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hello
before we start we've got somebody you
guys should meet Alison has several
deadlines piling up on her right now and
honestly she probably deserves a week
off at this point anyway so today we are
joined by a special guest artist may I
introduce Erin Siegel substitute pretty
pictures maker thank you very much for
filling in and forgiving Alison a well
deserved week off all right let's do
this as promised we're back to talk
about gamification gamification maybe
the most important thing this industry
ever does not a lot of people are aware
of it yet but in ten years I can
guarantee you will be gamification is
simply the idea of taking the principles
of play the things we've learned in
three decades of making video games and
using them to make real-world activities
more engaging on paper that sounds great
it sounds like it could be the key to
solving all of our problems with
Education to making the workplace more
exciting to getting people to want to
re-engage and become socially
responsible but with every great
innovation comes the potential for abuse
and this one's no exception perhaps we
can unleash on the world a way to make
everything more compelling and see
humanity embrace it for the greatest
good perhaps we can bring the same ideas
that make you play World of Warcraft for
20 hours a week and instead use them to
make learning another language or
helping to restore a park just as
engaging just as exciting as riding
around on a giant boar and holding off a
band of marauding elves well maybe we
can figure out a way to combine the two
experiences I don't know and perhaps in
doing so we'll actually be able to
create a better happier more contented
world for the future but at the same
time we have to consider the risks the
numerous ways this can go wrong in the
face of greed and personal interest
imagine if racking up debt or consuming
specific products were reinforced by the
same engagement techniques that keep you
playing Facebook games way longer than
you probably should but all right you
get the idea let's talk specifics about
how this works both go to bed the world
is facing a really weird crisis right
now a crisis of engagement think about
the variety of recreational activities
we have today from film and TV to music
video games theme parks comic books even
modern major league sports now compare
all of that to the entertainment options
mankind had even just a hundred years
ago and you can see how much more
visceral and engaging we've managed to
make our leisure a lot of money and a
lot of science have gone into figuring
out how to keep ourselves entertained in
the last hundred years resulting in
spectacles and entertainment
unparalleled in human history but the
rest of life hasn't really kept up our
education system has barely progressed
beyond its 1800s Prussian model roots
and many jobs are no more enjoy
today than they were for our ancient
forbears thousands of years ago even
traditional advertising no longer holds
our attention the way it once did
because we've become used to so much
engagement per second our play is more
fun than ever and it's leaving a real
life in the dust we need to fix this
problem if the pattern continues more
and more people are gonna be tuning out
at school and going through life hating
their jobs this isn't just a concern for
basic human dignity it's a real and
pressing concern for society at large
even with all of today's labor-saving
devices we've still seen a drop off an
individual workplace efficiency an
engagement in the American education
system sure isn't faring any better if
refreshing your Facebook wall is more
exciting than school or work something's
wrong hence gamification at its most
basic gamification simply takes all
those Skinner box techniques we all know
so well from earlier episodes leveling
systems achievements quests checklists
rewards etc and layers them over
existing activities scanning barcodes
when doing inventory becomes a lot more
engaging when there's a progress bar on
your barcode scanner showing you how
much closer you are to leveling up each
time you scan an item getting an
achievement for going 20 whole days
without a customer complaint or for
finishing 30 math problems in a single
night it practically ensures that no one
drops the ball on day 18 or quits doing
their math at problem 25 it's the exact
same thing that pushes us to just finish
this level there have been Studies on it
it works it's proven to increase
workplace productivity facilitate
learning and even make patients take
their medicine on time but this is only
the very beginning of how we can game a
fly our lives there are a thousand
vectors we can use to improve on this
simple Skinner box core everything from
integrating our school and work
experience with the leisure we
participate in in our free time to
simple aesthetic things like better
contextualizing our work and making sure
that the theme or setting is
psychologically conducive to the
activity itself kind of like how when
you go to Disney World
everything down to the trash bins near
the line for the rides all fit within
the setting and don't break you out of
that mindset of enjoying the ride if we
can do this then we can deliver on a
vision where we are as excited and
energized to engage in our serious lives
as much as we are play live z' there
will be less distinction between the two
and perhaps someday there won't be a
difference at all all work will be play
and all play will help enrich our lives
but there's a really nasty potential
flipside to this idea and it's already
begun to happen companies are beginning
to realize that we're no longer caught
by traditional advertising the way we
once were we've been so bombarded by
media that we don't even look at
billboards anymore we flipped channels
through commercials or just fast-forward
straight through them we don't even
register banner ads on a webpage any
longer so they've turned to new tools to
compel us to shape our consumption
way that's beneficial to them look at
the rewards on your credit cards the
smarter companies have started having
you level up for racking up debt check
out the progress bar on your frequent
flyer program or the achievements that
some of these programs are starting to
dole out for taking routes that are more
economical for them even the McDonald's
annual Monopoly game is an example of
gamification seeping into marketing it
directs you toward purchasing soft
drinks and fries the two most profitable
items for them by putting the most game
pieces per dollar on those items so
given all that I don't really want to
broadcast my nascent thoughts on how to
really take this sort of thing to the
next level however if any of you guys
happen to be educators or doctors and
you're interested in implementing these
sort of tactics into your field our
email address is coming right up in the
end credits usually James charges game
companies a good bit of money for that
kind of consulting but in your case he's
happy to make an exception anything to
help make reality a little more fun for
everybody
so yeah that's about it gamification is
gonna be big and it's probably gonna be
awesome just be wary because somebody
out there is going to try and use it
against you just keep your eyes open
thanks again to Aaron for the pretty
pictures see you next time
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