Smart Gamification: Designing the Player Journey

Google Tech Talk (more info below) February 16, 2011 Presented by Amy Jo Kim. ABSTRACT Game dynamics are infiltrating every aspect of daily life. Early "gamification" efforts involved adding simple game mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards to websites and apps. But that's not what makes games truly compelling. Good games take players on a journey, giving them something the learn and master. Smart gamification involves creating virtual systems that shape real-world behavior, using a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational techniques. In this short talk, we'll cover the basics of smart gamification, and learn how to use game thinking to develop more engaging products and services. Amy Jo Kim is an internationally-known social game designer and community architect. Her clients include Harmonix/MTV (Rock Band), Maxis (The Sims), EA (Ultima Online), Square/Enix, Netflix, Ning, Lumos Labs, Gaia Online, eBay, Microsoft, and Disney. She's the author of Community Building on the Web, a design handbook that's available in 7 languages (English, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese) and is required reading in game design studios and university classes. She holds a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Washington, and a BS in Experimental Psych from UC San Diego.