http://www.codingconduct.cc coding conduct Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:57:15 +0000 http://www.codingconduct.cc en http://codingconduct.cc/Gamification-Research-Network http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Gamification-Research-Network Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:57:15 +0000 coding conduct 2733982 Research community, gamification-research.org.Following the success of the location-based service Foursquare, the idea of using game design elements in non-game contexts to increase user activity and retention has rapidly gained traction in interaction design and digital marketing. Under the moniker »gamification«, this idea is spawning an intense public debate as well as numerous applications – ranging across productivity, finance, health, education, sustainability, as well as news and entertainment media. Several vendors now offer »gamification« as a software service layer of reward and reputation systems with points, badges, levels and leader boards. This commercial deployment of ‘gamified’ applications to large audiences promises new lines of inquiry and data sources for human-computer interaction (HCI) and game studies – and indeed, »gamification« is increasingly catching the attention of researchers. The Gamification Research Network (GRN) is a communication hub for academic and industry researchers and students interested in studying the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. It was launched in November 2010 alongside the call for participation for a one-day workshop on gamification at CHI 2011. The purpose of the GRN is to further research in the area by providing a repository of relevant people, projects, and publications, and by offering a shared space of discussion and publication. It currently mainly sports a mailing list with over hundred interested researchers. http://codingconduct.cc/The-MAO-Model http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/The-MAO-Model Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:31:21 +0000 coding conduct 2733848 The MAO Model: Research for Behavior Change. Presentation, Interaction'12, February 3, 2012, Dublin, Ireland.Interest in persuasive design has been growing rapidly in interaction design in the past years. In part thanks to that, we as designers now have ample tools and pattern libraries to inspire us. What we are lacking, however, are focus and guidance in applying them. Usually, we get those from user research. But current research methods and deliverables do not provide ready springboards. This presentation, building on previous work, demonstrates how to use the Motivation Ability Opportunity (MAO) model as a tool to structure user research around a single behavior to be changed, and to guide subsequent design in prioritizing issues to tackle and ideating ways to tackle them. Short link: j.mp/maomodel MAO Analysis – a template to use in research (PDF, 78 KB): j.mp/maosheet http://codingconduct.cc/Don-t-Play-Games-With-Me http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Don-t-Play-Games-With-Me Tue, 31 May 2011 13:43:21 +0000 coding conduct 1523514 Don't Play Games With Me! Promises and Pitfalls of Gameful Design. Invited Closing Keynote, Web Directions @Media, May 27, 2011, London, UK.In 1960, Milton Bradley published »The Game of Life«: a capitalist wet dream of a board game, won by the lucky one who retired richest. Today, »gamification« vendors take Milton Bradley seriously. From losing weight to saving Africa, from watching TV to matching DNA sequences: there’s nothing that couldn’t be made more fun by adding points, badges, and other elements from video games. At least that’s the selling proposition. But a quick glance at current »gamified« applications shows that they drastically fall short of the promise of games and play. So it's time to step up and ask some serious questions: Can life be a game? Should it? And if so, who is playing whom? This talk walks through some issues of gameful and playful design before delving into the ethics of design – and the lessons games may truly hold for us. Short link: http://j.mp/dontplayAudio: 37 MB MP3 file http://codingconduct.cc/There-Be-Dragons http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/There-Be-Dragons Tue, 31 May 2011 13:41:55 +0000 coding conduct 1523659 There Be Dragons. Ten Potential Pitfalls of Gamification. Presentation, Digital Shoreditch, May 4, 2011, London, UK.This talk is a quick run through the troubles ahead if one wants to make a service or application more gameful. http://codingconduct.cc/Meaningful-Play http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Meaningful-Play Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:42:22 +0000 coding conduct 1093823 Meaningful Play. Getting »Gamification« Right. Presentation, Google Tech Talk, January 24, 2011, Mountain View, CA.Between promises of plain mind control and warnings of »pointsification«, the debate on »gamification« is deeply split. How to design for a playful experience that is truly meaningful to its users instead of a shallow and transient novelty effect? What lessons do games offer for user experience design? What criticism of »gamification« is valid? And what can designers interested in »gameifying« an application do to steer clear of the worst pitfalls? In this talk, summarising and expanding on previous ones, I provide an overview of the gamification movement, lay out three currently »missing ingredients« – meaning, mastery, and autonomy –, and how they can be translated into design principles and process. Short link: http://bit.ly/meaningfulplay http://codingconduct.cc/Pawned http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Pawned Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:59:26 +0000 coding conduct 665647 Pawned. Gamification and Its Discontents. Presentation, Playful 2010, September 24, 2010, London, UK.Foursquare, Gowalla, Bunchball, Badgeville – it seems like the badge measles have taken over the Internet. From watching TV to fulfilling your hearts' desires, »gameified« applications and »gamification« service vendors