GLS 8.0: Scott Nicholson’s Presentation

I’ve been looking through the posted talks at GLS 8.0. One of interesting ones was a presentation titled A User-Centered Theoretical Framework for Meaningful Gamification. The presentation was given by Scott Nicholson, who began by borrowing Sebastian Deterding’s definition of gamification- the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. Nicholson then points out that the commonly used mechanics for gamification- points, levels, achievements, and badges- are not new. Some examples of gamification that have been used for a long time include: air mileage cards, green stamps for grocery shopping, and libraries with summer reading programs.

So how is it that gamification is made meaningful? Nicholson says you first have to give the player information and put the PLAY back in player by focusing on play, not on scoring elements. You can use scoring elements to help give meaning, but the focus should be on play. Next, you have to allow the player to have choices and the ability to share those choices. Then, you have to make informed play the reward, where informed play is giving people playful spaces based on information that lets them explore. Nicholson warns that external rewards should be used sparingly and when rewards are being used, they have to be meaningful and relevant to the use, keeping in mind that relevance is user-defined and situational so there is no one reward that will be relevant to everyone. And once you start using rewards, you are stuck using them forever because people will be less motivated if you take them away. Finally, the player’s benefits and the notion that player’s need different things must come first in design.