Andrzej Marczewski

THE
GAMIFICATION
DESIGN HANDBOOK
EVEN NINJA MONKEYS LIKE TO
PLAY
Engage Everyone

Gamified UK
 The Gamification Design Handbook

© 2023 Andrzej Marczewski

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
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The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the
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Gamified UK

www.gamified.uk

@daverage

Originally edited by Dutch Driver http://www.choragus.co/

& Laura Marczewski

User Type and Mechanic Icons, where not custom drawn, are under the CC3 License and downloaded from www.game-icons.net

Figure 32 Oxytocin "Oxytocin with labels" by Edgar181 - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oxytocin_with_labels.png#/media/File:Oxytocin_with_labels.png
ISBN: 9781724017109
10 9 8 7 6 5
Originally this was dedicated to just my Mother who passed in 2007. I dedicate this version to
both my Mum and my Dad (who is still alive and well!).
Both encouraged me and believed in myself when many would not early in my life.
It is thanks in large part to them that I am who I am today.
 CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Theory of Games, Play and Gamification
The Science of Gamification
Building Gamified Solutions
Planning and Implementing your Gamification Design
Final Thoughts
Glossary
References
Index
About the author
Acknowledgements
First, I want to thank my wife and wonderful family. Without their support and understanding, I
would never have had the confidence or the strength to pursue my interests in gamification.
Without my kids, I would not have half of the insights into games and play that I have now!
I also want to say thanks to the whole of the gamification community. It is a small community
filled with amazing and generous people. I would like to thank Professor Richard Bartle, who
has always provided great feedback on my work when asked and who helped immensely during
the early phases of creating my User Types. Next, Roman Rackwitz, who is my gamification
muse and Marigo Raftopoulos, another amazing sounding board for ideas in gamification.
I want to thank the great people who read draughts of the book and gave valuable feedback.
Mike Finney, Richard Wallace, Kevin Werbach, Rob Alvarez Bucholska and Karl Kapp to name
just a few.
Penultimately, all those who bought the first edition and still went out and got this one, you are
awesome, and I love you!
Finally, huge thanks to Dutch Driver, another expert in the field of gamification, for his
Herculean efforts to edit the original book, despite my best attempts to get in his way.
 INTRODUCTION
I have always been a gamer. One of my earliest memories is of playing games on the Apple II
that my Dad had borrowed from work, Star Trek I believe. Since then, games have always been a
big part of my life. From my Commodore 64, through to the SNES then LAN gaming at friends’
houses on Duke Nuke’em and Doom.
At university, I discovered the joys of clan-based gaming when I joined the Elites of Starship
Troopers playing Starship Troopers: Battlespace on the AOL network 1. This led me to start my
own clan, Rages Renegades. Those years were important to me in ways I could never have
realised!
In 2006, I started Yet Another Review Site 2 to write about games. By then I had been a web
designer for six years, been involved in creating interactive learning materials and had formed a
love for all thing’s technology related.
In 2012, these interests all seemed to collide when I discovered gamification. It was like a
lightning bolt hitting me. All my thoughts on how important games could be to people, from
learning to social good – were all catered for in gamification. I started to blog about it
obsessively, learning everything I could about the topic. I released a book 3 in the same year and
started to get involved in speaking and consulting on the topic.
What you have in your hands now is a kind of reboot of that original book, in fact, it is the
second edition of that reboot (a reboot of a reboot???) Based on my blogs over the last few years
as well as essays and articles, some of the content follows a similar theme to the original books, a
lot of it is different, new or evolved – it is certainly better written and edited. Look at it as the
Ultimate Edition with all of the DLC and patches added on.
It will take you on a journey through the theory behind games and play, into the more practical
realms of designing gamified solutions, all through my eyes.
My hope is that this book will equip you with enough information to feel confident enough to
speak about gamification and start using it for your own projects.
A quick note on the original title. I went through many iterations of the title. I went on Google+,
Facebook, Twitter and more asking for advice. Then my daughter made an amazing comment.
“Daddy, when I grow up I want to be a ninja or a unicorn with wings called Princess Unicorn.”
Then it struck me. It didn’t really matter what the title was, so I tried to think of the coolest thing
I could. Who doesn’t love monkeys or ninjas? With this second edition, I was even able to
include the unicorns! In fact, I nearly called this version “Even Unicorns Dream of Flying?” So,
equipped with that insight into my mind, read on, enjoy and remember – even ninja monkeys (or
unicorns) like to play!
This was once called Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Unicorn Edition. In fact,
that’s the way it has been since 2018. What you now have is a slightly rebranded
version of the cover to make it more grown up – like the different covers Harry
Potter had so that adults could read it on the train and not feel silly. Well adult –
read on and don’t be embarrassed but the cover! There are a couple of tweaks here
and there as well.
THE THEORY OF GAMES, PLAY AND
GAMIFICATION
 What is Gamification?

