# data[].attributes.body
A thorough description of a gamified class. Starting on page four he describes a level and badges system that is pretty well thought out, especially the Specialization mechanic he's created. Well worth a look.

# data[].attributes.body
Chris Aviles' list of achievements (badges) for his gamified course

# data[].attributes.body
Great series (3) of articles on the essentials: the experience, XP systems, and rewards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Turning Your Class into a Game, Part 1: The Experience

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Last week, I had the opportunity to evangelize about games-based learning and gamification in the classroom at the 2nd Annual CoRE Academy at my university. My audience was a wonderful mix of PK20 teachers and, from the nods of approval during the presentation and comments, questions, and requests for more information I received afterwards, I...

# data[].attributes.body
#gblchat #levelupEd

# data[].attributes.body
Article version of the chat to the right

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I've been spending a lot of skull sweat the last couple weeks, working out a revision to our points ladder (and related points distribution between assignments). The initial ladder I developed worked OK, but there are several things I noticed as we've played through the game this year that I want to adjust to improve the game flow for the next revision:

I knew enough of game design to make the first few levels quite easy to achieve. But I didn't pay enough attention to the progression past the first 3 levels.

I didn't even consider the spread between semesters, which my students were quick to notice as we began, the first couple of days.

The later levels should be harder to achieve than the earlier ones.

I stopped my ladder at a point equivalent to an A+...I want at least a couple levels higher than that, for anyone who gets there before the end of the term.

I initially built the ladder to reflect a 1000 point distribution, to easily map onto the A-F scale used at school. <shudder> a bad idea. (more on this in another post)

My initial ladder looked something like this:

If you're paying more attention than I did at first, you've already noticed that the point spread between individual levels varies radically, from 20 to 100 points. By itself, that isn't necessarily a bad thing (the spread should increase as the levels do). But the randomness with which I changed it is a problem. Having to earn 100 points to go from level 7 to level 8, but then only needing 90 for the next level and only 30 for the level after that? Bad game mechanics.

So, as the course progressed, I noticed these things (sometimes with the help of my students) and have been modifying my ladder to reflect the more sophisticated understanding of the mechanic that I've developed. 😉 I've made some changes to the current ladder, but I didn't want to completely wreck the current game, so not all the changes I want have gone into this year's iteration.

Here's the plan for next year:

The Spread column indicates the difference between the previous level and the listed one. This progression is much smoother, though I'm still not quite happy with it. I think the distribution should jump more between levels 13 and 14, for one thing. But in conjunction with this progression, I have to assign points to the various quests and craftings (assignments) that the students complete. Coordinating this with those has been a bit of a struggle. I think this will be a much better flow though, because

Jumps between levels are low enough at the beginning to allow for rapid progression

Jumps quickly become more difficult after the first few levels, allowing for more challenge to keep players engaged

The ladder extends well beyond the credit students achieve for the basic quests and craftings; to reach levels 18-20 they'll have to do a substantial number of optional quests and to reach level 20 requires very careful planning and truly excellent execution

The difference between semesters is still substantial, but for the game mechanics to keep the challenge high as students progress, that's required. I'm debating whether to tie the grade to the points earned next year. Right now, I'm leaning toward figuring out some indirect way to assign grades, because I haven't been happy with the direct link results at all.

Do you use a level ladder with points? How has yours worked? Any lessons to share?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I've been spending a lot of skull sweat the last couple weeks, working out a revision to our points ladder (and related points distribution between assignments).

# data[].attributes.body
A math course-game

# data[].attributes.headline
Games based learning and Gamification magazine

# data[].attributes.subject
Games based learning and Gamification magazine

# data[].attributes.body
A flipboard magazine curated by Tanya Sasser and Matthew Miller. Updated at least monthly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Games-Based Learning and Gamification on Flipboard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By tsasser | Integrating games-based learning and gamification into the classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
Coursegame

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I am taking two courses this semester to finally finish up the requirements so I can file for teacher certification in Idaho. In one of the courses, my reading this evening included this except from the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (NCFOT):

Black and William report that studies of formative assessment show an effect size on standardized tests of between 0.4 and 0.7, larger than most known educational interventions. (The effect size is the ratio of the average improvement in test scores in the innovation to the range of scores of typical groups of pupils on the same tests). . . . Formative assessment is particularly effective for students who have not done well in school, thus narrowing the gap between low and high achievers while raising overall achievement (NCFOT, 1999, ¶ 4).

Which reminded me, forcefully, that I do not have enough formative assessment built into my Nolat Labs course game. It's integrated thoroughly in my Gnimmargorp game; nearly every activity is a formative assessment. But it's nearly missing from Nolat Labs. I need to build it in as thoroughly as I have for my other game.

But as I wrote that, I realized just how much work it will be to properly integrate. To have formative assessment done well, there need to be clear and frequent opportunities for students to check their own progress. That will mean, among other things:

1. Building multiple versions of exams covering the same topics, so students can take the formative exams and receive feedback about their areas of strength and weakness without compromising the final exam(s).

2. Writing built-in feedback about the areas of strength and weakness, which will involve adding feedback information to every question in the question-bank.

3. Creating exemplars of each project, in a range of results from mediocre to outstanding, so students can compare their work against a know standard and determine their current success and further needs.

Whew! That's going to be a lot of work. But I believe...no, I know it will be worth the effort and time. Because I already have that in Gnimmargorp and I know just how powerful it is for student learning. Seeing their own results and knowing exactly what to do to improve them, or what to ask in order to understand more fully, is one of the most powerful tools I've given students in my games. So I'll get started.

