Translator: David DeRuwe Reviewer: Claudia Sander
How is everyone?
I'm going to talk a little bit about this here,
which is something that looks fun, looks simple,
but which has taken me to many places in the world.
It seems a little funny
that someone who likes games, like me, is giving this talk today,
and it sounds like, "Wow, Pase is here, but he's sort of against this."
Quite the opposite!
It's because I like games, it's because I believe that this is a different medium
that I'm here to share some of my concerns with you.
To understand a little about this journey
and to understand why I have these concerns,
I need to go back in time with you all.
A long time ago, in the '80s,
a beige entity with a monochrome monitor
arrived at my house, at school, in many places,
and we had classes with strange names
like "Computing Class"
or "Introduction to Computing."
Back then, we learned how to program.
Maybe some of you here learned languages like Basic,
which seemed totally strange.
But from the moment that we faced some challenges,
we started to tame the machine, to understand the machine.
For example,
I lost my fear of the computer with something called "Logo,"
a language which had a little turtle which I needed to move.
It was super simple, I'd give it some logical commands, like PD 15,
make it turn around.
I was basically learning a bit about calculus
and also a bit about logic.
Despite falling flat on my face a few times,
I was learning to talk with the machine.
I was learning to look at and talk to that strange entity.
The problem is that the moment computers got closer to us -
today we've got our tablets handy, we're surrounded by many things -
the problem is just when computing advanced,
we ended up being more seduced by operating systems,
by one specific program or another,
and we ended up adopting ready-made things.
We stopped programming,
we stopped trying to talk with the machine.
We lost the chance to learn,
and not only this - and I say this as a journalist -
we lost the chance to learn how to communicate with the machine.
Well, I'm seeing a similar problem with electronic games.
I'm passionate about this subject, so pardon my enthusiasm.
The electronic game is one of the most fascinating mediums.
The electronic game - you've surely seen someone playing "Candy Crush,"
"Angry Birds," or even the little snake game on their phone.
If somebody suddenly distracts you or you lose your connection ...
Man! You lose it all!
It’s because the game is based on fun, on our desire to play,
and, most of all, it's based on our focus,
it's based on our concentration on what we're doing,
This concentration on what we're doing is very important nowadays.
When we're no longer concerned about attention from others,
but more about what they're seeing, thinking, and reflecting on what we do.
Well, this is something awesome,
games can transmit really super cool messages,
be it "The Beatles: Rock Band" to tell their story,
be it "Sim City" to make us think about cities.
We have an infinite number of cool game apps.
The problem is when we try to bring this into our lives,
when we take this motivation
and try to bring it into our work, into our daily routine,
it doesn't always work.
And this concerns me a little.
Maybe some of you have already heard this little word,
one of these fashionable words,
"gamification,"
or as a clumsy translation into Portuguese, "gamificação."
This has to do with games, this derives from games,
but it's a little different.
What is gamification?
It's when I take rules, establish rules,
establish the mechanics, scores, goals, and rewards
inside a process, a work sequence,
an evaluation, a production of material,
a correction of student exercises.
It's using some game mechanics
inside a process.
It seems like a game, looks like a game, but it's a little different.
That's fine up to that point.
Yesterday, you heard great stories about using games,
using exercises to motivate people.
Today, you're going to be seeing some more cool things.
I like remembering some situations.
You know the classic situation:
you do your homework well and get a star on your report card.
Or what we remember every December:
those who behave well throughout the year get presents from Santa Claus.
In other words, there's a motivation.
We're motivated by this.
The problem is when I take this idea of process,
of a rule, of a game, apply it to a particular job,
and I don't always end up finding
a cool way, a fun way,
a way that makes me want to participate in this process.
I was speaking to a company this week,
and I heard some funny comments -
it reminds me of when someone takes a tablet,
sets it up, loads it with a lot of PDFs,
gives it to an employee and says, "Here it is: mobile learning!"
No, guys! This is "slave learning!"
I feel sorry for those having to read it without any guidance,
without any forethought of how that could be applied.
Well, when we look at this question of gamification,
what makes me a little concerned
is that if we live in a world of goals, a world of credits,
when we sometimes buy very simple things,
we're not thinking of the discount we receive,
but of the credits that we can exchange one day.
We're always thinking of credits.
We have goals at work, things to accomplish,
products to sell, customers to please.
And this is where games enter to motivate,
to make this process enjoyable.
Except that it doesn't always happen that way.
And what's worse, what concerns me a little
is that when we put game dynamics in our work,
we don't always understand our employee's nature,
our coworker's nature,
to understand and use all these mechanics for stimulation.
I look kind of astonished and mindful
when I see that I'm, in fact, putting someone on the same path,
to do the same work,
and what's worse, I'm creating competition out of a game situation
which might not always be a competition.
Then my second point of concern -
sorry, but this is directed more to those who already play a little.
When one plays video games, as much as I have to -
I'll take Mario Bros. as an example -
I have to pass a level and save the princess,
even if they tell me at the end,
"Sorry, but your princess is in the next castle" and you carry on.
What troubles me is that even though a video game has an objective, rules,
steps to complete -
like we saw just now -
everyone thinks differently.
If I give the same game to you,
if I give you the snake game or "Angry Birds," or whatever,
each one of you will play in a different way.
And the main problem is that when I apply gamification metrics
to somebody's work,
I'm frequently treating them in the same way.
I'm not valuing the fact that maybe this person
may not want to complete the task so quickly
only to get a score, only to beat the company's monthly goal,
take their mind off their work,
stop thinking the way they have to think.
What concerns me is that when we set goals, when we set rules,
when we set a very specific system,
we're impeding creativity.
This "We are Humanity" here behind me
goes down the drain.
And what's worse, a system of gamification doesn't often take into account
that there are times in my life
that to work less and earn less is to live more
Because I want to be able to do a task in a cool way,
in a thoughtful way;
I want to do it creatively.
I feel concerned about the way we're losing creativity.
I feel very concerned that once in a while we see proposals, gamification ideas,
and the problem is that we're actually using a technology
that was supposed to be used to give us other ways -
we just saw with neuroscience, which was so cool,
we saw various cool ideas yesterday -
and I'm using this as a tool that's enslaving mankind,
and what's worse, it's making me feel like a hamster
running around in that little wheel - produce, produce, produce -
thinking that I'm having a good time
because I have the idea that my life has been transformed into a game.
And what's worse, I'm not the one who's playing this game.
The one who's playing is the one who's controlling.
If you remember the film "Metropolis,"
it's a little like the message from the film,
except that it looks like "Mario Bros." or "Angry Birds,"
and this troubles me a little.
At the end of the day, what I'm thinking
is that when we finally have the chance to create great things,
when we finally have the chance to use the electronics,
to be humanity through a tool,
to see, to motivate people to use this
and make it in a way that they have fun and work together cooperatively,
I'm competing for myself,
I'm only using it to reach my goal, not thinking about the other person,
and even worse, I'm forgetting two things:
the first is that I work much better
when I'm enjoying what I do, when I want.
We don't play just because we're obliged to;
we play because we like to.
It's because we want to solve a problem, and this is our motivation,
to have fun, to solve this problem.
And my other bigger concern
is that finally when we could use this to motivate people
so that we can play together,
we then play separately.
And you know very well
that when we play together, play cooperatively, and have fun,
we share knowledge,
and that's what makes us humanity.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)