In a previous post I started talking about gamification, sharing some popular definitions and some links to start exploring the concept.
Well, the tide of discussion about gamification hasn’t receded: In fact, it keeps coming up in my conversations, the conversations of my colleagues, and in the variety of resources I read on a regular basis.
It would be unfair of me to not share some of the more inspiring gamification articles and resources with you all:
Gamification.co : Gabe Zichermann’s site is a great source of content about gamification. I’m enamored by Gabe’s intelligent, common-sense approach to explaining gamification in a way that never sacrifices an eye towards good business sensibility. A must read for those of you who are new to the concept of gamification.
avantgame.com : If you are interested in gaming and haven’t yet heard the name “Jane McGonigal,” then you may just be living under a rock. On the main page of Jane’s site you can watch her TED presentation “Gaming Can Change the World.” If you want to be inspired to stop thinking about games as the providence of children and a bonafide methodology for solving some of the world’s most complex problems, then you need to watch this video. Hell, even if you don’t want to be inspired, just watch the video – a few years from now you will thank me for directing you to it.
Gamepocalypse Now : I’ve referenced Jesse Schell before. He was the individual who really “let the cat out of the bag” for me as it applies to thinking about a potential future that could be saturated by games via his very influential DICE 2010 talk, “Design Outside the Box.” Gamepocalypse Now is Jesse’s blog dedicated to chronicling incidents of gamification in our everyday lives.
Just Add Points: What UX Can (and Cannot) Learn from Games : Sebastian Deterding provides us with a great resource regarding the use of gaming in other contexts (a discussion of the implementation of gamification without actually using the word “gamification”).
Paper.Li for Gamification : Want to know what the Twitter community is talking about regarding gamification? I’ve found the use of Paper.Li with the keyword of #Gamification to be very helpful for aggregating news and commentary about gamification. Give it a try!
Lee Sheldon’s XP Grading System : Professor Lee Sheldon gained some attention by ditching a normal grading system and replacing it with a role-playing style experience point (XP) system to gauge student performance. There are a lot of articles out there talking about this. Take your pick of which ones to read via this link – it collects a ton of them.
Game Mechanics for Interaction Design : An Interview with Amy Jo Kim : As a User Experience professional and amateur game designer, the relevance of how games can impact user interaction is a concept of utmost importance to me. This interview from 2009 is a great snapshot of where we were at about a year ago (notice that the term “gamification” is completely absent from this article – although the concept clearly is not). It stands the test of time by providing some sage advice about integrating gaming principles into user experience design.
I could continue to share links ad infinitum, but I suspect the plate is full. So go now, and learn from these experts.