This is an under-construction ongoing post that will be regularly modified as the summer progresses. It's a place for me to capture my thoughts about how I'll be structuring my two major course-as-game efforts in the coming school year (16-17). There may also be responses posted here to some of my friend and colleague's efforts along similar lines, over at Game On.
A tale of two games

My two game for next school year will be: a revised version of Gnimmargorp, my Introduction to Computer Science course, and a brand new site, Nolat Labs, which is for my IB Design Technology courses. I'll talk in much more detail about each of these below. What they will both share are the basic mechanics and structure of Game-On, a plug-in for the WordPress website development environment. Game-On enables a gamified learning management system, or GMLS, which gives the capability to run my courses as a game by setting up assignments in parts, tracking players' progress and earnings, awarding rewards, and providing oversight. For details, see this post at Game On.

These two courses are rather different, too. Gnimmargorp is well established, having gone through 3 full-year iterations so far. Many of the components will be familiar to my prior players, but several will be tweaked this year to improve classroom dynamics and engage players in more interaction. It will also be easier to navigate, start, and track your own progress.

On the other hand, Nolat Labs will be a brand new game and will be structured substantially differently than Gnimmargorp. In part, this is due to the nature of the course (having a more clearly defined curriculum and external moderation, for example). A larger part is due to me wanting to set up both a linear sequence - to accommodate learners who prefer this approach - and an open structure - to accommodate those who'd rather jump around.

Gnimmargorp

This will be continued

One of my students wrote this in their final reflection: "It was fun because I really didn't have to memorize things for a test or a quiz, instead some things were remembered because they were interesting. I didn't have to stuff information in my brain in order to understand or do something, information about electronics just was in my head because it wanted to be there."

I count that as a win for the year.

What a great way to end a week. I assigned a test this week to my Introduction to Computer Science players, in the form of a " Boss Challenge." I have several fairly quiet students, who come in to class, sit down, get to work, and rarely say much even during our semi-weekly one-on-one conferences. But one of them wrote this in her journal after the period:

When I first heard there's going to be an assessment my initial reaction was "Oh no, I'm really not that good." But, last class I did the warmups and it was actually kind of fun because they were all sort of logic based questions and basic python coding so I thought "Maybe, I'm going to be okay."

As it turns out, I was okay as a matter of fact I actually enjoyed it. After a bit of struggle , I breezed through it and even mastered it. I didn't use the internet that much because the problems I did were sort of similar and I remembered more than I thought I did from CodeAcademy. So, I went from an "Oh no, I'm really not that good" to a "Maybe, I'm going to be okay" and by the end of it all I was at an "That was actually sort of fun."

My response was simply: "I'm glad it was fun! And you are that good."

"Sun behind clouds" by Superflewis at Wikimedia commons

Today I was thinking a lot about iteration. It's a concept from computer science that describes the process of building something, then going back to revise it, again and again. It's like my English teacher told me in junior high: just start writing and revise it as many times as you need.

This is something I've been teaching many of my students, in every subject I teach: Yearbook, Computer Science, Electronics, and Design Technology. It's also something I've been doing, with my writing in various forums, with my websites, and in the design of each of my courses.

Iteration is all about not being afraid to start, even though you know it's going to suck at first. In my experience, the best stuff I've created has sucked for around a couple of years before it really starts being something other folks notice. This matches what an amazing creative, Ira Glass, has said about his own work (not that his sucks, but that this is true in general). So it's important to get over the fear of it sucking and just get started.

Then iterate. A lot. Revise it frequently. Get feedback from lots of people whose opinion you trust. Take criticism as a kindness, because praise doesn't help you make it better (and you already know it's not great, yet, so be skeptical of anyone who tells you it is, they probably just don't want to see your feelings hurt). Keep iterating. And you'll gradually see something you recognize as much better than when you started.

About two years into it, if you're like me, you'll start feeling like "yeah, this isn't so bad after all." You'll also have a much better idea of all the amazing things you could still do to improve it, which are the most important, which are the ones you really want to do, and so on. Plenty more iteration to go!

Just before spring break, I asked my students playing the Introduction to Computer Science course (gnimmargorp.com) to add a note in their journal in which they thought either about their own thinking or about themselves, rather than just in-game observations. One young man wrote this:

I have learnt much from this class. This class has not only taught me the basics of coding, but how to time manage my time, and focus my attentions on my studies. In the beginning of the class I just wanted to follow the footsteps of my older brother who now studies Computer Science, and Engineering in Penn State. But a few month into the subject, and I began to actually really like it. I thought it was easy, but what was easy turned out to be both fun, and challenging. I finished all the Lullaby lyrics a few weeks ago, and had recently completed the tough quest of secrets. I have set a personal goal for myself, in which I would spend 30 minutes doing anything related to this class. I have been recently busy, thus unable to complete that goal. I have learnt that working with my classmates, especially Mohamed Abo Aiad in coding, has proven to be efficient, because we are both at the same level, allowing us to help each other in every quest and activity. I had been sick for a week, and traveling for another, so I think I might be behind in terms of the Code Academy completion, but I hope to catch up the class. I learnt that sometimes sitting near friends can cause disruption, and lack of focus. Although other times, I end up learning from them. This class I will continue working on quests, in order to earn some gold, and experience.

He packed a lot of stuff into 250 words! Most of his prior posts had been about his game progress or a problem on which he was working. Boy, was I pleased to read this. I should have begun asking for more thoughtful, reflective posts much earlier in the year. Lesson plans will be changed for next year. While this is the most exciting example, several other students similarly increased the depth of their reflection. I'm chalking this one up as a complete win.

