Actionable Gamification Read online

  Actionable Gamification

  Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards

  Yu-kai Chou

  This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/actionable-gamification-beyond-points-badges-leaderboards

  This version was published on 2019-02-19

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  This is a Leanpub book. Leanpub empowers authors and publishers with the Lean Publishing process. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools and many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once you do.

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  © 2014 - 2019 Yu-kai Chou

  This book is dedicated to those who passionately believe in something and have the courage to pursue it in the face of circumstantial obstacles. We are surrounded by social and economical systems that are designed by others long ago to fulfill their own dreams, but some individuals manage to take a leap of faith, risk social rejection and even persecution in order to create more meaning in their own lives and the lives of those around them.

  You inspire the world and move humanity forward. I salute you for doing what I continuously strive for but may never fully reach. I hope this book will help you on your journey towards making a difference.

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: When the Surreal Blends into our World How a Game changed my Life

  The First Game I Designed

  Why Gamification?

  Human-Focused Design: The Better Term for Gamification

  The Conquests of Gamification

  Chapter 2: The PBL Fallacy A Story about Social Media

  An Obsession with Grunt Work

  Secondhand Sushi Making

  A Trojan Horse without Greek Soldiers

  The Threat and Opportunities in Gamification

  The Story of the Good Designer vs. Bad Designer

  Chapter 3: The Octalysis Framework A Gamification Design Framework for Everyone

  The 8 Core Drives of Gamification

  Left Brain (Extrinsic Tendency) vs. Right Brain (Intrinsic Tendency) Drives

  White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification

  How to Apply Level 1 Octalysis to Actual Systems

  Quick Intro to Level II Octalysis and Beyond

  Chapter 4: Putting Gamification in its Place The War on Words

  Semantics vs. Value

  Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable

  Explicit Gamification: Games that Fulfill Non-Game Purposes

  Implicit Gamification: Human-Focused Design that Utilizes Game Elements

  Implicit vs. Explicit Gamification

  4 Application Fields of Gamification

  Chapter 5: The First Core Drive - Epic Meaning & Calling The Core Drive High Above

  The Encyclopedia that Pwned Me

  Newton’s Legacy is Beyond a Fruit

  Mjolnir is Not Just a Tool

  Your Parents are Bigger Than You!

  Game Techniques within Epic Meaning & Calling

  Core Drive 1: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 6: The Second Core Drive - Development & Accomplishment Development & Accomplishment in Games

  The First Gamification Site that I was Addicted to

  “I overpaid for my product. Take that, suckas!”

  Never make Users Feel Dumb

  Star of Bethlehem - Guiding Users Forward

  Limitations of eBay’s Design

  Wait, that’s not new!

  Game Techniques within Development & Accomplishment

  Core Drive 2: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 7: The Third Core Drive - Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback The Computer Game that Became a National Sport

  Gamification Fatigue?

  Tic-Tac-Draw

  The General’s Carrot in Education

  Folding into the Crowd

  The Elysian Stairs to Health

  Empowerment and Creativity in the Corporate Space

  Draw a Gun for Bad Endgame Design

  Game Techniques within Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback

  Core Drive 3: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 8: The Fourth Core Drive - Ownership & Possession Wait, it’s mine? Hold on, I do care then!

  Stamps of Sanity

  How Stoned Can You Be

  The First Virtual Pet Game

  The Endowment Effect

  Identity, Consistency, and Commitments

  Game Techniques within Ownership & Possession

  Core Drive 4: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 9: The Fifth Core Drive - Social Influence & Relatedness The Mentor that Stole My Life

  We’re all Pinocchios at Heart

  The Average Person is Above Average

  Social Influence vs. Epic Meaning within a Team

  Corporate Competition as an Oxymoron

  Game Techniques within Social Influence & Relatedness

  Core Drive 5: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 10: The Sixth Core Drive: Scarcity & Impatience The Lure of being Exclusively Pointless

  The Value of Rare Pixels

  The Leftovers aren’t all that’s Left Over

  Persuasively Inconvenient

  Curves are better than Cups in Economics

  “This guy’s not expensive enough.”

  “I Don’t Feel Good When My Pocket Is Too Full After A Purchase”

  Game Techniques within Scarcity & Impatience

  Great! So now what?

