Basic Steps of Gamification of Human Nature

Just a little something I'd been thinking about-the premise behind this is really quite simple.  It can be broken down to four easy steps.

1.Identify a behavior that you wish to induce in people.
2.Identify steps that lead to that behavior
3.Create rewards that go with each individual step or iteration of step.
4.Ensure that users keep playing until behavior is habit.

The difficult part is identifying the steps that can lead to the behavior, and what reward to set with each one.  It's important to note that rewards can actually be quite small-as small as a sound effect or an NPC saying thank you.

So long as the reward is immediate and recognizes that people enjoy recognition, it can be effective.  (Not as effective as getting the infamous Infinity +1 Sword, but it certainly works for smaller iterations of steps.)  In addition, having rewards that can be shown to a community that plays similar things is typically far more effective, as people also enjoy being able to brag.

Next project:How to gamify things people already want to do, with NaNoWriMo as an example.

Gamify Topic:Finances

This is the topic that got me started on this subject in the first place.  I was given the assignment to make a banking application for mobile devices that would get people interested in it again-the idea was simply to get people working together, but I approached it from a different angle than most.

Instead of a simple banking application that would be secure and easy to use, I instead pointed at how to get people interested in the idea in the first place.  I also remembered how many times I tried to get people to budget their money away in the first place, and how dismally that would always fail because they were hooked on their habits of drinking away their paycheck every weekend, or getting the newest phone the moment it came out, or any of a dozen other things that they would do rather than squirrel the money away.

(I wasn't immune myself.  I would budget half my paycheck into a savings account, thinking that I wouldn't touch it...but then a new video game came out.  Just one little temptation wouldn't hurt...so I'd go to the mall to get the game.  And once at the mall, I was overwhelmed with shiny distractions for the better part of two hours until the only reason I stopped buying them was because my arms were overloaded with electronic knick-knacks, decorations, and various other things I'd pretty much never use.)

But then this subject came around, and it struck me.  People rarely listen to the admonishments of others, but they will change their behavior for a video game.  The working title for it was Budget Lords, but I'm sure that will change if it ever wants to see the light of day.  (My strong suit is not in giving things names.)  The core concept for it was based around tying a video game to their ability to budget, making their progress known to the neighborhood around them, and then making the game competitive.  Further details were as follows.

• It would be a squad-based RTS akin to Command and Conquer, where the funding for squads would be based on how well they had budgeted their money that month, rather than on any 'gathering resources' mechanic.
• It would feature a function much like Mint.com's app, where it can break down where you're spending your money.  Spending money at the local grocery store would have a much lower impact on your squad than spending it at McDonald's every day.
• Speaking of McDonald's, the game would be one of the few where seeking advertising would be a good thing.  Low-cost places such as Sam's, Costco, mom and pop stores in the local area, investment firms, and other such places would be excellent additions.  Perhaps even give them minor in-game and out-of-game bonuses, such as a bonus to XP if they buy their groceries at Sam's this month, or get Sam's to give a better deal to those that give them a coupon that's only available through the game.
• It would feature a squad of soldiers with personalities, akin to M*A*S*H.  It's one thing to impact a few personality-less goons that are just your keys to win the game.  It'd be another thing altogether to let Radar die because you just had to get another beer that weekend.  Or to let R. Lee Ermy chew you out for wasting all your money on a new car when you know you can't afford it.  Don't just let the game be a passive thing to your life-let the game talk to people.  It would be important to avoid too much criticism, as people will simply start walking away, but having people connect to the players will make them feel much more responsible for them-and by extension, their wallets.
• Frequent advice, likely from the game characters themselves, on how to improve their spending habits and how to invest.  This would not be done in the typical manner, where it's an annoying pop-up that the player simply skips over.  This would either be directly related to their spending habits, or would be general information that pops up in the background, but could be found later.  It would also be in every loading screen, since you have nothing to do but wait during those.  But never would it simply be forced on the player-simply made available, and on occasion made known that their bad habits are having a direct effect upon the game characters.
• On that matter, there would be an actual story mode to play with, not just a competitive mode.  The reasons for this are numerous.
• It would let those that don't want to compete against others have a reason to play the game, especially if they don't want others in the neighborhood to know their budgeting abilities.
• It would give people a reason to play even when they're the top dog in the neighborhood, so they can further explore the lives of the soldiers in their phone.
• Because it's still a game at its heart, and the designers should never forget that.  If it becomes nothing more than another app or tool, then the point of using games to change habits is lost, and people will lose the habits they develop as their interest in the game wanes.

With these things in mind, I've established cause and effect quite clearly in their minds, given them a group of 'people' that they will listen to because they're responsible for them, and given the player a sense of agency that they normally wouldn't have in their lives.  (Hopefully.)

I will be working towards developing a game with these details in the near future, with any luck.  As such, if anyone wants to send feedback on this particular post, I heartily encourage it-all the better to ensure that the intent is as pure as possible.

Premise of Gamify Humanity

Hello, and welcome to the first post of Gamify Humanity!  As of this post on October 11, 2012, I'm a Game Design / Game Programming Double Major student at UAT named Trevor, and I have a purpose in mind.

In short, I want to take video games and do something that doesn't seem to be considered.  The fine folks over at Extra Credits talk often of the concept of taking work and gamifying it, and they even made an episode about altering education to make students want to learn, but they got me thinking on another track.  One that I think will be a real game changer in how people view video games.  But first, let me lead you, the reader, into this idea a little bit.

I'm sure you've heard the stories about people getting so addicted to video games that they play for 16 hours a day, give up their jobs, and don't get up from their seats as they chase imaginary boars all day.  There's a whole lot of science behind it-Cracked wrote a wonderful article on it that you might want to read.  But in short, it's because video games are rewarding in a lot of ways that real life isn't.  That it can't be.  And it tailors itself to be so rewarding in that way because of how it is.

Think about this for a moment.  Video games encourage a pattern of behavior that can be rewarded in ways real life can't handle.  That it shouldn't handle.  And sometimes, these patterns carry over into real life.

Yes, it can be a really creepy thought when considered in the hands of those that only have the bottom line in mind.  That only want to make money.  That want people to keep playing their games, hour after hour, not because they enjoy it, but because they're addicted.

But.

But what if one was to take it in the other direction?  What if they decided to encourage people to live better lives?  Do everything that self-help books say they should do, and not only give them strategies to that effect, but reward them every time they do?

What if video games could encourage you to lose 10 pounds, learn a new language, and got you hooked on becoming a successful person, while still giving you a fascinating and enthralling gameplay experience?

Admittedly, that's looking forward quite a bit, and a decided turnaround from how current games operate.  You might find a few video games that get people to get interested in specific periods of history, or that encourage people to look into mythology, but that's about it.  With all the potential power of video games, people either shy away from the idea of using video games as anything but a basic educational tool (And generally a very poor one) and an artistic medium.  There is nothing wrong with it, and there has been a wealth of masterpieces on various consoles that I'll never let go.  But at the same time, there have been so many psychological studies on how video games can shift a person's basic nature, and so many games are about growth of a person, that it feels like there's something missing.

So.  With that in mind, I'm going to expand on what looks like largely unmarked territory, and I'm going to release what I find to the internet at large.