This chapter will show you some of the history of the word gamification as well as a
few definitions. My Master’s definition is also there for you to laugh look at.
Every story needs to have a beginning, and this is no different.
Once upon a time, in 2002, Nick Pelling officially coined a word (at least that is the
version I know) 4. That word is the whole reason you are now reading this book. The word was
gamification. Nick had a vision. He wanted to make non-game related interfaces, such as cash
machines (ATM’s), more like games. In his word’s gamification was:
“Applying game-like accelerated user interface design to make electronic
transactions both enjoyable and fast”
Sadly, his dreams never came to fruition; he was ahead of his time. In fact, it was not until 2010
that it really started to appear in common usage. Since then the definition of gamification has
evolved, in terms of both wording and meaning. Wikipedia’s history of definitions is quite
interesting (to gamification geeks like me at least!) 5.
Before I offer my own definition of gamification, it is worth quoting the ones you are likely to
see most often. First up is Sebastian Deterding’s definition 6, “The use of game design elements
in non-game contexts,” which is the most widely recognised.
Another one that has gained popularity is Kevin Werbach’s 7 “The process of making activities
more game-like,” which is my personal favourite from other experts.
My definition, when cornered, is;
“the process of making something a game or game-like”.
The reason for this will become clear over the course of the book; however, here is a quick
breakdown of its meaning.
I use “something” here rather than “an experience, service, system, UI, turnip etc” because I am
trying to keep it as simple as clients want it to be. We can add context and methods after they
understand this.
What game-like may contain could be up for discussion, but as far as most clients are concerned,
it absolutely covers everything from adding points and a leaderboard all the way up to making a
full game – so it should mean that to us as practitioners if we ever want to get over the massive
speed bump which is the word Gamification!
At times, you will be asked to give a simple definition for people who really do not get all the
fuss about games. I find the following quite helpful;
“The use of concepts and elements that make games engaging and enjoyable, in
other areas of work or life in general”.
Do not be afraid of the word gamification. It has a bad reputation at times, but that does not
mean you should not use it. Some will tell you that you should speak about “Behavioural
Change” or “Human Centric Design”, and I have been guilty of this myself.
However, you are better off getting a good understanding of what gamification really is (by
reading this book of course...) and then be able to stand your ground with compelling reasons
why gamification is so great!
Something that is vital to say here is that gamification is not the process of making games! I will
go into much more detail later, but just keep that in mind. We are not trying to make Super
Mario Excel or Call of Word 2013! In fact, Raph Koster made a wonderful statement on his blog
whilst I was writing this, that I think is very relevant here:
“UX design is about removing problems from the user. Game design is
about giving problems to the user.”
If you consider that gamification is a form of user experience (UX) design, you can see just how
different the two really are.
 What Are Games and Play?

As the title suggests, I love to play. Sadly, my Master is not as fun as he makes out.
It has been so long since I last played, I have almost forgotten how. This chapter is
my favourite as it reminds me of what play is all about.
Defining Play
There are many definitions of play that people with an interest probably argue over! The most
well know is that of Johan Huizinga from his book Homo Ludens. He describes play in the
following way.
"Summing up the formal characteristic of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite
consciously outside 'ordinary' life as being 'not serious' but at the same time absorbing the
player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit
can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to
fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings that tend to
surround themselves with secrecy and to stress the difference from the common world by
disguise or other means. 8"
Mine is a little less complex and fits with my personal philosophies on play.
Play is a free-form activity that is undertaken because it brings fun or joy.
The nature of play helps us to understand the building blocks of games. The rest of this chapter
will go into this in much more detail, suffice to say – it really is not as simple as it seems, but it
is fascinating!
Lusory Attitude
Play has been an area of academic study since the times of Plato! Whilst I researched play, one
word became hard to ignore - ludic.
It comes up often in papers and articles about play. Ludic is derived from the Latin for play,
ludus, and is defined as “Showing spontaneous and undirected playfulness” 9.
Ludic turns up in various forms when academics speak about play. Here are a few examples.
Ludus: the original Latin for play
Ludeme: an element or unit of play 10
Prelusory goals: goals set by the game
Lusory means: rules set by the game
Lusory attitude: a playful mindset, an understanding that you are entering play

The last three are from Bernard Suit’s definition of a game described in his seminal book The
Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia 10.
“To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs [prelusory
goal], using only means permitted by rules [lusory means], where the rules
prohibit use of more efficient in favour of less efficient means [constitutive rules],
and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity
[lusory attitude].”
This “lusory” attitude is the key that separates play from any other activity. As an example, read
this passage as if it related to a job or academic studies.

You start with a tutorial. It sets the context for what you are doing as well as giving
you the basic skills to start.
 You are then given a set of tasks to complete and goals.
Next, you start performing simple tasks repeatedly to improve your knowledge and
skills.
As your level of skill increases, new challenges become available and new goals are
set. These require you to learn new skills and increase your abilities.
Along the way, there are surprises and unexpected events. You will meet new
people; some will be friends who you will work with, some will not.
All the while, you will be collecting experience and currency as you complete
progress.

