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In-Depth Information
resources so that amateurs do not develop bad habits early on in the process, or to
suggest alternative approaches for more experienced designers.
For instance, in an educational context, teachers may design and implement
gamified strategies into a classroom activity with the intention to increase behaviours
such as the timely submission of assignments or the productivity on assignment tasks
in the way of gold stars or house points. A more recent example of this is with the
not-for-profit online educational organisation,
Khan Academy.
As evident in Figure 1,
the
Khan Academy
have implemented a range of different badge types for completing
various types of assessment or loyalty such as returning to
Khan Academy
to complete
more tasks. However, while students generally enjoy receiving rewards, a focus on
receiving rewards can distract the student of the initial aim. For example, if you
provide students with a badge for completing an essay, the quality of the essay may
not be the focus, but rather completing the essay to get the badge. Students may
accumulate a lot of badges, perhaps to compete with others, but it raises the question
about what kind of impact has the badge had on the students understanding of essay
writing. Implementing badges that reflect behaviours such as no grammatical errors,
may fix this situation - thus encouraging students to proof read their work.
Fig. 1.
Khan Academy badge types (left to right: Meteorite, Moon, Earth, Sun, Black Holes,
Challenge Patches)
7
3
Resources for Designing Gamified Systems
At present, few resources exist that can assist individuals to design a gamified
approach as opposed to the design of games [4]-[6] most notably,
Jesse Schell's deck
(and book) of lenses
[7]. However, while there are specific resources available such as
GameOn!: Gamification Toolkit
8
, GameGame
[8],
Playful Experiences (PLEX)
[9],
[10] or simpler as
Grow-a-Game
9
and
PlayGen
10
, there still needs to be a more
concentrated resource for the design of gamified approaches aimed at both
inexperienced and experienced designers. These resources provide support and
assistance, while being diverse and open to many possible design options. While
having the freedom to design any type of gamified approach can be a positive thing, it
may become overwhelming to an inexperienced designer. Furthermore, if the design
is based heavily around extrinsic and/or meaningless rewards, it may harm the
longevity, user motivation and engagement with the gamified approach [11], [12].
7
Badge icons taken from:
https://www.khanacademy.org/badges
8
http://www.gameonlab.com/toolkit/
9
Also available as an app on the App Store on iTunes.
http://www.tiltfactor.org/grow-a-game/
10
http://gamification.playgen.com/