The initial impetus for asking for more specific reflection came from a post at Mindshift: When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges. I'm planning on re-reading that at least a couple times this summer in order to mine it for other ideas on asking better reflection questions and eliciting more specific responses from my students when they complete their weekly journal entries for our game.

Image credit:
36 - High Five by Melanie at Flickr

Apologies, I've just moved to a new host and several things, including image links, broke during the transition. I should have the site repolished soon.

About a month ago I began playing World of Warcraft (WoW) with Mike Skocko, a friend of mine (who also happens to be the guy that inspired and shepherds the Game On plugin that I use for running my course-game). We play once a week and discuss the way the game runs, aspects we notice (positively or negatively) and how those might translate into classroom practice. Our goal is to improve our course games by observing closely how one of the most engaging games of all time works.

Mike is an old hand at WoW, having built up and topped out multiple characters, while I am a newby with just a handful of hours played, total. Some of the things we're noticing are already built into our course games, some we already knew about and plan to incorporate (or not), and others are new to our respective games. It's been a pretty fun journey and one I'm eager to continue each week.

There are several things that we've noticed already (we're kind of tracking the ongoing conversation over in our Game On forum). There are three that I think really differentiate the game environment from a typical school environment, two of which I've seen written about numerous places and one of which I haven't.

Complete Freedom to Fail

The first really big mechanic I've noticed is that in WoW, I have complete freedom to fail. I can try as many times as I want to complete a quest or craft a product. There are no time limitations nor attempt limitations. I first noticed this when I foolishly took on a foe larger than I could handle. It was actually accidental: I was trying to catch up to Mike and ran through a village of Murlocks before I noticed they were there. They quickly surrounded me and started attacking. I saw my health meter dipping precipitously and my heartbeat rose while I started breathing faster. Shortly, my character died.

My heart dropped. Now, I thought, I'd have to start all over. But instead, the world turned to shades of gray and another "quest" appeared on my dashboard. To my surprise, and unlike other video games I'd played in the past, getting killed wasn't the end of the game. I had to shepherd my spirit back to the place my body lay, finding my way there from a graveyard. I waited until there weren't any more Murlocks by my body, then resurrected and continued playing. Wow! Even death isn't the end, it's just a chance to learn. The whole game, at least as far as I've played to date (level 25) has been like that. Endless chances to come back and learn how to do better.

Rich story/world with no driving purpose

Another really interesting thing I've noticed is that in WoW, there is a very rich story/world, which so far seems completely lacking in a driving storyline or purpose. There are definitely quests I pursue, but after the initial introduction, I choose which ones and there seem to be a wide variety of opportunities. There are also mini-stories related to every single quest shown. I have yet to get a quest that just says "do this" without at least a minimal bit of storytelling thrown in as well.

This is in great contrast to the way I developed my story/world for the '14-'15 school year. Gnimmargorp definitely had a driving story line, although there were a few side quests, deviations and amusements. I had a vision of where I wanted students to go and steered consistently toward that spot. Some of the quests I built had information directly leading into the story line. Others had none, and no story.

When I started playing WoW a few weeks ago, I was pleased to notice that the game clearly had a storyline, which is introduced from the very beginning via a cinematic style fly-over of the land with a narration of your character's race's recent history. But as I played, I realized that every single quest had a little storyline associated with it. They didn't seem to tie together in other than a really loose fashion, contributing to the overall sense of a world recovering from a major disaster. Some of the story bits tied together into small narratives, such as one in which I accomplished several small quests gathering materials for a fellow in what looked like a run-down church at the edge of town. Then, it turned out, he used those to raise a zombie and sent it into town on a rampage, so I had to help kill it to save the townsfolk.

That series of 5 quests, and others like it, confirmed my belief that storyline enhances the game experience. It contrasted starkly with my prior belief that an overarching storyline is needed in order to achieve that enhancement. There may still be an overarching storyline I simply haven't seen enough of the game to understand. But this experience has given me the idea and the courage to build small storylines within the overall experience of my world. I enjoy both the connection with the world and the feeling of freedom the lack of a driving storyline allows.

Tiny chunks with lots of repetition and iteration

One thing I noticed right away and which I continue to notice is how tiny the quests are. I'm at level 25 and I have yet to receive a quest that requires me to really puzzle through what I'm supposed to do. The game scaffolding is so fine-grained that I'm never in the slightest doubt, yet, regarding how to accomplish the quests I've been given. The steps I need to take are both tiny and clearly laid out for me. There is a progression, but it's a very slow ramp and I always feel I am more that capable of finishing the next quest.

As I built my quests for Gnimmargorp, I planned them based on the assignments I would have given had it been a regular class. To begin with, this worked out fine. Later on, the assignments became larger and more complicated, as I wanted to provide sufficient challenge as students' skill grew.

After the initial skills were learned, I offered students the chance to choose whether they followed my game or used one of several other options to structure their path, such as codecademy or The New Boston. When students did choose another option, I asked why. The overwhelming answer was that my game was too difficult, with too little step-by-step instruction. Now that I've played WoW, I can understand better how I might restructure my game to lead players through learning the skills they need in smaller chunks.

The flip-side of that tiny-ness is the vast number of repetitions I go through for every skill in WoW. Literally dozens of quests to practice every single new skill that is introduced, each of which is so small that I know I can complete it. In order to level up, I need to do many of them, so iterative practice of my skill is essential to my game progress (sound like any classroom pedagogies you're familiar with?). This is a model I can replicate, but it's going to take a lot of quest writing to ensure I have enough quests to make this work.

