is tied to motivation, so there could even be opportunities to use it to bridge
some gaps between real training issues and motivation issues.
On a more granular note regarding goals, we should note that there is significant overlap among the
concepts of SMART goals (those that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely), good
instructional design practices (such as well‐written learning objectives), and gamification (which is
extremely data driven allowing for tracking of progress and measurement of achievements). There are
gamification methods and mechanics that align with each of the SMART goal components, and these can
help the learner to visualize their pathway and progression to the achievement of goals. As Jane
McGonigal points out: "Satisfying work [and I would add learning] always starts with two things: a clear
goal and actionable next steps toward achieving that goal."[7] Research in Thomas Malone’s study into
What Makes Things Fun to Learn? supports this pathway of milestones to achievement approach,
finding that having short term goals was superior to having no goals or long‐term goals “in sustaining
performance and interest in the task.”[8]
As an example of how gamification is similar to instructional design, we can pair spaced repetition in
learning design with gamification's practice of breaking larger goals into smaller ones that feed the
engagement loop of challenges and achievements. This also aligns with the way enabling objectives can
lead up to the completion of a terminal objective. As we will see, gamification does not change the
underlying work or learning, but rather it "provides an ephemeral 'game layer' that changes the
experience of work, without redesigning the nature of the actual job."[9]
Audience Once you have established the goals of your project, the next step is to determine who your audience is
and what motivates them. One of the decisions, which will be related to the purpose of the gamification
and audience makeup, will be the right mix of competition, cooperation and individual self‐expression.
There are other breakdowns of your audience you may want to consider. Three concepts that might
inform your choices of which game mechanics might have the greatest appeal to your audience are
player types, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation, and self‐determination theory.
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
Player Types Richard Bartle is often cited in discussions of player types that explain players’ motivations. Each person
will likely identify somewhat with each type but one type generally is dominant. Using the familiar
iconography of a deck of cards, Bartle assigned the following suits:
Achievers love collecting and displaying their treasures so they are the Diamonds. Their gems
are achievement markers and they enjoy the visibility of being prolific contributors to
knowledge bases and forums.
Explorers crave discovery and will spend vast periods of time digging around, making them the
Spades. They are invaluable as beta testers and for getting feedback about how to evolve the
system.
Socializers love people so they are the Hearts of the player world. Although their reasons for
contributing are different than the Achievers, Socializers will share ideas, encourage others, and
participate in discussions. They can be wonderful champions and advocates of the system.
Killers are the most aggressive which makes their assignment to the Clubs self‐explanatory. They
are highly competitive, determined, and want to win. Their passion can help drive action. Like
Achievers they seek status and will keep playing to stay on top. They can also provide foils to
Explorers and Socializers, keeping everyone engaged in discussions.
Other researchers and writers have subsequently tweaked the player type model. One such adaptation
comes from Gamification Evangelist Andrzej Marczewski who expands it to 6 types: Achievers, Free
Spirits, Philanthropists, Socializers, Disruptors, and Players.[10] As shown in the table below, each type is
motivated by different things.
Player Type Motivated By Affirmation Achievers Mastery I improve
Free Spirits Autonomy I control
Philanthropists Purpose I matter
Socializers Relatedness I connect
Disruptors Change I push
Players Rewards I get
The affirmation column, while not part of Marczewski's model has been added to the table to help us
think about how we can deliver learning options that meet various needs. For instance, if someone is
driven by a need to improve, how can we use gamification elements to show them their progress? Or
how can we gamify our environment to better support the needs of those who want to connect with
one another.
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic In our quest to engage our audience we need to figure out what motivates them and what types of
rewards to put into place. Extrinsic motivation uses external rewards (or punishments) to encourage a
change in a person's behavior. Cash, prizes, and grades are familiar examples of this category. Intrinsic
motivation comes from within the person and derives from their interest in doing something for its own
sake. Feelings of accomplishment, status or increased social capital would be some of the intrinsic
rewards that gamification could provide.