Now, read it with a lusory or playful attitude. Approach it as if you were reading about a new
game.
Play, Toys and Games
All of this raises the question of what play is and how it is different from games.
Play
There are many views of play out there. My view is that play is a free-form activity that is
undertaken because it brings fun and joy. In this sort of description, play is an activity – it
follows a similar line of thought to that proposed by historian, Johan Huizinga in Homo Ludens
8
.
Huizinga also gave us another important concept. When considering games and play, the Magic
Circle. The Magic Circle can be visualised as a boundary between reality and play, with you sat
at the centre of it as you play.
There are many variations on this idea, most famously Frames from Gregory Bateson 11 and its
expansion by Erving Goffman. 12 This expansion described a frame as a set of unspoken, implicit
rules that surround the fantasy world, created through play, referred to as meta-communication.
Play does not need to have a point or a defined goal to it. It exists within a set of rules created by
the person or people playing and is born in the imagination. Often it is a way of exploring the
boundaries and extremes of something.
Play is essential for children as it teaches them about their environment and themselves 13. It is
also important to consider that children play just because they can, and it entertains them! Like
adults, they are seeking novel experiences.
When my daughters were very young, they used to engage in pure play. They did things because
they were new and judging by their smiles and their laughter – they enjoyed it. I would go so far
as to say they found it fun. Play did not need external objects at first; they could just move their
foot and find that hilarious. As they developed, their own movements became less interesting,
probably because they had discovered the boundaries of what could be done, so players needed
to have some help. They would pick up props and use them in ways they found entertaining.
These props became toys.
Toys
Toys are an interesting concept when considering games and play. In this context, toys are
objects or representation of objects that have their own implicit rules but do not come with
explicit rules as standard. Game designer Chris Crawford neatly describes the nature of toys in a
series of dichotomies he created to define games 14.
“If no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy.”
Examples would be a ball, a stick, a Transformer, etc. You can play with them in any manner
you chose, confined only by the toy’s own rules: effect of gravity, shape, fragility etc.
If you throw a ball, depending on the material the ball is made from, it might bounce, it might
roll, or it might stop dead. These are not rules that the person playing imposes on the ball. If you
throw a Transformer in the same way as a ball, it will obey its own rules. It will not bounce and
will probably break when you throw it at a wall!
There is another type of toy worth mentioning – I refer to it as a playground or a toy box; often
you will hear them called sandboxes. This is an entire environment rather than a single object.
When you examine a game such as Minecraft in the creator mode, you are in a virtual world that
has its own implicit rules for how the world behaves. This world has constraints that you as the
player have to abide by.
How far you can dig down, how far you can build up, how certain blocks behave with other
blocks and more.
However, within those constraints, you can do what you want. You can use the world itself as a
toy and play with it. That can include turning the world into the setting for a game!
Going back to my daughter's experiences. At first, they would just play with the toys, they would
not create any discernible rules around how they interacted with the toys. After a while, that was
no longer enough. It was not fun just to throw bricks at the wall; they started to add rules to the
play like stacking them as high as they could or lining up the colours. The free-form play now
had structure – it had become a simple game.
Games
Like play, games have many, many definitions. To illustrate this, here are just a few!
“[...] a word like “game” points to a somewhat diffuse “system” of prototype frames, among
which some frame-shifts are easy, but others involve more strain” 15
Marvin Minsky
“The voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles” 16
Bernard Suits
“A series of meaningful choices” 17
Sid Meier
“A game is a problem-solving activity, approached with a playful attitude.” 18
Jesse Schell
“A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that
results in a quantifiable outcome.” 19
Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen
“A structured experience with rules and goals that is fun.”
Amy Jo Kim
Simply put, play begins to become a game when you start to add explicit goals and impose
system-based rules.
If I kick the ball through a goal, I get a point and I win (Zero sum). If we work together to get the
ball through a series of obstacles, we win (non-Zero sum). For some, this will boil down to
competition either with the system or with other players, cooperation, or collaboration.
You can summarise the three important distinctions between games and play as:
Prelusory goals: Games have goals to achieve as set by an external source such as
the game designer.
Lusory means: Games have rules that define how you must achieve these prelusory
goals.
Constitutive rules: Games have rules that create challenges that must be completed
to achieve goals. Rather than going from A to B in a straight line, you must
overcome obstacles and solve puzzles going A to Z to E to B and back again!

Bringing It All Together

Put simply, the relationships between games, play and toys can be written like this;
You play.
You play a game.
You play with a toy.
You play a game with a toy.

Figure 1 is my attempt to summarise all of this as neatly as possible.

 Figure 1 Play, Games and Toys
Play in Context
The concept of play is very important to me. I feel that it is one of the true keys
to engagement in adults, but it often seems that adults often have no idea how to play. They
have the intrinsic desire to play battered out of them by the “real” world. Unlike children, they
often don’t see the potential for play in the world around them. Some blame work for this – they
often say that the opposite of play is work. However, I prefer to go with Dr Stuart Brown’s
(founder of the National Institute of Play) analysis in this case, that the opposite of play is
actually depression 20.
Work is actually very similar to play and even more like games. The main difference is
perception. We speak about lusory attitude a lot where play and games are concerned. As
mentioned earlier, this is where you approach a non-play situation with a playful attitude. Just
this change in mindset can change your perception of a situation. Therefore, with the right
attitude, work can seem much more playful or gameful (note – these are not the same thing!!!)
Playfulness vs Gamefulness
First and foremost, Playfulness and Gamefulness both need a safe environment. Playfulness
requires a great deal of freedom and a lack of explicit rules imposed by the system or
environment. In contrast, Gamefulness is a little less freeform, there are explicit rules that are
maintained by the system.
Play Sits Between Chaos and Control
Over the years I have concluded that play sits between chaos and control in the context of the
world within which play is occurring. It is not totally without rules, but it is also not totally
beholden to them.
However, as I dove deeper into thinking about where play sits in our understanding of the world
and how we react to it. I realised that it is not quite as simple as chaos and control, it also had a
lot to do with intent. Did we explicitly mean to do something or is it more implicit in nature? It
occurred to me that play also sits between implicit and explicit desires and actions. We play at a
conscious and subconscious level.