Renovations & refurbishment

Now that I've sorted out these three major differences between my game world and WoW, I have a lot of work to do this summer. I need to build a completely new set of quests which each contain a bit of story but don't necessarily have to connect in a direct way with my overarching storyline, and which are numerous, so iterative practice of the concepts and skills in the course are built into the game. Whew!

Earlier this week, I had my most succesful single class, ever. Hunters and Healers. Woot!

I opened by telling the players that a Repaer had been seen in the river near Esab (our city). Repaers catch the weak and the outliers (had to explain that vocab word), so we want our cohort to be strong and cohesive. "In order to ensure that you are all strong," I said, "we're going to play Hunters and Healers."
"To hunt, you will look at other players' Codex entries (our name for blogs) and find any missing entries, any that are too short, weakly composed, etc. If you successfully hunt a Codex author, you must then help Heal by ensuring the author is aware of the problem and writes or improves the entry. As the Hunter, you must document the original version (or lack thereof) and the revised version in an entry on your own Codex."
I offered a reward for any successful hunts (I think I'll have to reduce it for future episodes of this sort, to keep progress better balanced). I warned that the Repaer is coming on Tuesday to wind through the Codex; anyone it catches will loose health and have to pay a healer as well. I set it elicit high motivation, at a nerf (subtraction) that most of the players don't quite have yet, so they'd end up in the negative. It's not too stressful, though, because I don't grade based on points this year (more about that soon).

Both of the players who had previously had zero Codex entries filled out their blogs completely today. Many others who were marginal (on either side of the line) substantially beefed up their entries. In spite overly analytical player pointing out that this is "just peer editing, right?" everyone had fun. Lots of fun! Most of the players will be receiving a reward for a successful hunt. The most ironic moment of the day came when two players approached to inform each other that their Codex entry needed work, and the entries were the same ones on both blogs. 🙂

It was 100% engagement, lots of good reflection and peer coaching, and a great success in my book. (Best of all, my principal chose that moment to come by for a classroom observation - what could be better than a fully engaged classroom of kids eager to explain how they were peer editing each other's reflection websites?!?). Thanks to Mike Skocko and Rob Schwartz at the Adobe Education Exchange Game-On forum for putting me on to this idea; it's been a really powerful one.

Follow-up: I had 4 players get caught by the Repaer and loose XP and Gold as a result. In all 4 cases, there were no arguments about it at all. I discussed it with the players that they'd have many chances to catch up and could even work outside of class if they wanted to do so. They all leaped right back into their work and don't seem phased by the setback in the slightest. Disappointed, yes, but not disheartened. And some of the hunters are a bit chagrined to realized that they overlooked those players and feel like they let their team-mates down.

So in the end, it remains my most successful class and I'll definitely be using this technique again.

Initially, I was a bit afraid my game structure would push students too far, too fast. Like many of my preconceptions about inquiry-based and game-based-learning, this proved to be completely unfounded. In fact, the opposite has been true. More than once this year, I've had to scramble to keep building ahead of the students as one or more progressed through a portion of the material much faster than I expected.

The big takeaway for me has been that I need to ask them to reach further. In a gamified class, I can build out ahead of time (especially when I'm not building the plane as we fly it). For next year, I'm planning to build out substantially more material on the advanced side, as well as fleshing out material for the sections that some students breezed through. In providing more options for any particular section, I hope to encourage people to linger longer on a topic they might otherwise have brushed past; I'm also planning to plant some easter eggs so that if I notice someone brushing by a topic I can drop a hint that they're missing something and thus help encourage them to linger further. Similarly, I plan to build the upper end of the class out further than I previously did. This is related to expanding the points ladder, but is more focused on ensuring there is enough content to keep the rapid players engaged within the game world. There will also be quests specifically designed to encourage the advanced players to work with their classmates to further everyones' knowledge of the subject matter (of course, that will only help them, too, but I won't be telling them that). These will only open for the advanced students - an elder game of sorts. I'm working on developing this idea further; if you have ideas or have done something similar I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

On the opposite side, I've discovered that a bit more scaffolding when I do ask for a big reach will be helpful, too. The second-to-last project has been a fairly large one, with very minimal scaffolding for them to base it on. I just provided a description and a minimal rubric. My thought was that this would give them the widest scope within which to imagine their project and build it, which would lead to better engagement due to ownership. Unfortunately, my students do not have much experience with a wide-open field, and so floundered a bit, especially at the beginning, with that freedom. Next year I plan to offer the same wide open field, but have an "I'm not sure what to do next" button that will lead to more specific scaffolding to guide those students that need a bit more structure within which to build their project.

Image credits:
Reach by Steve Mishos on Flickr
Helping Hand by Asarum Images on Flickr

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CourseGame | Remembering that learning is fun!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I am taking two courses this semester to finally finish up the requirements so I can file for teacher certification in Idaho. In one of the courses, my reading this evening included this except from the National Center for Fair and Open Testing (NCFOT): Black and William report that studies of formative assessment show an effect size on standardized tests of between 0.4 and 0.7, larger than most known educational interventions.

# data[].attributes.body
An extended twitter chat about what rewards you can use in your class to enhance your game [may take a while to load]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#levelupEd on PowerUps (with tweets) · matthewm1970

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A tweetchat about using powerups in gamifying ed/learning. 2014-02-28

# data[].attributes.body
A list of 18 types of quests and some examples, from the Quest to Lear project in NYC.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The phrase "game mechanics" sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. At the heart of every game are these mysterious whirring clicking mechanisms that deliver to the player pleasure and thrills.