  Core Drive 6: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 11: The Seventh Core Drive - Unpredictability & Curiosity And, Now it’s Fun

  The Core Drive in a Skinner Box

  Sweepstakes and Raffles

  A Lucky Day with Lucky Diem

  Suspense and Mystery in a Blender

  Faking your Way to Virality

  Google’s Curious Second Button

  Woot! Creates Midnight Cinderella’s

  Game Techniques within Unpredictability & Curiosity

  Core Drive 7: The Bigger Picture

  Chapter 12: The Eighth Core Drive - Loss & Avoidance Cropping your Losses

  Affection Held Hostage

  “Why don’t you take all my money?” in Poker

  The Good Chasing the Bad

  Zombies Make you Skinnier

  Flipping other Core Drives Off

  Ultimate Loss vs Executable Loss

  A Caveat: Avoiding the Avoidance

  Game Techniques in Loss and Avoidance

  Core Drive 8: The Big Picture

  Chapter 13: Left Brain vs Right Brain Core Drives Using Octalysis in the Real World

  Left Brain vs. Right Brain Core Drives

  Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Motivation

  Slight Semantic Differences with the Self-Determination Theory

  Motivation Traps in Gamification Campaigns

  The Problem with Educational Systems

  Pay to Not Play

  How Market Settings Reverse Social Settings

  The Advantages of Extrinsic Motivation Design

  How to Make an Experience More Intrinsic

  Left Brain vs Right Brain Core Drives: the Bigger Picture

  Chapter 14: The Mysteries of White Hat and Black Hat Gamification Origins of the Theory

  The Nature of White Hat vs Black Hat Core Drives

  Zynga and Black Hat Gamification

  Black Hat with a Clear Conscious

  Gamification, Manipulation, and Ethics

  When to Use White Hat Gamification Design

  Careful Transitioning between White Hat and Black Hat

  No Buyer’s Remorse from TOMS

  What about Core Drives 4 and 5?

  Chapter 15: Understanding Other Gamification and Behavioral Frameworks
with Octalysis Scientific Research and Game Studies

  Octalysis View of Self-Determination Theory

  Richard Bartle’s Four Player Types

  Nicole Lazzaro’s 4 Keys To Fun

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow Theory

  Fogg Behavior Model

  Jane McGonigal’s Theories

  The World is Your Playground

  Chapter 16: Level I Octalysis in Action Octalysis Review of Facebook

  The Score is a Smoke Screen

  Octalysis of the Speed Camera Lottery

  Octalysis of the Waze Navigation App

  The Endgame Phase of Waze

  The Next Step: Identify Potential Improvements for Waze

  Chapter 17: Designing a project from scratch with Octalysis Redesigning Yukaichou.com

  The Octalysis Strategy Dashboard

  Level I Octalysis Ideation Process

  Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling

  Repeating the Octalysis Process

  Summary of Level 1 Octalysis in Action

  Chapter 18: The Journey Goes On

  Wall of Gratitude Those who directly contributed to the book

  Those who impacted who I am today

  Notes

  Introduction

  This book is not about why gamification is amazing. It is not about how gamification is the future and how inspiring life could be with it. It is not necessarily for the late adopters who are simply curious about what gamification is. It also does not focus on what the gamification industry is doing as a whole, especially when that is continuously changing every month. Rather, this book is about implementing good gamification design into your products, workplace, and lifestyle.

  It is a deep exploration into what makes a game engaging and how to apply those engaging elements into real-life productive activities. It is about how you can use gamification and scientifically proven methods to improve your company, your life, and the lives of those around you.

  Effective gamification is a combination of game design, game dynamics, behavioral economics, motivational psychology, UX/UI (User Experience and User Interface), neurobiology, technology platforms, as well as ROI-driving business implementations. This book explores the interplay between these disciplines to capture the core principles that contribute to good gamification design. I will be sharing my observations in multiple industries and sectors based on my 14-year journey of passionately and relentlessly pursuing the craft of Gamification.

  Chapters in this book tend to build on previous chapters, so skipping around is not suggested. That said, if you have been an avid reader of my online work and viewer of my videos, you might already have a firm grasp of the 8 Core Drives within the Octalysis Framework. In that case, feel free to skip to a section that you want to focus your attention on.

  If you are extremely busy and aren’t sure if you want to commit to this book, I recommend starting off with Chapters 3, 5, 10, 14, and 15 to decide whether you would like to read the entire book.

  Within the book, there will be many everyday scenarios to illustrate the potential of these Core Drives and the flexibility of their applications beyond traditional “gamification” examples. I myself still constantly gain new insights and revelations on a daily basis when I reflect and speculate upon the various possibilities contained in the 8 Core Drives. I hope you do too.

  As this book is titled “Actionable Gamification,” my goal for it is to become a strategy guide in helping my readers master the games that truly make a difference in their lives. If you absorb the contents of this book, you will have literally obtained what many companies have paid and still pay tens of thousands of dollars to acquire.