Figure 2 Play in Context

I mapped out a few other concepts to give this more context. For instance, I see anarchy as a
deliberate act that leads to chaos. Art is implicit to the artist, that is it comes from the soul.
However, the artist must have a level of control from the artist. They must get their ideas down
in a way that fits their vision. That takes control.
Fear is an internal emotion that often comes from a lack of control – from chaos, not
understanding what is happening around us. And we all know what fear leads to (puts on a Yoda
Voice) “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to
suffering.” At the far end of this, we find depression, a complete loss of all control in every
way.
Self-expression is also internal but sits between chaos and control. Think of an artist who
covers themselves in paint and rolls around on a sheet of paper. Whilst they have an idea and
have some level of control – there is a random, chaotic nature to it as well.
At the other end of the scale, we have games. They have a much more explicit control of the
player’s experience. The reason this is not at the far top right is because there the player still has
some freedom in most, if not all, games. However, with work , this seems to be much less the
case – especially in more “traditional” jobs. Explicit Control rules!
As you can finally see, Play sits somewhere in the middle of all of this. It is implicit, explicit,
chaotic and controlled all at once. Hey, I didn’t say it was simple!
So What?
This is all very philosophical, but there is a useful point to this. To get the best out of people you
need to allow them a level of autonomy, but not so much that it descends into chaos, There also
needs to be a level of control, but not so much that they are unable to make decisions for
themselves. This balance helps to give them the freedom they need, within a framework that
supports them.

Types of Rules in Play and Games

As mentioned, play is not devoid of rules. It is just that the rules seem less obvious to the
observer. When talking about play, this perceived lack of rules is often emphasised as a big
difference between games and play. Not everyone is quite as black and white on that, myself
included. What play lacks is what I refer to as system rules. It is still beholden to other types of
rules, what I am now calling inherent rules and meta-rules.
Inherent Rules
Inherent rules are those rules that affect play or toys in ways that are not controlled by outside
influences; such as a player or a game designer. For instance, a ball has several inherent rules. It
is affected by gravity, it has mass, volume, wind resistance etc. These things are all inherent to
the ball. In a game like Minecraft, the inherent rules of the game would include how high you
can build, how deep you can dig, what you must combine to make certain objects. The player
plays within these inherent rules.
System Rules
System rules are rules that are added by the player or the designer that are there to create the
game. If you are bouncing a ball seemingly aimlessly, this could be considered play. The
inherent rules control the activity more than anything. How high the ball can bounce, for
example? If you then decided that you must bounce the ball as high as you can and catch it with
your left hand, you are adding system rules, you are creating a simple game. You are deliberately
adding an obstruction to just bouncing the ball and catching it!
Meta-Rules
These are rules that go beyond what you would consider written or system-imposed rules. These
are fluid rules that can change moment by moment. These are the rules that define how play
unfolds. They are the unspoken rules that children manage to communicate to each other when
they are playing. The situation is constantly changing, but they always seem to be able to adapt
to the changes without fuss. Mrs Dawkin’s tea party takes a sinister turn as Action Man invades
and takes Teddy Ruckspin hostage. These are rules about rules, rules beyond rules, unspoken
rules, unwritten rules and quite frankly – unfathomable rules to those not involved directly in the
play!
Toys/Play/Games
I don’t consider just games and play on their own, I always include toys. Toys can be an essential
part of games and play. Toys are just objects.
They have inherent rules, as I said earlier, but really, they must have other rules associated with
them to be included in play and games. A ball does not play with itself and is certainly not a
game without some kind of system rules. On their own, they just have inherent rules.
Play, as discussed has inherent rules and these meta-rules. Games have system rules as well as
inherent rules. A toy can exist without play or games, play can exist without toys or games.
Games, however, must have play to exist.
In diagrammatic form (as is my way) this looks a bit like the following

Figure 3 Play, Toys and Games

Inherent rules affect games, play and toys. Meta-rules affect play, and in turn games (you can’t
have a game without play!). Finally, system rules that only affect games.
The Meta-Rules of Play
Having introduced the concept of Meta-Rules, it seems sensible to expand on them a little. As a
reminder, these were the non-system or inherent rules that guide how people play.
I have broken them down into four categories; social, contextual, communication and personal.

Figure 4 The Meta Rules of Play

Communication
Communication and empathy play an enormous part in collaborative play. I have identified four
types that help to control play.
Verbal
The most obvious form of communication – yelling instructions or
updates!
Intuition
Sensing how others are reacting to you and those around them, that
feeling that you know something has changed based on subtle hints from
others.
Body Language
Almost as unsubtle as verbal communication, you can tell what other
people playing are feeling with how they appear. Crossed arms, looking
unhappy, looking to the left to indicate where you should go next etc.
Emotional
A layer on top of other types of communication and similar in style to
intuition, emotional communication is understanding the emotional
subtext of other types of communication. A player may communicate in a
happy way, but there could be other underlying emotions.