We use them, we build them, but I've never seen a good unified definition of game mechanics that gives us a practical base upon which to build great games. Here is one. It is clobbered together from a variety of influences though many of you will recognize some central tenets from 'A Theory of Fun' by Raph Koster.
Game mechanics are rule based systems / simulations that facilitate and encourage a user to explore and learn the properties of their possibility space through the use of feedback mechanisms.
It is a simple definition, but it offers a good amount of insight into why games work and how we can make them better.

Feedback loops
Central to the model is the concept of feedback loops that encourage learning. Here is a diagram that should explain the concept in a more visual format:

(click to expand the diagram)

Player performs an action.

The action causes an effect within the simulated game world. The simulation contains public and private tokens and the causal rules that affect the states of the tokens. The player rarely knows all the rules and is highly unlikely to be able to instantly describe the complete possibility space described by the rules. The unknown portion of the simulation is a "black box" that the player must attempt to decipher.

The player receives feedback.

With new tools and information in hand, the player performs another action. Using what we've learned, we pursue additional pleasure.

Linking game mechanics to create a system of systems
Interconnected networks of game mechanics make up the game as a whole. You can think of the game as a set of interlinked of puzzles where solutions to one puzzle lead to clues that help on additional puzzles.

The info treats that a game provides to the user need not be used to solve the immediate black box at hand. Humans horde potentially useful information like squirrels horde nuts for the winter time. We'll store hints in our copious long term memory in the hope that there will be another black box down the line that will yield to our improved tool chest of knowledge.

The traditional metagame that sits on top of a game's core mechanics is a good example of how one black box feeds into another. In this situation, the game mechanics are arrange in a temporal hierarchy where rapid feedback loops (often part of the basic control scheme) provide tools that enable the mastery of longer term feedback loops. The potential patterns of linking game mechanics together are nearly endless. This is a wonderful area of future study.

Humans are infovores
Humans are wired to solve black boxes. It is a fundamental aspect of our neurological learning wetware. We get real chemical rewards when we grok a problem or gain information that we suspect will help in grokking a black box. Evolution has selected for this behavior over thousands of generations since it is the biological reward system that encourages tool use and technological adoption. Without this built in addiction to problem solving, we would lack agriculture, medicine, architecture and other fundamental survival techniques that make the human species such a remarkably successful animal.

A key aspect of our model is that games actively encourage learning. I can put a black box on the table with a hidden button. Unbeknownst to a potential user, pressing the button enough times and the black box will spew out a thousand shiny silver coins. This is not a game. This is a bizarre gizmo.

To turn it into a game, a game designer would need to do several things.

Encourage Discovery: First, make it obvious that the button in meant to be pushed. Humans are naturally curious creatures, but as game designers, we need to explicitly direct them to take certain actions.

Encourage Exploration: Second, the designer would put a counter on the front of the machines that lets the user know that their actions are having some impact on the system. The counter provides delightful drips of feedback and it is up to the user to interpret that feedback

Provide Tool Mastery: Third, the designer would post a note "Payout: 1,000, coins!" Not all games need explicit winning conditions, but hinting at future utility is a highly useful technique for encourage the player to begin interacting with a particular game mechanic.

We've turned a gizmo into a simple game of chance. The difference between the two is that our primitive 1-armed bandit is explicitly designed to encourage player learning.

Existing games are richly laden with techniques that encourage learning. A few that come immediately to mind:

Levels take complex systems and encourage players to explore and master one aspect of the possibility space at a time

The use of scores, coin collecting and experience points are all simple feedback mechanisms that let the user know they are making progress towards some future state.

The classic "See the treasure chest you can't reach" in Zelda acts as a promise of future utility.

A system alone is not a game. A dump of information is not a game. A system that encourages learning through strong feedback mechanisms is a game.

Secondary effects
I've just described the foundation of a game mechanic. Now lets dig into several of the secondary effects that immediate appear when you attempt to put this system into practice:
Burnout: A definition
After merrily harvesting tidbits of information by plunking coins into the virtual pachinko machine, the player will eventually grok the system. The game mechanisms may still serve up information, but the tidbits are not longer as tempting. The info we receive has no resonance with problems that we are solving or problems we have solved. It activates no curious networks in the brain. We begin subconsciously filtering out the feedback from these mechanisms. Burnout is a state of completed learning where the player finally figures out that a particular action no longer yields meaningful results.

In Monkeyball, researchers were astounded to find the the biggest jolt of pleasured occurred when you fell off a cliff and died. People loved it! If you look at falling off the cliff as a huge learning experience, this makes perfect sense. However, when they replayed the animation, people hated it. Same stimulus, radically different response. The animation of falling off cliff lost its ability to teach the second time around. Ultimately, users are subconsciously constantly asking the question "Is this activity worth my time? Does it gain me anything useful?"

Premature burnout
There are multiple paths that learning can take and not all are ones that game designers desire. We would like to imagine that groking a system results in complete and utter mastery of that system. In reality, 'grokking' means that that the user has stabilized on a mental model of the system they no longer feel like improving further. This model can be simple or complex, depending on the inclinations of the user.

A complex model of Black Jack might take into account probabilities of cards appearing based off what has already been played.

A simple model of Black Jack might conclude that cards appear pretty much randomly. There is more depth for the user to explore, but if they are a casual player, saying it is random is 'good enough' to judge the game.

A big frustration to game designers is that many users settle on a very simplistic model of how a particular game mechanic works. Players will claim that a game is unfair or too difficult and immediately toss it in a rubbish bin because the designer misjudged their reaction to a game mechanic.