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are not mutually exclusive. People do things for a variety of reasons
that may draw from both ends of the motivation spectrum. A learner may be extrinsically motivated by
receiving a bonus for completing a course or moving into a new job but that does not preclude intrinsic
motivations such as feeling good about their accomplishments or simply a thirst for knowledge. As Bob
Nelson explained, the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic is that the former lights a fire
underneath someone and the latter sparks a flame within them.[11]
In general, however, extrinsic reward systems are more short‐sighted and may actually serve as
demotivators, crowding out creative solutions that fall outside of the reward structure. There are some
exceptions to the rule. Extrinsic rewards can infuse enough "caffeine" into the system to get participants
over the initial inertia and jump start their participation, especially in situations in which there was no
intrinsic motivation to begin with.[12] However, as with caffeinated beverages, the effects of the
extrinsics are not long lasting and should not generally be used when intrinsic rewards are available.
Self‐determination theory Before we leave the discussion of intrinsic motivation it is useful to consider Edward Deci and Richard
Ryan's self‐determination theory which says that people have three innate psychological needs that
must be met in order to be motivated and in turn productive and happy—autonomy, mastery, and
connectedness. These needs are often mentioned in learner‐centric models, showing once again how
gamification and learning have a good deal of common language.
Autonomy refers to a person's need to have control over aspects of their learning. Mastery refers to a
person's need to progress and feel competent. Again this maps well with gamification, which unlike
games, is focused on a progressive journey and not a final destination of winning. Often mastery can be
tied intrinsic rewards such as providing learners access to additional materials or giving them status
markers or positions such as team leader. Finally connectedness refers to the social needs of individuals.
Learning is a social experience and while it can be done with no or low‐tech options, gamification can
leverage technology to provide excellent collaborative environments.
Mechanics This is the phase where you will find ways to make the goals actionable, design activities that will move
the learner from where they are to where you need them to be, and use game mechanics to overlay the
experience and provide feedback to the learner. The success of a gamified solution is not how much
they played or enjoyed the gamification but whether the behaviors have been changed to meet the
goals. Progression and learning are not possible without adequate feedback, which is a strong suit of
gamification, and one of the main reasons is can be successful.
Those working in education and talent management have spent years trying to coach managers in the
art of providing good feedback. Again, while not a cure‐all, gamification provides an additional tool.
Game designers have perfected the delivery of timely, frequent and relevant feedback and the need for
better and faster feedback has never been greater, as more Millennials enter the workforce. Kris Duggan
reported "those 25 and under have a significant preference for daily feedback."[13] Gabe Zichermann
also provides insights about the expectations of those who grew up in the age of the Internet, video
games, and a constant stream of feedback: “The millennial generation doesn’t suffer from excessive
positive reinforcement— those of us born before them simply received too little. In fact, the millennials
are actually getting the amount of positive reinforcement most humans crave.”[14]
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
While there are countless elements that can be borrowed from game design, there are several that
appear in most gamification systems in some form—points, badges, and leaderboards. Understanding
these three can open up a host of creative options. Whichever elements you use, remember that they
are merely symbols of the rewards the learner is receiving; not the rewards themselves. If the rewards
become the focus then learning is probably not happening. Always keep in mind that the game
mechanics are supporting players to the learning event. They help draw in the learner, to keep the
learner engaged, and to help the learner receive feedback and see their progress but they are not the
stars of the show. Points, badges, and leaderboards are tools; you can’t simply sprinkle them atop
learning like fairy dust and expect miracles to occur any more than you can add pretty pictures to
PowerPoint slides and guarantee a great presentation.
Points/Levels At the heart of almost any gamification system are points, which are perhaps the most basic type of
statistics. Just as with grades in classes, there needs to be some way to measure the changes in a
participant’s knowledge and behavior and provide a metric that ties back to the goals. This does not
mean, however, that simply adding a point scale to activities makes it a gamified system or that points
even need to be visible to the learner. The points may simply be used in the background to determine
when a person has advanced to a new level or should receive a certain reward.