Social
Social meta-rules are more about what society expects. When playing, there are some things that
others don’t expect – based on social rules.
Whilst I have broken these down into three headings, they are all linked. There is an expected
behaviour based on culture and the norms for that culture.
For instance, if you are play acting mummy’s and daddy’s, it would be very unexpected by most
cultural norms and standards for one player to jump up and start pretending to shoot all the
others!
Context
Play is contextual, it can change depending on where people are, what they are playing with and
how they feel.
Environment
What are the surroundings whilst playing? How does that affect what can
and can’t be done? It’s the difference between playing catch in a field and
catch on a cliff edge!
Mood
The mood of the people playing can change rapidly, this can then change
the emphasis of play and how others react to play. If you are playing
alone with dolls and are happy, you may be making up stories of going to
the beach. If you are sad or have been traumatised, your play acting may
 take a darker turn.
Toy / Object
If you are playing with a toy of some sort, that can drastically change
what you are playing. It may be fun to bounce a ball off a wall, but less so
if you are then handed a wooden block instead!

Personal
Everyone is different and what they find enjoyable or fun is also very different. Each person has
their own preferences, personal code (i.e. moral code or code of conduct) and of course fears.
Code
This is what a player is prepared to do based on their own moral
judgement. Some kids may not want to be involved in certain types of
play, just as adults may not! This will guide how they react during play
and the ever-changing meta-rules!
Preferences
As I say, not everyone is the same. Some may like to play with a ball,
others would prefer to act out plays with dolls.
Fears
Fear is a great motivator. That example of playing catch on a cliff. I
would not do it, but some might!
A lot of things in life are very game-like in nature, especially work. There are strict rules about
how tasks must be completed. Completion of tasks and compliance with rules is rewarded (you
get paid), breaking these rules leads to negative consequences (reprimands, warnings, getting
fired).
What we don’t see very often is the more play-like side of games being included in real-world
tasks such as work. The lack of structure, the freedom to experiment and more importantly, to
fail, are all missing.
Very often what we are doing in gamification is trying to inject some more play into these types
of system. Elements that are fun just because they are fun, simulated environments to allow
failure and learning in safety, more freedom to experiment and innovate etc. Of course, on top of
that, we are adding elements that make things feel a bit more like a game. Adding new purpose,
rapid feedback, increased interactivity, concentrating on Flow (explained later) and more.
As an adult, with children of my own, it is interesting to see how adults deal with situations that
children find simple. I have seen grown men reduced to arguments in projects because no one set
certain rules. For some reason, their mature ways of thinking have evolved to preclude
imagination totally. If they are not told exactly what to do, they just can’t cope and think their
way out of a situation they have not been programmed to deal with.
On the flip side, my eldest daughter in the absence of rules just tries stuff. If it doesn’t work,
she tries something else. She learns as she goes, knowing that each failure just gives her one less
thing to try next time. Sure, it can lead to frustration and tears, but that doesn’t stop her trying
again.
Sometimes we need rules and fixed experiences, sometimes we just need to be allowed to try
things for ourselves – exercise our imaginations.
Remind adults how to play, let them explore and give them a level of freedom and autonomy. I
am not suggesting you give them an open sandbox at work and a $6,000,000 budget to blow but
give them a chance to experiment and get things wrong.
Let them play!
 What Are Game Mechanics?

When I do play games, I need to understand the rules. It turns out that games folk
call these mechanics. Either way, knowing how a game works gives me a great
chance of winning. Just wait Andrzej, just wait…
Game mechanics are often spoken about in gamification, but their meaning is often lost,
misunderstood or misapplied. I want to take a slightly academic look at what they really are and
their relationship with gamification.
What Are Game Mechanics?
To understand why this might be let’s first look at what game mechanics are. The following are
quotes taken from various well-known game design books and papers.
“Core Mechanics represent the essential moment-to-moment activity of players. During a game,
core mechanics create patterns of repeated behaviour, the experiential building blocks of play.”
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman: Rules of Play 19
“Mechanics are the various actions, behaviours and control mechanisms afforded to the player
within a game context. The mechanics support overall gameplay dynamics” Robin Hunicke,
Marc LeBlanc & Robert Zubek: MDA Framework 21
“These are the procedures and rules of your game. Mechanics describe the goal of your game,
how players can and cannot try to achieve it, and what happens when they try.” Jesse Schell:
The Art of Game Design, A Book of Lenses 18
For our purposes, we can distil the definition down to:
“A distinct set of rules that dictate the outcome of interactions within the
system. They have an input, a process and an output.”
Further to this, we can also state that dynamics are:
“The user’s response to collections of these mechanics”
For example, consider Space Invaders.
Input: User hits fire
Process/rules: Bullet speed, bullet vector, position of enemy
Output: Miss; nothing. Hit; explosion, score increase.

If we apply the same logic to a simple gamification concept often called a mechanic, Epic
Meaning, we can see that there is an issue.
Epic Meaning is something I use in gamification all the time, creating a sense that what you are
asking of the user has a purpose or meaning greater than just their current activity.
Input: Well, it does not really have one. A person is in the system
Process/rules: creating an atmosphere or narrative around meaning. This would
break down into many different elements in the system.
Output: The user feels a sense of purpose and greater meaning

It does not really fit.