Some mechanisms have highly predictable burnout rates. Most players immediately figure out that watching a cutscene again isn't going to provide much additional information. Other mechanisms demonstrate a large variation in burnout rates depending on the person who is playing the game and their personal preferences and disposition towards addiction. Some players try a slot machine once and then never again. Others will ruin their lives in pursuit of the next reward, never grokking the simple truth that such machines exist to take money, not give.

The factors that influence burnout are numerous.

Personality.

Personal history.

Practical importance of imagined future rewards that stem from mastery.

The ability for the mechanism to signal that there is additional depth of mastery possible.

The first two factors are not possible to derive by simply exercising your superior intellect. A deep understanding of your target audience's psychology is most helpful here. The second two factors are very much under the designer's control and can be refined through heavy prototyping and player observation.

Milking: The transition from learning to tool use
The flip side of burnout is grinding. If burnout is when a player discards a game mechanism because it is no longer useful, milking is when a player continues to exercise a game mechanic long after they've reached the state of mastery because the game mechanics continues to provide value.

When a player has learned one system, they will often keep interacting with it. On first blush, this seems mildly demented. The activity no longer provides burst of juicy learning. It is a bit like jawing on a piece of gum that long ago lost its flavor.

However, remember that games are networks of linked game mechanics. Player will continue to interact with a mastered game system in order to create a useful game state for exploring another black box. Mastery gives the player predictable pragmatic tools that helps them advance in other aspects of the game. The learning and mastery that occurs in other portions of the game provide the necessary reward that goads the player into revisiting old game mechanics.

You can extend the time that a player spends with a set of a game mechanics by ensuring that a mastered system still provides utility to the player. Designs techniques that build tools result in more gameplay for less development work.

Red Herrings: Black boxes external the game
The network of blackboxes that the player considers valid can extend far beyond the systems in the game itself. Often, the player will collect strange bits of info that have no real impact on the game mechanics that the game designer built into the game. These pieces rattle around in our heads like a collection of oddball keys for a set of locks that we may never find.

Game designers can tease the player with hints to systems that do not exist in order to suggest depth to their games. A sly arched eyebrow in a cutscene triggers as massive cascade of meaning alerts. Our brains love people and faces and relationships and the breeding opportunities and politics! Surely, that eyebrow is important? The player greedily stores the memory away.

What impact will the collected information have on their gameplay? None. What impact will it have on their lives? Very little. This virtual person in a cut scene is no one they will ever meet. But our brains were not evolved to deal with such things. As apes, the tale of an arched eyebrow by a potential mate from our little tribe always meant something very, very important. So our brain rewards us with a little jolt of pleasure for noticing such an "obviously" beneficial tidbit.

The designer managed to suggest a system and get some of the benefits of that system without actually building it. It is not going too far to suggest that paintings, sculpture, movies and television all thrive on this simple quirk of our brain's learning systems.

The downside is that such red herrings burnout quickly. Our brains becomes quite good at recognizing false, useless information. Almost no one watches a cut scene more than once. What would be the point?

My personal bias is to use red herring game mechanics sparingly. As game designers, we have deeper skills at our disposal. We can tailor potent electronic cascades of feedback loops that spin out a complex duet between computer and the player. Such system are highly effective at causing visceral pleasure and encouraging deep long term learning. As game designers, we conduct a majestic symphony of explicit learning and entrancing interactivity, something no static media will ever manage.

Sometimes though, it is worthwhile to suggest great mysteries with broad brush strokes. Setting, character design and plot can be crucial hooks that help make a game meaningful to players before they even press a single button.

Human factors: Emphasizing the humanity of games
Some folks read about models and immediately see them as reductionist mechanisms that strip the humanity out of the soul out of creating artistic games. The game mechanics I've described in this article attempts to avoid this trap. They explicitly include social, narrative and emotional elements in addition to purely analytical problems. All aspects of the human experience, that have an impact on our ability to process and learn from stimuli, fall within the domain of potential game play.

This definition of game design is much broader than the current range of games available on the market. Though it works quite well with hit points, button mashing and high scores, the breadth of the definition is intended to encourage exploration of a much wider range of human learning. Some open questions that I find immediately suggested by the model include:

What are the feedback mechanisms that impact learning about relationships, love, hate or spirituality?

How do we build games around such topics that leverage these feedback mechanisms?

Existing games give us the foundation of practical knowledge that lets us make the same thing in a reliable fashion. A good theoretical framework helps game designers create future titles that are inclusive of a wider range of human experience.

Conclusion
The goal of any model of game design worth its salt is that it both explains existing behavior and predicts future behavior of medium. In my experience so far, this model seem rather robust at explaining almost any existing game on the market ranging from board games to slot machines to social games. There is certainly room for improvement, but it is a good enough for my main goal.

I want a practical model that lets the good folks in this grand industry describe game designs in more exacting terms. The model should give insight into why their prototypes suck. It should allow them to discuss potential issues and solutions with shorthand language that cuts to the meat of the matter. A good predictive model allows for more intelligent design decisions with less waste and unnecessary rework.

So some of aspects of the model that I find useful:

It treats game mechanics as well defined, comprehensive atomic units. These units can be discussed individually and they can also be linked together in interesting ways.

Explicit identification of user value. Fun is not a nigh spiritual activity that spontaneously bursts forth from the ether. It has a testable neurological basis.

There exist clearly inputs and outputs that easily identified. You can easily tell when a specific game mechanic has all component elements such as actions, rules, tokens and feedback systems. Through observation, you can identify the player's reaction to each mechanism and then adjust its impact.

All and all, the hope is that this model of game mechanics is a good foundation for future discussion. It is one that I'll be leaning on heavily as I continue to meander through this lovely little series of essays on game design.

