How Gamification Works
Improving Student Engagement Through Game Design Strategies
Why do children like to play games so much? Because they get instant feedback and rewards, and we as humans love rewards. We like to advance to next level; it’s a competitive instinct that motivates us to keep going. It should be the same when we learn. Gamification is all about encouraging us to be successful.
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Popular companies who have had success implementing gamification into their platforms were able to take this concept to a whole new level. By incorporating game elements within their business structure, they have created a valuable engagement system for effective employee performance. The overall success of this approach has been astounding. If they were able to integrate this practice within their business models with excellent results, can you imagine the impact gamification could have on education? Two such companies have defined gamification in this way:
Yu-kai Chou is an Author and International Keynote Speaker on Gamification and Behavioral Design. He is the Original Creator of the Behavior Framework: Octalysis, and the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. He offers a definition of gamification from a unique design perspective:
“Gamification is the craft of deriving all the fun and addicting elements found in games and applying them to real-world or productive activities. This is what I call “Human-Focused Design” as opposed to the “Function-Focused Design.” It is a design process that optimizes for the human in the system, as opposed to pure efficiency of the system.” It is important that when applying gamification to any educational or professional environment to take into account a number of considerations regarding motivation, behavior and personality attributes. Understanding the intricacies of human social interaction is an important key to the useful implementation and the successful achievement of gamified learning objectives. Gamification vs game-based learning These two terms are related and can be easily confused, but there are distinct differences between them which should be noted. When applied in a learning environment, both are excellent tools for increasing engagement. However, the focus of each diverges in several areas. To convey a better understanding of the concepts, here is an infographic that contains comprehensive examples and a nice comparative chart of the terms: game, gamification and game based learning. For the purposes of this report, I extracted the two terms related to our discussion and displayed the differences here for clarity. If you want to explore more about Gamification, check out these great examples, graphics and other resources on Pinterest. |
Play is More Than FunWho knew that we learn empathy, trust, irony, and problem solving through play — something the dictionary defines as “pleasurable and apparently purposeless activity.” Dr. Stuart Brown suggests that the rough-and-tumble play of children actually prevents violent behavior, and that play can grow human talents and character across a lifetime. Play, as he studies it, is an indispensable part of being human. |
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Playing Cultivates Creativity
According to Lifehacker Patrick Allan, storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to activate our brains, and role-playing games do this incredibly well. When we tell stories our brains have to process language, the cause and effect of events, and also relate it to our own pre-existing experiences. While you're playing a role-playing game, your brain is firing on all cylinders. Playing Levels Up Your Social Skills Role-playing games are 100% social. You need to be able to talk to other people, express how you feel about certain situations, all in a group of people. Role-playing games come with a social network built directly into them. Making new friends can be more difficult for some people, and the forced social interaction of role-playing games can help them find people that share their interests. |
Playing Encourages Teamwork and Cooperation
A lot of games strive to be competitive, but life can be competitive enough, and role-playing games provide a refreshing change of pace. Additionally, learning to be a team player is highly important in the professional world. You take on a role at work and do the things that you've trained to do, and it works the same way in a role-playing game. Playing Teaches Problem Solving Skills Learning how to solve problems develops your critical thinking and can help you approach problems in the future with the right mindset. In role-playing games you're simultaneously the chess player and the chess piece. You learn to see problems from multiple perspectives and realize that there's always a light at the end of the dark, goblin-filled cave. |
Game Mechanics
Game mechanics are the mechanisms, rules, tools, techniques and currencies of gamification. They are the structures you need to put in place to motivate users, trigger activity, drive engagement and change behaviors.
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Game Dynamics
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Challenges are at the core of gamification. The challenge-reward relationship establishes a “do this, get that” deal between the teacher and student, offering a specific reward in exchange for a specific action.
Points: Each action is rewarded with a pre-determined number of points. A point is the game economy equivalent of an instructor saying “Good job!” – with the added option of cashing in points for tangible rewards that appeal to the student. Badges are more meaningful than points as they recognize specific categories of achievement and act as status symbols. In class, badges might be awarded for solving particular categories of problems, or making a number of contributions to a knowledge base. Levels are defined by specific points thresholds, giving points more meaning and status. For example, earning 5000 points will rank a user as an “Expert” and 10000 points as a “Guru”. From the user perspective, levels give them a sense of progress and achievement – they quantify their skills and contributions – and are useful metrics for points/grade application. Leaderboards add a relative edge to gamification. They quantify performance relative to others and, in doing so, introduce friendly competition. It’s a performance competition, not a fight to the death, and the objective is to find out who can be the best, not destroy the rest; so leaderboards must be carefully planned to have a positive impact. Trophies should be distinguished from badges: they are awarded for larger achievements, often involving a competitive element. For example: "Vocabulary Champion of the Month." |
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Rewards are a fundamental driver for human activity. People don’t commit to expending energy unless they are sure the reward will be worth the effort. By making rewards clear, gamification promotes repeat behavior helping you to embed positive habits and cultural change.
Competition is a deeply ingrained trait. It’s part of our DNA. Research has proven that higher performance happens in competitive environments. Leaderboards are the primary game mechanism for the competition dynamic – a visible definition of the performance that people need to aspire to. Achievement: People are motivated to achieve set objectives and work towards larger goals. Those that are motivated by a sense of achievement actively seek out challenges. The combination of their own sense of achievement, and recognition for that achievement is a very powerful motivator. Status: Most people enjoy the social attention they get from having achieved something worthwhile. People crave the respect of their peers and are willing to work hard to get it, because respect is an indicator of success. Game mechanisms, such as badges, trophies and leaderboards, quantify status and satisfy our inherent desire for social validation. Self-expression: Autonomy, creativity and originality are all closely linked to the desire for self-expression: people like to do new things in their own way. It is a process of discovery and this is where people are working in a state of “flow”. The need for self-expression is critical to people, as it demonstrates their uniqueness and communicates identity. *Adapted For Classroom Use From Axios Systems |