doll out points and badges to users, promising anything from increased customer engagement to plain mind control. After »social«, will »game mechanics« be the new monosodium glutamate oversold to spice up any product, service, or interaction? This talk gives a brief tour through the »gamification« trend, to then insert some caveats, complications, unintended consequences, and hopefully, plain common sense. It ends with pointing out what else gamification proponents are missing about games and play. Short link: http://j.mp/pawned10 Note: This is more or less a companion piece to a previous talk where I point out the potential of games for interaction design: »Just add points? What UX designers can and cannot learn from games«. Also, I followed it up with a more recent Google Tech Talk outlining how to »get gamification right« in practical terms: »Meaningful Play«. http://codingconduct.cc/Just-add-points http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Just-add-points Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:03:52 +0000 coding conduct 442353 Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from game design. Presentation, UXCamp Europe 2010, May 30, 2010, Berlin, Germany.My updated (English) take on the current game mechanics fad in UX design. With the rampant success of location-meets-game-apps like Foursquare and Gowalla and social games like FarmVille, game mechanics seem to become the »Next Big Thing«(tm) in user experience design. In this talk, I lay out the broad research consensus on why games are fun, and then spoil the party by arguing that different design cultures, goals and most importantly, different contexts in games and productivity software get in the way of »just add points«. On a positive note, I point out three things that user experience designers can (and should) learn from game designers. Short link: http://bit.ly/justadd You can find a German (somewhat older) version here. Update: Things have been moving fast with gamification. So at Playful'10 in London, I gathered my thoughts on what current »gameified« applications lack: »Pawned. Gamification and Its Discontents«. And if that's too negative for you, at a recent Google Tech Talk, I elucidated »Meaningful Play: How to get 'gamification' right«. http://codingconduct.cc/Das-Internet-ist-dezentral http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Das-Internet-ist-dezentral Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:35:04 +0000 coding conduct 365645 »Das Internet ist dezentral.« Und andere gefährliche Mythen. Peer-reviewed presentation, re:publica 2010 »nowhere«, April 14, 2010, Berlin, Germany. (German only) With Cloud Computing, app stores and everything-as-a-platform/service, the once-»virtuous« hour glass of the Internet increasingly turns itself into a poisonous candy stick made of highly centralized layers of infrastructure, data and services. Do we have to fear a new War for the Web, as Tim O’Reilly sees it? What are the economic drivers behind this development, what are its political and social ramifications? Short link: http://bit.ly/dezentral Update: The radio programme »Breitband« on the channel Deutschlandradio Kultur made a nice little interview with me for their re:publica coverage. Listen to the interview here (starts ca. 26:00). Update 2: Ruling the airwaves – now there's another radio interview with the kind people from »Trackback« on Berlin Radio Fritz: Listen to the interview here. http://codingconduct.cc/Fiction-As-Play http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Fiction-As-Play Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:35:32 +0000 coding conduct 194978 Fiction as Play. Reassessing the Relation of Games, Play, and Fiction. Proceedings of the Fourth »The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference«, August 13-15, 2009 Oslo University, Oslo, Norway. Final version, PDF.How do fiction and video games relate? There is a common folk theory that video games are »nothing but« fiction with something »added«, i.e. »interactive fiction«. Within game studies, some scholars hold that elements of fiction might pop up in video games, but are not a necessary component of games as such. Others think that the combination of fiction and game play is what makes video games unique. This paper argues that evolutionarily and historically, both fiction and games descend from (pretense) play. They are united by a social pragmatic license that renders fictional/played activities and communications without consequence, and a peculiar experiential and semantic quality I characterize as »make-believe«. I summarize the shared tenets of the five major fiction-as-play scholars, and list the main advantages a game-and-fiction-as-play account offers to the study of video games. http://codingconduct.cc/Re-publicize-this http://codingconduct.cc/following/codingconduct.cc/Re-publicize-this Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:58:54 +0000 coding conduct 189130 Web 2.0 or The Silent Privatization of Digital Basic Care. Presentation, Lecture series »Aktuelle Entwicklungen im Web 2.0«, Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, Hamburg University, November 20, 2008, Hamburg, Germany. (German only)In the new read-write publics of the web, traditional notions of public spheres, public goods, basic care and access have to be rethought. Today, participation in our culture, economy and democracy encompasses not only a »right to read«, but also the »right to write«. This requires equal access to the hardware, software, content and skills necessary to receive and maybe even more importantly, produce content. Yet current public discourse is focusing mainly online content of public broadcasters and broadband connectivity, leaving out the questions of software, skills, and content production. In this audio slidecast, I argue that the public good of read/write access is increasingly provided by commercial software-as-a-service platforms, with troublesome implications for public deliberation and freedom of speech. I discuss how governments and civil society should best react to this development.