  My ultimate aim is to enable the widespread adoption of good gamification and human-focused design in all types of industries. I care deeply about creating a world that is sustainably more enjoyable and productive. In that world, there no longer will be a great divide between what people have to do and what they want to do - our lives will become better as we spend time enjoying everything we do.

  I’m excited for you to dive into the contents of this book so that we can start to build a world that harnesses the power of play together. Let’s begin.

  Yu-kai Chou

  Chapter 1: When the Surreal Blends into our World

  How a Game changed my Life

  On a seemingly regular morning in 2003, I woke up feeling different. I felt utterly unenthusiastic about the new day. There was nothing to look forward to – no demons to slay, no gears to perfect, no drops to loot and no Excel spreadsheets to strategize on. That was the first morning after I decided to quit Diablo II, a computer based role-play-game (RPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment.

  And I felt extremely empty.

  Little did I know that I was going through one of the most treacherous effects stemming from black hat game design. Something I now call the “Sunk Cost Prison.”

  But it was that morning, that I also had the most impactful epiphany in my life, something that propelled me from a slightly-above-average student, to go on to start my first business during my first year of college at UCLA; to become a guest lecturer at Stanford University by twenty-three, raise over $1 million a year later, and finally become an international keynote speaker and recognized consultant in the field of gamification by my late twenties. By thirty two, I also made my first million dollars through consulting, and my designs have influenced over a billion users’ experiences. 1

  More importantly, this deep revelation from Diablo II ensured that I would become passionate and excited about my work every single day since.

  I am sharing this with you not to sound conceited (after all, you are already reading my book), but because I truly believe if anyone was to take what I have learned during this epiphany to heart, they would likely do even better in a shorter amount of time, without all the fumbling and stumbling I went through. 2 I often think about how my life would be at a radically different level if I had just learned the contents of this book just a year earlier.

  Diablo II: my Epiphany

  In 2003, like many students of my generation, I was a heavy gamer. In each game I played, I was very competitive and always strived to obtain the highest score. I was almost incapable of playing a game casually. It was either all or nothing.

  As part of my obsession, I would generate complex spreadsheets to help me determine the exact combos I would need for playing optimally. (In Chapter 7 we will explore how many gamers do this.) I would read strategy guides while in the restroom and post regularly on forums, becoming a known leader within various gaming communities. Once I even broke into my college buddy, Jun Loayza’s apartment while he was still in class, entering through the window after removing the screen, just to practice a game he owned called “Super Smash Bros Melee.” (Eventually, Jun and I became Co-Founders of many exciting projects in the years to come). As you can see, I was fairly obsessed with gaming.

  Back then however, most of my time was heavily invested in playing Diablo II. My friends and I would spend hours every day leveling up. I had more than 5 characters above Level 90 and a couple above level 96. In the game world this means I’ve likely logged over a thousand hours on this one game. If I played for two hours every single day for two straight years, it would still just barely exceed fourteen hundred hours. Quite intense, I know.

  But at one point, as most gamers do, my friends began to quit playing Diablo II and moved on to other new games. Eventually I decided to quit as well since I didn’t want to play alone. It was during this transition that a sudden sense of ennui (or weariness) caught me by surprise.

  I felt depressingly empty. I thought to myself, “I’ve spent thousands upon thousands of hours getting more experience, leveling up, accumulating more gold, collecting better gear…and now I end up with nothing.” Was there really no meaning to all the hours I had spent playing in the past few years? What if I had spent all this time learning a new language, or playing the violin instead? I would be “high level” i
n real life, instead of in some digital world of escapism.

  This emptiness brought a rude, but important awakening. How could I instead, play a game that everyone is playing but the outcomes would actually mean something in the real world?

  The First Game I Designed

  I realized the game I was looking for was simply life itself.

  If I were my own role-playing game character, I would never just stay in town, be idle and do nothing – the real life equivalent of watching TV, “hanging out” and leaving dreams unfulfilled. Of course not! I would go out into the wilderness, defeat monsters, gain experience, learn new skills, accumulate resources, ally myself with those who have complementary skills, learn from those who were of a higher level than I, and seek to conquer exciting quests.

  The only problem is, unlike most games with a computer interface, life does not have clear objectives, visual cues to tell me what to do, or feedback mechanics to show me how I have advanced in it. I had to design my own game, along with clear goals, meaningful quests, and creative feedback systems. Effectively, I had to transform life into an entire adventure where I, the player, could advance and grow in.

  This realization started my journey of personal growth and entrepreneurial pursuits. My life became my game and I was determined to become a high-level player in it. Despite being young, I felt my years as a competitive gamer had taught me how to master this new game of life.

  Designing my life then became a decade long journey of addressing two intriguing design questions:

  How to make games more meaningful?

  How to make life more fun?