Interaction Design Playbook: gamification in the Age of Interaction
Imagine a world where people are happily contributing to the improvement of knowledge and the world as a whole without even realizing it. Every Experience Designer’s dream right? Well… that happened.
In 2011, gamers solved a problem that had puzzled scientists for decades! The gamers played a game called Foldit and created different permutations and combinations of the structure of protein molecules. The game taped into the gamers’ 3-D spatial abilities to rotate chains of amino acids in cyberspace. The different solutions helped the scientists piece together the structure of a protein-cutting enzyme from an AIDS-like virus. Read more about this here.
The newfound structure “indicates the power of online computer games to channel human intuition and three-dimensional pattern matching skills to solve challenging scientific problems.”
~ the researchers
This process was essentially a crowdsourced brainstorming exercise that led to a great scientific breakthrough. Here, human intuition succeeded where automated methods failed. How cool is that?!!
This happened through the gamification of their research.
Gamification
Gamification is essentially the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. It is an incredible technique to elevate user experience and increase engagement. In the case of Foldit, when this fun game-based approach was applied to a productive real-life situation, the results were incredible. This is the power of the gamification of systems where they make even the mundane of systems, challenging and productive.
According to gamification specialist Yu-kai Chou, this approach of ‘Human-Focused Design’, as opposed to ‘Function-Focused Design’, is a “design process that optimizes for the human in the system, as opposed to pure efficiency of the system.”
Gamification Psychology
Gamification allows us to drive perseverence and creativity. Some of the ways that explain how gamification influences psychology include the Octalysis framework and Winner’s Effect.
The Octalysis Framework
The aforementioned ‘Human Focused Design’ methodology acknowledges that human feelings, motivation, and engagement drive human behavior. This acknowledgment gave rise to the Octalysis framework.
This framework is designed as an octagon shape with 8 Core Drives representing each side. These drives define what factors influence our psyche when we are faced with a gamification. Read more about the Octalysis Framework here.
The Winner’s Effect and Compulsion loops
Whenever we challenge ourselves to something and achieve it, the brain releases a little bit of dopamine, a pleasurable chemical. Researcher and neuropsychologist Ian Robertson calls this challenge achievement as ‘The Winner Effect’. Essentially, completing one loop of challenge-achievement creates a spiral where the more you do it, the more you WANT to do it; also known as intrinsic motivation.
This interaction with challenges stimulates the psychophysical and biomechanical sensations. Here, the compulsive act of doing a task for the chemical reward creates a compulsion loop.
Gamification and Interaction Design
Gamification of a system brings the user into the space and do things themselves which makes it a much more embodied and immersive experience. Applying aspects of emotion to functional quality of physical and digital experiences have broad implications in all spheres of human life.
Designing successful gaming systems requires a deep empathy and respect for the player, clear understanding of the mission, an insight in how to motivate the player towards the mission.
~Janaki Kumar
The involvement of the user results in intensive interaction, low attention levels, high motivation levels.
Elements of a gamified UX/UI
According to Cathie Marache-Francisco and Eric Brangier (2015), there are 2 approaches that can be taken to style interfaces through gamification: cosmetic (surface) and implicating (depth). Based on these approaches, I created a framework that defines the elements of a gamified UX/ UI
Cosmetic: this aspect defines the stylistic elements of an interface.
Implicating: this aspect defines the emotional, motivational and persuasive elements of interaction
Dimensions of interface gamification
In order to sustain the interaction, gamification creates a user-system link using the cosmetic and implicating approaches mentioned above. However, these links are superficial and shallow. As the complexities of gamification design cannot be reduced to simple principles and rules, there are some dimentions of involution that can be expected from the system and the user.
The framework above is based on the dimentions examined by Marache-Francisco and Brangier (2015).
Gamification in Action
Like the Foldit example, there have been some instances where gamification has helped people overcome challenges. Some of my favorites are:-
Gamified traffic laws: Sweden’s ‘Speed-Camera Lottery’
Sweden used a unique approach to regulate the speed limit. The speed camera snaps photographs of speeding motorists so they can be fined. When people drive at or below the speed limit, they automatically get entered into the lottery funded by the tickets of people who were speeding.
Gamified Mental Health: SuperBetter
Superbetter is a game created by gamification expert Jane Mcgonigal while she was recovering from a concussion. She designed it to treat her condition and developed a gamified application to help people develop psychological strength and resilience.
Gamified Oil Crisis: World Without Oil
World Without Oil was an alternate reality game (ARG) that lasted for 32 days in April-June, 2007. It helped players understand how an oil crisis might affect their lives by getting them to describe how the crisis is affecting their area. After the 32 days were up, the game produced a valuable record to help anticipate problems and avoid a worst-case-scenario.
The Crisis of Engagement
Now that the enriching advantages of gamification have become well known, techniques are layered over existing activities to make them more entertaing. As a result, gamification has progressed into a variety of recreational and ergonomic activities. This science of keeping us entertained has created a spectacle of entertainment like we have never seen before. We have become so used to so much engagement per second, traditional way of doing things no longer holds our attention.
Companies have realised that we are not caught by traditional advertising like we did before. So, they turned to new tools to compell us to shape our consumption in a way that aids them. The biggest sharks of them all is, none other than, Social Media itself. Information is constantly thrown at us to see what catches our attention. This data is then collected to give us more personalised and targetted content; creating a viscious attention seeking loop.
Ethical gamification
Critics of gamification believe that it exploits and manipulates the user into doing things against their will. It is no surprise that companies are marketing this way to appeal to the gamer inside us. However, as mentioned above, gamification can be used for so much more than getting more customers by profit hungry companies. They can be used to educate, discover, explore so many new and different possibilities. Maybe we can discover the cure for COVID-19! Who knows?! As Gabe Zickermann said it best…
“We need to collectively decide to actively make that happen; to put the power of games to work and inspire creativity and innovation.”
~ Gabe Zickermann
Let’s use the power of gamification to give people an opportunity to do something exciting and positive. Let’s put some good out in the world!
