Gamification and Player Centered Design
At face value, it may seem to some that gamification is just adding game elements, such as badges and prizes, to non-gaming elements. Gamification is much more than that, as it entails providing the player with motivation and fun.
The user-centered design process consists of analysis, design, evaluation and implementation with the user at the center. It seeks to achieve the main goals of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Gamification, however, expands on these goals in that users seek empowerment over efficiency and delight over satisfaction as well as achieve increased engagement. One gamification framework in which projects expand upon this process is called ‘player-centered design’
The term player-centered design comes from Janaki Kumar and Mario Herger in the book Gamification at Work: Designing Engaging Business Software. Player-Centered Design is not meant to be a rigid step process but meant to be an adaptable framework to the product or business. It recognizes that games are meant to be played so, therefore, seeks out key factors in how the game will work for the player.
Similar to user centered design, the player-centered design process puts the player in the center. It is an iterative process with 5 main steps:
Know your Player
The first step is to understand who the player is and their context, which is vital to the success of gamification. A player, as opposed to a user, is using this product by choice and to have fun. What works with one audience won’t work with another so. Creating player personas based on who the target audience is, their values, what they enjoy, etc will help evaluate decisions and assumptions moving forward.
Understand the Mission
The next step is to understand the “mission”, or the business’s current situation and intended outcome. This requires a thorough understanding of the issues, problems, and the goal needed to be accomplished, such as to teach something or to change a behavior. Next, understanding exactly what the target behavior of the player should be in order to achieve the goal.
Understand Human Motivation
It’s important to understand what motivates players and how to keep them motivated. There are different types of motivation used in gamification, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic comes from the inside, whereas extrinsic are external factors. Examples are seen in the diagram.
Apply Game Mechanics
When applying the mechanics of the game, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the player, the mission, and the types of motivation in order to choose the right game mechanics. This consists of elements such as points, badges, constraints, etc. There are several different types of mechanics, but what really matters is determining which ones will enhance the player’s experience and fit in a natural way.
Manage, Monitor, Measure
It’s important to measure the performance of a design to see if it meets objections as well as for iterations. In gamification, the three M’s are used to measure performance: manage, monitor and measure. Managing the mission in which is having clearly defined objectives that can easily be iterated over time. The next is monitoring the motivation and if the player loses motivation, tweaking to increase it. The third is measuring the metric or measuring the overall performance or player satisfaction.
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