Gamification by Design

Author:Gabe Zichermann & Christopher Cunningham [Gabe Zichermann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: COMPUTERS / User Interfaces
ISBN: 9781449307820
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Published: 2011-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

Note

Find out more about game mechanics at GamificationU.com, where you can watch exclusive videos with key industry experts, download supplemental materials, take challenges, and interact with your peers.

In the next chapter, we’ll take a closer look at some example sites and apps that do a great job of leveraging these game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics in their nongame contexts.

Chapter 6. Gamification Case Studies

In the previous chapters, we focused on the theory and mechanics behind gamification. We looked at the psychological motivations that drive player behavior, and we analyzed the different types of players and how to design for their engagement. We reviewed key game mechanics and dynamics, and we examined how they can be used to engage players more deeply.

Game and user experience designers have been implementing these techniques for decades to create addictive games and engaging player experiences. However, gamification as a complete concept—actively relying on game mechanics to engage players and solve problems—is still in its infancy. It can be challenging to think about how they apply to disparate real-world websites and applications.

Yet, there are already a number of examples of great gamified experiences. In this chapter, we’ll study several of them in depth to see what they teach us about putting gamification theory into practice.

Foursquare

Since we’ve mentioned Foursquare examples throughout this book, we don’t include any in this chapter. But it is a perfect app to study because of its breakout gamification success, especially for its use of overt game mechanics to solve a problem—e.g., getting players to check in to a location-based mobile game. It’s worth noting again that it was born from the ashes of Dodgeball, an SMS-based app that had much the same functionality but failed to keep enough players engaged. Foursquare’s incredibly successful implementation of the core mechanics—points, levels, badges, and leaderboards—is worth considering when thinking about how to create a gamified user experience.

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