The reality is that you cannot break something like Epic Meaning down like this, so it is not a
mechanic. It is the outcome of many different mechanics and interactions within a well-designed
system. Look at our Space Invaders example a little more closely and see what else is going on.
“User hits fire”. This requires an interface initially, that takes the user’s inputs and
interprets them. This then triggers the creation of a bullet graphic on-screen.
“Bullet speed, bullet vector, the position of the enemy”. The programmed rules of
the game dictate how fast the bullet will travel; the position of the player will
determine the exact direction it will take. More programmed rules will tell the game
where the enemies are and if the bullet has hit them.
“Miss, nothing. Hit: explosion, score increase”. If the bullet misses, obviously
nothing happens. If it hits an enemy (which will have several rules defining the hit
area), there will be some sort of visual feedback. If the enemy only takes one hit to
kill, you get an explosion. If it takes more, you will get some sort of other feedback
showing you were successful but have more to do. You will also get more feedback
showing you an increase in score. If it is the last enemy, you may also move on to
the next level (progression).

Is there something like this in gamification? Yes, there are mechanics, but they are hidden deep
in the system. As a gamification designer, you are often considering the dynamics and the
aesthetics or emotions of the user for whom you are designing, less than the mechanics.
A very simple example, where we want to increase the number of Likes content on a brand’s
Facebook page gets. We will use the old classic: points, badges and leaderboards.
Clicking the “Like” button gives you points. Points are used as the basis for getting badges and
position within a Leaderboard.

Figure 5 Simple Gamification Mechanics

There are several mechanics involved here.
Clicking the button to receive a reward is a mechanic. Changing the balance of the mechanic
would then change how many points are given to the user for a click.
These points are then processed through two secondary mechanics. The first awards
badges/trophies based on how many points the user now has. The second takes the points and
works out where the user now sits on a leaderboard, giving them some level of status.
Progress bars, images of badges and leaderboards are just visual aids to monitor feedback, not
game mechanics.
Considering Gamification
A popular framework within game design is the MDA framework, mentioned earlier. MDA
stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. Whilst designed specifically for games, the
MDA framework can still be of use in gamification. Below is a slight expansion that I have
found helpful, starting at the system and ending at the user.
 Mechanics: A set of rules that define what can be done in the
system. These are defined by the designer.
Schedules: Rules that define how and when certain events happen in the system,
such as how many points lead to the next level, when badges are given, needing to
have X & Y to get Z etc.
Dynamics: How the mechanics and the user act together in real-time. Mostly out of
the designer’s control and can lead to unexpected/emergent outcomes.
Feedback: Representation of the results from actions taken in the system. Points,
badges, progress bars, messages.
Tokens: Virtual items. Rewards, collectables and even points are all tokens.
Interactions: Points of contact between the user and the system, such as a mouse
click.
Aesthetics: The emotional response of the user to the system. Joy, fear, frustration
etc.

Taking a common gamification example, how could these be used to describe a hashtag-based
competition, tweeting a hashtag to the most people?
Mechanics: Calculation of user tweet and retweet totals.
Schedules: After 10 retweets of the hashtag, the user gets a badge. Final win
condition.
 Dynamics: Some users may spam their networks if there are no explicit rules
preventing them, i.e. the “game” allows it.
Feedback: Users are sent an email to thank them. They are also given points, badges
and a position on a leaderboard.
Tokens: The user is given redeemable points.
Interactions: The user creates a tweet with the correct hashtag and then sends it.
Aesthetics: Some users will enjoy being on the leaderboard. Others may be
frustrated by how other users decide to play and how fair the system seems.

Obviously, there is a lot more going in, but you can see the basics there and why it is so hard to
talk about real mechanics in gamification. I have not even spoken about the fact we need to
consider motivation of the user to do something. Many of the things that are spoken about as
mechanics are really motivations or drives!
 What is Fun?

What you find fun, I may not – are you into swinging from the trees and eating
bananas with your feet?
Fun
According to the dictionary, fun is “Enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure” 22. To
you or me though, fun can have lots of meanings. It could be watching your children play in the
garden, reading a book, playing games or just walking in the park. Fun is completely subjective
and is different for us all.
The reason fun is sitting here after game mechanics is because of its relationship to the MDA
framework. Marc LeBlanc talks about Eight Kinds of Fun 23 and their relation to aesthetics or the
emotional response to the interaction of the player with the game mechanics.
Eight Kinds of Fun
Sensation Fellowship
Game as sense-pleasure Game as social framework
Fantasy Discovery
Game as make-believe Game as uncharted territory
Narrative Expression
Game as an unfolding story Game as soapbox
Challenge Submission
Game as an obstacle course Game as mindless pastime
Nicole Lazzaro has one of my favourite views on fun – the 4 Keys 2 Fun. More than just labels,
this describes how users experience fun and how to design games to enhance that.
Nicole Lazzaro's 4 Keys 2 Fun
People Fun (Friendship) Easy Fun (Novelty)
Amusement from competition and cooperation Curiosity from exploration, role play, and
creativity
Hard Fun (Challenge) Serious Fun (Meaning)
Fiero, the epic win, from achieving a difficult Excitement from changing the player and their
goal world
Of course, I have my own version of what fun is and means. A small survey I conducted
highlighted 21 experiences that people described as fun, split into the five groups of fun.
Achievement Fun
Curiosity Learning
Wanting to know what is in the box, what Gaining knowledge, learning new skills -
happens next, what is around the corner. mastery.
Problem Solving Challenge
Puzzles, use of problem-solving (specifically) Overcoming obstacles. Attaining a sense of
to overcome challenges. achievement.
Free Spirited Fun
Exploration Discovery
Deliberately looking around and testing the Finding new or interesting things, deliberately
boundaries. or not.
Surprise Creativity
The joy of the unexpected. Building, inventing, creating new stuff like
music or art.