Take care
Danc.

References:
The pleasure of killing monkeys
See research lesson #1. I don't agree with their conclusion about what causes the reported result, but I find the data fascinating.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060330/duffy_01.shtml
http://www.avantgame.com/top10.htm

A theory of fun for game design: Raph Koster
Many of the basic concepts in this essay build upon the ideas in this book. I find it helps my thinking to rework what I've read in essay form. Call it a form of active listening if you must. (
http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Fun-Game-Design/dp/1932111972

Feedback loops
A slightly different definition of feedback loops that comes from control theory.
http://jbooth.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_jbooth_archive.html

Games are designer foods for infovores
http://lostgarden.com/2006/07/games-are-designer-food-for-infovores.html

Other loose ends
This essay became too long and started budding little essays. Some have been planted in new documents that may one day emerge in full blossom. The rest are here for your reading pleasure.

Is a book a game? With this big emphasis on learning, there is bound to be a wiseass who asks "Is a text book a game? It too encourages learning." The problem here is that there are few strong feedback mechanisms evident. The user reads the book and without a doubt they get a burst of pleasure from ingesting the info. However, the act of turning the pages, and interpreting language are skills mastered through other activities ages early. At best, reading the book is an example of milking, where a player uses a mastered technique to advance the grokking of some larger blackbox.

The primary role of content. In this model of game mechanics, content in the game is meaningful only through it's association with a feedback mechanism. Plot points become reward and hints, Damage becomes a punishment that clues that player into the fact they shouldn't be doing something. There is no such thing as an inherently pretty picture that exists 'just because.' The image is pretty because it activates the brain's learning systems which in turn feed back into actions.

In order to answer the question "what content does my game need?" you need to first answer the question "What feedback should my game mechanics provide to the user based on their actions?"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The phrase "game mechanics" sends a pleasant shiver down my spine. At the heart of every game are these mysterious whirring clicking mechanisms that deliver to the player pleasure and thrills. We use them, we build them, but I've never seen a good unified definition of game mechanics that gives us a practical base upon which to build great games.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Business of Gamification Infographic;

The Business of Gamification Infographic Powered by Demand Metric
- See more at: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/gamification-infographic#sthash.4WM351MN.dpuf
Powered by Demand Metric - See more at: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/gamification-infographic#sthash.4WM351MN.dpuf

To learn more about gamification, check out these two books.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Business of Gamification Infographic; The Business of Gamification Infographic Powered by Demand Metric - See more at: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/gamification-infographic#sthash.4WM351MN.dpuf Powered by Demand Metric - See more at: http://www.demandmetric.com/content/gamification-infographic#sthash.4WM351MN.dpuf To learn more about gamification, check out these two books.

# data[].attributes.body
A nice write-up of Dan Slaughter's, explaining the badges & rewards attached for his gamified market analysis unit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I have teased that I will be Gamifying a unit to my IGCSE Business students but today was the first day we really discussed what it would look like. I openly told my students that it is a work in progress and any positive or negative feedback would greatly assist. For example, when I first introduced the idea of the game they were firmly against any type of public leader board, even if it was just for the top few people.

I first introduced badges and explained how these could be earned. Initially when I looked at creating badges I hoped to use Mozilla Open Badges but instead went with Class Badges. I saw a tweet from Kelsey about Class Badges and after playing with it I was sold as it is so simple.

Though my badges aren't finalized, my thought process was to utilize project based learning in order to earn badges. I split my badges into individual badges and team badges. So far I have awarded more XP points to the team badges in order to promote team work and helping each other succeed vs competition. I am still trying to figure out the best ratio on team XP vs individual XP and will be discussing it more with my class. Here is a snapshot of some of the badges students can earn:

Individual Badges

Team Badges

Entire list of badges so far

A theme of my badges is that most everything has to be shared on our Google+ Community.

I look at the community as a way to empower and take ownership in one's own learning and by producing quality work, sharing it with classmates and hopefully have them learn from it; I believe their is potential for great satisfaction.

One hard part with the badges is that one can't get half a badge. You either get it or you don't. Therefore I informed my class that when they submit the necessary work to receive the badge, I will be the judge to confirm whether they earn the badge or not. If they have not met the requirements, I will give them constructive comments so they can re-submit.

My students naturally noticed that team badges are worth much more and grew concerned about this, especially my strongest students. One badge that especially concerned them was Quiz Champions. To earn this badge every student in the group will have to get at least 85% on every quiz of the game. There is no limit on the amount of times quizzes can be taken though they can't be taken more than once a day. I asked them why I did this and an astute student replied, "so we help teach our teammates who are struggling." Perfect.

So students don't only try for the minimum to get a badge, I have also included two caveats:

Above and Beyond badge: Awarded to students and or teams who produce absolutely top notch work. An additional 10% maximum XP points will be earned.

For Hexagon Masters, Producers, Researchers and Market Analyzers (all major projects), teams will fill in a team member evaluation (including themselves). If a student stands out in this evaluation they will earn an additional 10% XP points

These last two caveats seemed to settle my high performers as they will still have opportunities to get additional XP points.

Next I introduced Reward Cards and the grading system.

This got my students the most excited and also the most freaked out. They loved the reward cards but felt 3 minutes is not enough time on their phones. The grades worried some since I have decided XP points will actually contribute to their grade. A final number hasn't been decided but I am thinking 65% with the remaining 35% coming from tests. I'm not a huge fan of tests but being an exam driven class, I do recognize their importance.

Admittedly the grades part freak me out too as I am still not sure how the numbers will work out. The numbers in the picture above are no where near final but I need to think carefully of my expectations in receiving badges and make sure the game isn't too hard or too easy.

