gameful design for learning Sebastian Deterding / @dingstweets Digital Creativity Labs, University of York February 15, 2017

cb

<1> introduction

we are all game designers

old idea: learn enjoyment design from gamesMalone 1981, Carroll & Thomas 1983, Blythe et al. 2004

recent surge of interest

gamification

serious games

persuasive tech

gaMification The use of game design elements in non-game contexts

Deterding et al. 2011

health & wellbeing

sustainability

the pursuit of happiness

education

in the public mind

moocs!

with badges!

= Khan academy!

delicious scalability and analytics!

very, very old wine …

Gold Stars The single worst way of

motivating learning

+

frontal teaching The single worst

instructional method

peter f. drucker

»There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.«

what executives should remember (2006)

gamification’s unwitting figureheard

two conflicting theories of fun

<2> what is fun?

(baby don’t hurt me)

(a)

“just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”

aka fun as additive substance

some things are inherently fun

and some things are not

so: add funstuff™ to nonfunstuff™ for more fun

aka 1990’s edutainment

a resounding

failure …Squire 2006, Egenfeldt-Nielsen 2007

Bruckman 1999

gaMification The use of game design elements in non-game contexts

Deterding et al. 2011

… which doesn’t bode well for this

(b)

“in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun”

aka fun as emergent systemic quality

Every activity can become fun, interesting

so how do you design that?*Deterding et al. 2013

* obligatory visualisation of ephemeral design work with people pointing at post-its

<3> gameful design

for learning

gaMification The use of game design elements in non-game contexts

Deterding et al. 2011

gameful design Re-structuring activity to afford intrinsic motivation, using game design as a lens

Deterding et al. 2011

(if you want to know more)

• Conceptual development of requirements from literature

• Review of existing methods against requirements

• Iterative design-based development and evaluation of method through 19 projects & workshops with teams of 2-6 (n=335)

guiding questions 1. What are the motivating experiences

characteristic for gameplay? 2. What game structures afford these experiences? 3. How can we integrate this into design methods

for learning?

raph koster

»Fun is just another word for learning.«

a theory of fun for game design (2004)

#1

raph koster

»Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles that makes games fun.«

a theory of fun for game design (2004)

edward deci, richard ryan

»An understanding of human motivation requires a consideration of innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.«

the what and why of goal pursuit (2000)

chief source of game enjoyment: overcoming challengesMalone 1981, Csikszentmihalyi 1990, Koster 2005, Przybylski, Rigby, & Ryan, 2010, Klimmt & Blake 2012

intrinsic integration: restructure inherent learnable challenge

For ticket, drag red dot through labyrinth

Ticket

identify a relevant inherent challenge

How?

Level 2For ticket, drag red dot through labyrinth

Ticket

intrinsic integration: core challenge = to be learned skillHabgood & Ainsworth 2011, Echeverría et al. 2012

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

»Mowing the lawn or waiting in a dentist’s office can become enjoyable provided one restructures the activity by providing goals, rules, and the other elements of enjoyment to be reviewed below.«

flow (1990: 51)

#2

Not fun Funhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/sulamith/1342528771/sizes/o/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photonquantique/3364593945/sizes/l/

raph koster

»Fun is just another word for learning.«

a theory of fun for game design (2004)

through interesting challenges

goals …

+ rules …

constraining actions …

= interesting challenges

+ feedback …

= experiences of competence

formal structure of games: skill atoms/loops Cook 2007, cf. Dormans 2012

http://www.flickr.com

/photos/mike52ad/4675696269

How?

look at your activity system as a game atom

http://www.flickr.com

/photos/mike52ad/4675696269

Goals: Intransparent; lack of small steps

Challenge: Not adjusted to individual skill

Feedback: Slow, demotivating decay instead of building and perceiving progress

competence?

http://www.flickr.com

/photos/mike52ad/4675696269

Goals: Little choice in what to do when and how, little connection to personal needs

Challenge: Demonstrating proficiency, not inviting exploratory trial and error

Feedback: Often controlling, highly serious consequences

autonomy?

challenge-based learning

self-paced flow of structured mastery goals

7"

progress feedback/grading

meaningful choice

safe failure & unlimited redoing

Margaret robertson

»Gamification is an inadvertent con. It tricks people into believing that there’s a simple way to imbue their thing ... with the psychological, emotional and social power of a great game.«

can’t play, won’t play (2010)

#3

theodore sturgeon

»Ninety percent of everything is crud.«

sturgeon’s revelation (1958)

Games are not fun because they are games, but when they are well-designed.

Rainer Knizia

»The life blood of game design is testing. ... Why are we playing games? Because it‘s fun. You cannot calculate this. You cannot test this out in an abstract manner. You have to play it.«

shift run stop, episode 40 (2010)

How?

iterative experiential prototyping & testing

<4> summary

Deterding et al. 2011

TO DESIGN FOR GAMEFUL EXPERIENCES …

gameful design Re-structuring activity to afford intrinsic motivation, using game design as a lens

Bruckman 1999

don’t sugarcoat nonfunstuff™

FIND AN INTERESTING CHALLENGE

STRUCTURE IT WELL

AND playtest and iterate ’TIL YOU GET IT RIGHT

sebastian@codingconduct.cc

@dingstweets

codingconduct.cc

thank you