The Gameification Game
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Met up for a coffee with the interesting chaps at Six to Start this morning. And while sipping Americano in the Italian restaurant in their basement (no shit) I found myself thoroughly engaged by what they had to say. To summarise, to think about gaming and the behaviours that it exhibits within the boundaries of only a traditional game would be fundamentally missing both the point and opportunity that this promises us.
When we look at successful games, what we’re really looking at is successful engagement. This has been the case for thousands of years. Think of all the successful games in the world, from Chess to Sonic to Call of Duty and Farmville, and the ‘game’ itself is almost secondary. What is of utmost importance is that the user is taken on a journey that engages them through entertainment, challenge, social connectivity, story telling and reward, and a game lacking in these pillars isn’t really a game at all. And most importantly of all, there needs to be a point to participation.
Sound familiar?
But what really interested me about this game philosophy, is how it can be applied to non-games, how can we achieve great levels of participation in ‘things’ by engendering in them the ideals of gaming. When we’re developing the latest campaign – be it in a traditional form, interactive form, or transmedia – how can we treat it more like a game, make it challenging, rewarding and entertaining for the participant.
After all, we could all be doing something else, right?
Interview with Dan Hon, formerly of Six to Start - http://bit.ly/9O53zY
Fantastic recent TED talk on the game layer – http://bit.ly/cRkr3C