Social Fun
Family Collaboration
Joy from your relatives. Love. Working with others on a common
goal.
Fellowship Competition
Relatedness. Being with others. You vs. the world.
Altruism
Selfless acts towards others, sense of greater purpose.
Facilitated, Personal Fun
Narrative Progression
Stories and plot lines. The feeling that you are moving towards a
goal.
Fantasy Immersion
Make believe, such as worlds created by Believing in a fantasy world totally and losing
books, film or imagination. yourself to it.

Un-Facilitated, Personal Fun

Humour Sensation
Different for everyone, but jokes, funny stories Joy in physical sensation. Smell, activity,
and situations. sport, touch etc.
Schadenfreude Flow
Pleasure in the suffering of others. As described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,
losing your sense of self in an activity.
As you can see, you can look at fun in many ways. In my view, gamification is not about making
things more fun. Fun can certainly be part of a solution, but that is not its key purpose.
That said, understanding that what you find fun others may find embarrassing or annoying, is
key to you designing experiences that more people are likely to engage with.
 What is Game-Based
Solution Design?

Like many, my Master used to use gamification as an umbrella term for all game-
based solutions. Then, thinking he was clever, he came up with Game Based
Solution Design as an alternative catch-all.
Gamification is often used as a catch-all for games-based solutions. In theory, this is not a
problem, but it can confuse people as to what gamification is. That is why Game Based Solutions
are such an important concept in how I personally view gamification and other game-based
solutions. I define Game Based Solution Design in the following way;
“The use of games and game-like approaches to solve problems and create better
experiences.”
Those problems could be “how do we engage a new audience” or “how do we help people get to
the next stage of this learning”. Game Based Solution Design contains four main categories:
Gamification, Game Inspired/Playful Design, Serious Games and Games.

Figure 6 Game Based Solution Design by Intent

The categorisations consider the original design intent of the products, whether it was designed
to be just for entertainment or for a purpose. Also, the inclusion of gameplay is considered.
For instance, in Figure 6, Serious Games contain gameplay, the “thing” that really makes a
game, where pure gamification does not. However, both are created for a primary purpose other
than fun or entertainment.
For the sake of clarity, a fifth category can be added to game-based solutions, simulations.
Each of these five segments can then be further broken down.
Figure 7 Game Based Solution Design
 Gamification and Game Based
Solution Design in Practice

Now that you understand what my Master thinks Game Based Solution Design is,
how about I show you some examples of it in action. He sure as hell won’t bother!
Serious Games
This group includes full games that have been created for reasons other than pure entertainment.
Here I split them into four basic types.
Teaching Games
This is a type of game designed to teach the player something, for example, arithmetic, coding,
or zoology, by playing a real game. Unlike a simulation, it does not have to be representative of
the real world. For example, Phantomation is a game that teaches the player how to use the
animation software Play Sketch. Rather than just showing you the tools or simulating them in a
dry way, it has you solving various puzzles that need deeper and deeper understanding of the tool
as the game progresses. It plays well as a game in its own right.

Figure 8 Phantomation
Game Inspired/Playful Design
This is where no actual elements from games are used, just ideas. For example, user interfaces
that mimic those from games, design or artwork that is inspired by games or the way language is
used. It can also be the inclusion of “playful” elements. These do not affect the workings of the
system but are there just for some fun. You can see a nice example of this on the Toca Boca
website.
On their website, they have a novel way to scroll from the bottom of the page back to the top.
Rather than the more common arrow to click, there is a balloon. When you click this, it floats
from the bottom of the page back to the top, dragging the screen with it. All these concepts have
links to games but lack anything that you would consider part of the inner workings of a game
(mechanics, dynamics, tokens, etc.)
I look a little more deeply at play and playfulness elsewhere in the book.

Figure 9 www.tocaboca.com
An essential skill in gamification is being able to model a system and test out how your solution
may flow. There are many ways to do this and people all have their favourite tools, but I wanted
to share two of my “go-to” tools.
Spreadsheets
Yep – the least glamorous thing you can probably think of, but spreadsheets are my first port of
call for modelling systems, especially if there is a points-based backbone to it.
With a spreadsheet, it is possible to automate a lot of the donkey work in trying to understand
how points will be allocated and importantly, how long different types of users may take to
achieve rewards and other goals. For example, the following image (Figure 74) shows a model of
potential weekly usage for a highly engaged user over 12 weeks. The next image (Figure 75)
shows the usage of a less engaged user.
You can see that the high engagement user will reach far more points over the 12-week period
and average far more each week. Does this mean they will exhaust the system too quickly? Does
it mean that users with lower engagement levels never have a hope of reaching certain levels?

Figure 74 Example of High Engagement

 Figure 75 Example of Low Engagement
Another spreadsheet I use allows me to calculate what points to assign to certain activities and
actions in a system based on the value to the user, the value to the system and the effort to the
user. This way I can fine tune everything before users get their hands on it.
These kinds of models are in no way a replacement for user testing, but it is a way to get a step
closer to usable before having to let people loose on your system!
Machinations
Machinations is a tool created by Joris Dorman’s to help model game mechanics and feedback
systems for game designers. It can be found at https://www.machinations.io/
As of 2018 it has had some great updates and should soon be able to run inside a browser rather
than just as a standalone exe or flash file.
I won’t go into detail about how to use it though, as there are already better explanations out
there 109. The interactive nature of the models can help you get an idea of how a system will
work.
I have used it to model everything from basic points-based systems all the way up to resource
management games.
A while back as an experiment, I created a very simple system that showed how a points, ranks
and badges solution would work. This was then automated by Mikel Calvo and showed up an
interesting concern with the system. After only about 8 days, a determined “player” could collect
all the badges! Better to discover that in a simulation than 8 days after launching a £30,000 pilot!