Levels satisfy a number of learner desires. They show progression and mastery and can serve as status
markers. From the design side, levels can be part of a scaffolding approach. The early levels may require
few points so the learner can see some progress and get hooked; later levels can have more extensive
achievement requirements. Earning points and leveling up are another form of positive feedback which
in and of itself can increase a learner's intrinsic motivation by making them feel successful and may
support a distributed practice model.
Badges/Progress bars Badges are frequently used to great effect since they provide a way to visualize an accomplishment.
They are generally part of a collection. People are wired to want complete sets of things, so seeing the
slots where future accomplishments will be filled in has a very motivating effect. Badges can serve as
milestones that feed the needs for status and recognition and can help bind communities together
around shared experiences. Some have started referring to badges as micro‐credentials.
Progress bars can be viewed as a type of badge, albeit a dynamic one that shows progression whereas
the previously mentioned badges show completion. As Rajat Paharia, sometimes called the father of
gamification explains, people love a "towards"—the action of progressing towards an accomplishment
or mastery.[15] Some systems have shown greatly improved participation by simply adding a progress
bar. Having constant feedback about where a person stands in a process can be highly motivating.
Research has even found that displaying a person’s progress may change their perception of the
difficulty and duration of a task which can impact their decision as to whether to continue working at it
or abandon the task.[16] When combined with checklists, badges and progress bars can provide a mini
development plan in a larger learning program.
Leaderboards Of the most commonly used gamification elements, perhaps the most prone to misuse is the
leaderboard. While it can provide incentive to do a bit more if someone sees that they are close to
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
moving up in the rankings, it can put a slump in productivity and motivation simply by being included in
your solution. For those not in the top slots, it may seem an insurmountable climb they choose to avoid.
One solution is to provide a leaderboard that shows a person's relative position rather than absolute. If
they can self‐select the "friends" they want to compare their progress too, that is even better. This
provides a boost to the social aspect of the gamification and encourages a bit of friendly competition
without being demotivating. Another alternative is to have a leaderboard that resets periodically so
there are multiple opportunities to reach the top. Perhaps you want to show the staff who have
completed the most learning modules in a given month or which office or department has completed
the most tasks.
Experience The final piece of the GAME plan is to examine what the overall experience will be. Sometimes the
gamification will satisfy a targeted need with a clear start and end. Other times the journey will be
ongoing and there will be a need to ensure ways are built into the system that help the learner continue
to be engaged. Gamified solutions provide feedback both to learners and those administering the
program and that feedback should be heeded to help evolve the system. No matter how well conceived
a gamified solution is, it will become stale over time if it remains static. In addition to making course
corrections you may want to build in ways to engage experienced participants to do things like mentor
newer participants thereby spreading their knowledge, decentralizing performance support, and giving
them new ways to be motivated.
Returning to the idea of connectedness, you should examine how your solution will promote social
interactions. Throughout the process it is useful to remember that it is about the people, not the
technology. When possible, provide an opt‐out provision. Games are voluntary by nature; the player
chooses which to play and whether to play. If gamification becomes mandatory fun the experience is
less likely to yield positive results. Also remember that people don't operate in a vacuum; the culture of
the organization is the ultimate game board. In some instances you may not want to use the term
gamification because it does not sound serious enough or will be misunderstood and you may opt for
pitching an engagement program or suggest a motivation initiative.
Conclusion Gamification shares a number of important concepts with good instructional design. Both undertake to
engage and motivate learners and change behaviors. Gamification focuses on the learner's progression
and providing an engaging experience which encourages more frequent interaction, a key factor in
obtaining and retaining new skills. Perhaps the greatest lesson gamification brings us from game design
is the value of frequent feedback to create an engagement loop fueled by dopamine. The cycle of
challenge, achievement, and pleasure is vital to keeping a player playing or a learner learning.
Gamification supports this process by making progress and achievements visible. Gamification also helps
to create the social structure that can support the desire for status, self‐expression, collaboration or
competition.
Gamification in the educational and workplace realms is really in its infancy. With so many individual
game pieces to choose from the only real limitation to how we put them together is our imagination.