The last thing I explained is that every week students will have the opportunity to nominate another students good deed. This does not have to be someone on their own team. If I feel the good deed merits it, the nominated student will have get to draw one random "reward card." I will also make additional reward cards to add a bit of surprise.

After all this and answering questions I saw a mixed reaction. The biggest concern was who will be on one's team. Some students thought it sounded like a lot of fun while others felt they still didn't quite get how it would work. No one had strong feelings against it.

We talked as a class and then I told them I would leave the room and let them discuss on their own. I explained that nothing I have shown is set in stone and their feedback would be greatly appreciated.

5 minutes later I came back and overall it looks they bought into it. The biggest concern was making the teams fair and I told them I will do my best to do this. One surprise was that the class decided they did want to have a top 5 leader board but with no names attached to it and I said that sounded great.

I have encouraged students to add more comments on the Google+ Community and will continually to seek out their advice as we play. One thought I had was giving a weekly survey about the game where they rank a variety of categories 1-10. I expect this unit to last approximately 10 weeks so I could have some interesting analysis to reflect on in the end.

Next up will be finalizing the game and building a site to put everything. I'm looking forward to how it will turn out.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I have teased that I will be Gamifying a unit to my IGCSE Business students but today was the first day we really discussed what it would look like. I openly told my students that it is a work in progress and any positive or negative feedback would greatly assist.

# data[].attributes.headline
@njkraai Here is the introduction slides :-) Music missing so add your own!  

# data[].attributes.subject
@njkraai Here is the introduction slides :-) Music missing so add your own!  

# data[].attributes.headline
Google + community Gamification 4 teacher by teachers

# data[].attributes.subject
Google + community Gamification 4 teacher by teachers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This community was created for teachers to connect and collaborate with other teachers who share in a passion for gamification.

# data[].attributes.headline
Google + community Gamification in Education

# data[].attributes.subject
Google + community Gamification in Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn while gaming. 3d game lab is education through online learning, gaming, teacher professional development.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In response to all of the top 10 blog posts that have dominated my twitter feed and blog reader in the recent past, I have decided to focus on one thing at a time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A simple and easy to use toolkit for Gamification Design by

GET THE NEW 35 GAMIFICATION MECHANICS TOOLKIT ONLINE!

The new 2.0 Version
This is the new version of my 35 Gamification Mechanics Toolkit. After the great success of v1.0 (that you canfind and download here: Toolkit v1.0) I've been working hard for quite some months to improve and revamp both the mechanics design and the content itself. The former version was viewed more than 3500 times, received 85 G+ likes and has helped many people in developing their own gamification projects and I hope this new version will help many others!

This new 2.0 version includes: a new design steps system, revamped design & improved mechanics

Download and print your cards. It's totally free and images are HQ! And remember it's better to play the game with your friends!

You'll have 35 cards, and 6 design levels that follow a color pattern. Organise them by colors and go to step 3!

Every level means a step in the design process. Create infinite gamification experiences by mixing all the levels and mechanics!

Let the magic begin!

Can I get the Official Deck of Cards?

Yes!!! Go to the top part of this post!

Saying thanks is important

There are many people that I'd like to thank for their collaboration in this toolkit. This is not the kind of thing that is done in one day, and many people have reviewed it, contributed to make it better or just gave some feedback. So for you all, THANK YOU!

Last but not least, I'd like to say thank you to: community for supporting this project.

2013

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 35 Gamification Mechanics toolkit v2.0

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A simple and easy to use toolkit for Gamification Design by GET THE NEW 35 GAMIFICATION MECHANICS TOOLKIT ONLINE! The new 2.0 Version This is the new version of my 35 Gamification Mechanics Toolkit.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chemistry Review Game Purpose: Duration: Reward Structure/Goals: Content Assessment Level Game Strategy Basic Vocab Review Quizlet Electron Level All: Quiz = low XP Game (top 3 above my score on closing date and time) Special Badge/Artifact Symbols → Elements 1-20 Q…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Elements of Games: Wizardress Abduction Scavenger Hunt (ISTE)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Wizardress Abduction Scavenger Hunt 1) Ransom Note to go out the night before the Scavenger Hunt: Here is Michelle’s post to our FB group: ` To begin the challenge: 1) Go over the ransom notes and the rules with your class (secretly plot to collaborate as a class despite your sepa…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here is an sample quest from the World of Work: Quest #2: A box weighing 2 kg has been located at the bottom of the stairs outside of the cafeteria. Your quest should you choose to accept it, is to map out your path and determine the amount of work you must do to the object to move it to the se...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Some disturbing news has come to our attention. According to NASA, it seems we have been discovered by the Dark Force, and time is of the essence. Our team of brilliant scientists and ethereal beings has been working around the clock in an effort to come up with a plan to combat the evil fo...

# data[].attributes.headline
Save Earth:  Introduction to Physics Game

# data[].attributes.subject
Save Earth:  Introduction to Physics Game

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Save Planet Earth In November of the year 2014, a dark unknown force will descend upon planet Earth composed entirely of antimatter. It's sole purpose is to destroy planet Earth by reversing physical law as we know it. A brilliant ethereal being, the Wizardress of All Things Newcombness, discov...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Gamification 101 Are You Ready to Get Your Game On? Contact Information: Twitter: @roryaileen E-mail: roryaileen@gmail.com Blog: Series on Gamification Facebook: Rory Newcomb Google +: Rory Newcomb, Gamification 4 Teachers by Teachers, Gamification in Education ASB Online Academy Cou…