Gamification Design Framework

Preface
A lot of the ideas and themes expressed stem from these two books:
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman Designing for Growth: A Design Toolkit for Managers by Tom Ogilvie and Jeanne Liedtka
Note: before, during, or after watching this slideshow, just remember design thinking starts with design doing
Design Thinking Starts with Design Doing?

Designing for anything is a very hands-on process. As the designer, you have to be an expert on how the object functions. Your user is the expert on the interactions. In order to have good design, you must think about design while designing.
Similar to Prof. Werbachs emphasis on iteration
Gamification and Design

I would like to address certain buzz that is going around surrounding gamification. People are claiming that gamification is just a hype.
Article by Scott Sinclair: Read Here!
From the following slides, I hope to show that gamification is simply a subset of what we call Good DesignDesign that works for the business and end user.
Example of Design Thinking in Gamification

Frustration: Adding physical constraints such as access denied or you are not allowed to do this warnings make users feel like they dont have access.
Very Important! Access is the A in SAPS
Question: How do you remove the slight nuisance of having physical constraints?
Solution Step 1
I think one approach to solving this is to take advantage of the fact that the Bartle explorer type of player can be a fun and meaningful role. Using reward structures that would best fit an explorer, lets give rewards when users reach boundaries.
Solution Step 2
Ex. Suppose a game rewarded you for an action 3 times a day. If you did it the 4th time, a warning would come saying sorry, you have to wait until the next day before you can perform this action
If the game rewarded the user with something meaningful (within the game), the user wont see not being able to do it the 4th time as a nuance.
The Argument
Users dont want to see warning signs aka signs that say they screwed up. Errors should be reversible or minimize damage. Creating a reward structure around these physical constraints may help solve a common problem that may designers face.
The Process
Creating and Ranking the Objectives What is? What if? What wows? What works? Target Audience Mapping and Error Handling Rapid Prototyping Co-Creation Good, not Perfect
Creating and Ranking the Objectives

Ultimately your objectives should give value to you and the user. For long term objectives, rank value to you higher than value to user. For the game elements and short term objectives, rank value to the user higher. Ex. Long term objective: Have people learn our product so well that there is seamless integration between user and service. Short term objective: Learn the boundaries of the environment one of the key steps to having people learn our service. However, since it isnt a key step, lets reward them for exploring our service.
What is? What if? What wows? What works?

What is?
ask the state of now (ex. What are pain points in the market?)
What if?
if there are no constraints, what can we imagine
What wows?
What are the features that humans crave and desire now?
What works?
How can we deliver a product, given the proper ground work, that has been tested thru many key assumptions and is defensible, scalable, economical, and possible?
Target Audience
Since computers work magic on crunching numbers, try to divide your target audience by personas. A persona is a weight of selected parameters that allows you to bucket people into guesstimated subgroups but allows you to analyze each individual accurately. To create parameters for a persona, think of key factors that influence your market daily.
Ex. For MBA school, their program wanted to be more engaged with their students. So they created parameters such as introvert, confidence, identify with dominant culture, pragmatist, focus, etc. because these parameters could effectively describe the psychographics of the schools population.
In World of Warcraft, the chatbox has multiple events going on. Why? Because there is something for everyone. Chances are that you product/service cant appeal to everyone, but if your product has many dimensions that serve multiple purposes, maybe it is possible to give something for everyone. If your product/service is more focused, its okay! It is more important to focus on creating strong foundations rather than trying to build a huge community from the beginning. Aim for 95%.
Mapping and Error Handling

In design thinking, mapping is the term Don Norman uses to describe an action to an outcome. if this, then that. When design thinking, we are focused on creating natural mappings.
A natural mapping is an action that doesnt require any real thought. The user has learned the environment so well that the interaction between action/outcome is automatic and seamless.
Ex. When handling errors, try to make errors look natural. In my example, I make the fact that going for a 4th time is not in fact an error, it is rewarded because the user took the time to interact with my environment. The user will learn his way, and it is a win-win.
Rapid Prototyping
My Favorite. Rapid Prototyping is this right here. I would love to create a polished presentation that explains the design thinking process. However, I wanted to get my ideas across as soon as possible, as cheaply as possible. Solution: I created this Powerpoint to serve as version 1.0 of a long term goal I have of polishing this up into a white paper or something similar. Rapid Prototyping is the ability to iterate by creating cheap but quick tangible ways to convey your product to creating more expensive and meaningful ways to convey your ideas to clients.
Co-Creation
At the end of the day, humans are selfish. They are not just going to let your business grow without you fulfilling their needs first. Thats perfectly normal! First, try to personify your company. Humanize your company in a way so that you can speak to the public in a way that relates to them. Find ways that your objectives are similar to your users and put forth a product that has already gotten an initial stamp of approval from potential end users. Ex. Red Bull humanizes their company by claiming to be societys adrenaline rush. Everyone loves a rush, so they can relate to Red Bulls actions such as selling energy cans, hosting flying competitions, and even training their own skydiving team. Red Bull personifies many great qualities of going above and beyond mentally and physically, that humans love them.
Good, not Perfect

Without going into too much psychology, obsessing over the notion of perfect is unhealthy. Perfection, whether or not it exists, is not what design thinkers should ask. Instead, we ask: We understand we cant create the perfect product. However, we are confident we can create a product that is economical and solves a current major pain point. So, do you dare to explore the possibilities? Since we cant be perfect, lets be damn close.
This is where Prof. Werbach is referring to the leap that traditional business and analysis has to make in order to design successfully.
Still not Convinced that Gamification is just Good Design?

Matt MacLaurin, Senior Design Director of eBay, predicts that the term "gamification" will slowly go away because its principles are already incorporated into everyday user interface designs. Watch the Video
Final Remark
Design Thinking is an interdisciplinary way of thinking. It has all the creativity, inspiration, expression in the form of art while carrying logic, reason, and objectivity in the form of science. Start today by practicing. Ask related key questions whenever you are going about your daily routines. You may find new ways to approach how you get ready before school/work?
Thanks!
Created by Sudarshan Gopaladesikan Published by GamificationCo

Gamification Design Framework

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Preface

Design Thinking Starts with Design Doing?

Gamification and Design

Example of Design Thinking in Gamification

Creating and Ranking the Objectives

What is? What if? What wows? What works?

Mapping and Error Handling

Good, not Perfect

Still not Convinced that Gamification is just Good Design?

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