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
Resources [1] Burke. B. (2014). Gamify: How gamification motivates people to do extraordinary things. Bibliomotion. [Scribd
Edition].
[2] Gartner's 2014 hype cycle for emerging technologies maps the journey to digital business. (August 11, 2014).
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2819918
[3] Zichermann, G. & Linder, J. (2013). The gamification revolution: How leaders leverage game mechanics to crush
the competition. McGraw Hill Education [Kindle Edition].
[4] Schell, J. (2013). The secret mechanism. Keynote Speech, DICE Summit 2013. Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/1rdZjng
[5] Werbach, K. & Hunter, D. (2012). For the win: How game thinking can revolutionize your business. Wharton
Digital Press [Kindle Edition].
[6] Kapp. K. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: Game‐based methods and strategies for training
and education. Pfeiffer. [Kindle Edition]
[7] McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world. New
York: Penguin Group.
[8] Malone, T. (1980). What makes things fun to learn? A study of intrinsically motivating computer games.
Cognitive and Instructional Sciences Series. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1B19lwF
[9] Mollick, E. and Rothbard, N. (2013). Mandatory fun: Gamification and the Impact of games at work. Retrieved
from http://bit.ly/1B19lwF
[10] Marczewski, A. (Dec. 9, 2013). Using the gamification user types in the real world. Gamified UK. Retrieved
from http://bit.ly/1DER1Kl
[11] Nelson, B. (2012). Keynote speech. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1oEa5Bd
[12] Pink, D. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Riverhead Books. [Kindle Edition].
[13] Duggan, K. (Mar. 18, 2013). Gamification: The secret weapon of employee engagement. Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/1JwVdPX
[14] Zichermann, G. & Linder, J.
[15] Paharia, R. (Feb. 19, 2010). Driving user behavior with game dynamics and behavioral economics. Seminar on
People, Computers, and Design, Stanford University. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1pAeh4c
[16] Conrad, F., Couper, M., Tourangeau, R., and Peytchev, A. (2010). The impact of progress indicators on task
completion. Retrieved from http://1.usa.gov/17FHwMR
Session 908 – If You Don't Have GAME … Don't Gamify – Valary A Oleinik, Weil Contents © 2015 by VALARY A OLEINIK– All rights reserved
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March 25 – 27, 2015 Orlando, FL
Additional Resources Fowler, S. (2014). Why motiviating people doesn't work … and what does: The new science of leading, energizing,
and engaging. San Francisco: Berrett‐Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Gamification 101: An introduction to the use of game dynamics to influence behavior. Bunchball Whitepaper,
2010. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1mhFq9x
Lazzaro, N. (2004). Why we play games: Four keys to more emotion without story. Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/19Svwcv
Penenberg, A. (2013). Play at work: How games inspire breakthrough thinking. New York: Portfolio/Penguin.
Prashant, J. (Oct 10, 2013). Celebrating small wins: Keeping the progress bar moving! Retrieved from
http://bit.ly/1voaxI6
Radoff, J. (2011). Game on: Energize your business with social media games. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley.
Rigby, S., and Ryan, R. (2011). Glued to games: How video games draw us in and hold us spellbound. Santa Barbara,
California: Praeger, An Imprint of ABC‐CLIO, LLC
Suggested Additional Websites http://www.yukaichou.com
http://www.gamification.co
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/25/scvngr‐game‐mechanics/
http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf
http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/gdco12/Koster_Raph_Theory_Fun_10.pdf
https://wiki.mozilla.org/images/b/b1/OpenBadges‐Working‐Paper_092011.pdf
http://badgeville.com/wiki/
http://www.gamified.uk/
I’d love to hear from you! There’s a way to connect with me for every taste.
Email me at [email protected] <Valary Oleinik> or tweet me @valarywithawhy
Connect with me on other social media sites through http://about.me/valary
Check out my curated content on gamification at
http://www.scoop.it/t/what‐s‐your‐game‐plan
Follow my blog at http://valarywithawhy.tumblr.com