Figure 76 Machinations model of a simple gamified system

FINAL THOUGHTS
 Five Steps to a Happier Life with
Gamification

My master has his ups and downs, but over the years he has unknowingly used five
key gamification lessons to lead a happier life. I wish to God he could user them to
make my life happier.
Ok, this sounds a little “self helpy”, but it came to me when I was doing a lecture for a group of
master’s students at Kings College. I ended the talk, rather by accident, with the following advice
“Always be sure you know why you are doing things, understand their purpose. It helps
to then work towards small goals. That way no task, no matter how big – even the
crushing student debt you probably have right now – will be manageable”
Anyone who has seen me speak knows that I get quite passionate. What they may not know is
that I react to the audience and adapt my talks accordingly. This group were great, and it felt
right to give them a little ad-hoc advice. it got me thinking, though, what lessons from
gamification am I applying in my own life day to day?
Goals, Purpose, Challenge, Feedback, Play
Goals
First and foremost – goal setting. I have spoken about goals in the past. Whatever method you
wish to use, I personally feel that aiming at small manageable goals is the key. You must have an
eye on the big picture, but that can be overwhelming. Break down everything to the smallest
achievable goal you can.
For instance, you must build a website. This can be daunting if there are a lot of sections to
create or specific interactivity. Rather than have that in mind, have the first smallest part in mind.
What must happen. Well, you probably need to decide what languages to use. Easy. Next, what
pages do you need? Simple and it goes on like that, incrementally increasing the difficulty of
each task – consider it your user journey towards your main goal! Enrol, Engage, End Game!
Consider a game like Mario. You have your immediate goal – get to the other end of the map
without dying. Then you have the level map that shows you other things you will have to do.
Then you have your world map to show you everything that is going on. All the while you have
an overriding goal – save the Princess.
Purpose
Next, you need to understand the purpose associated to each goal. I wrote about this recently,
purpose whether it is meaningful or altruistic, is essential for happiness. Always ask the question
“Why?” Why am I doing this? Why is this important? Then ask “What?” What is the benefit?
What is the purpose? What’s in it for me? For instance, when you must build that website you
would create the following sentence. Why am I building this website? Why am I building this
website and what is in it for me?
That answer may well be simple. You are building it because the client has asked you to and you
get paid!
Again, it goes hand in hand with small goals and understanding where you are and what you are
doing.
Again, back to Mario, you know the answers to both. Why am I running across this map and
what will happen if I don’t?
Because I need to save the Princess. If I don’t, she dies!
Challenge
One of the things that keeps me happy is little challenges, usually, that don’t relate to work. I
always have them, whether it is creating a game, writing a book, learning something new etc. It
breaks is one of the ways I force my mind to stop churning! I also love a statement from Andrea
M. Kuszewski, that you can increase your intelligence by doing things the hard way 56. Rather
than use a prebuilt framework that does way more than you need, make it yourself! If you need
to throw something in the bin – add an unnecessary obstacle like having to throw the paper
across the room. After all, one of the definitions of what makes a game is from Bernard Suits
“the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles”.
Feedback
Feedback is essential to any good system, even if it is your own internal system! You must know
what success looks like and you must be able to measure it! This can be as simple as just getting
a new bit of code to work and silently celebrating it, allowing yourself an extra bit of chocolate if
you get an assignment finished early, buying that dress you saw because you lost the weight you
had aimed for and so on.
Just remember to make sure that the reward fits the effort of the task/goal.
Play
This is the biggest and most important factor that keeps me sane and happy in my life – adding
elements of play wherever I can. This can come in various forms. It may be that I stop and play
with the kids for instance. It could be that I take a Batman break and do something playful for
five minutes to reset my brain a little. I may just approach a new task with a more playful /
lusory attitude and make the task more playful even if only in my own mind. Often play is more
a state of mind.
There are many ways that games and gamification can help you in your day to day life, but these
are just a few things that I do personally, so know they work!
 Other Design Tips

These tips may well help you in your own designs; they are tried and tested by
my Master. I have my own, but you will probably never get to see them.
Whilst there has been practical advice as we have gone along, there are a few more things that
should be considered as you delve into designing your gamification solutions.
Getting to the Real Problem
It is simple to jump to solutioneering as soon as you feel you have a problem that needs fixing,
creating the solution before you understand the problem. However, taking a step back and asking
4 simple questions can save you time and money in the long run.
“What is the problem”
“Why do we need to fix it”
“What needs to change to fix it”
“How do we do that”

What is the problem?

First, you need to explore What you are wanting to change. This is the easy bit and is likely to
change, but it is a start. Be as specific as you can but be open minded as you explore further!
Most people already have this in mind when they first go to someone asking for gamification.
Why do we need to fix it?
Many gamification projects happen with the best of intentions, but are doomed to fail because no
one stops to as the question “Why?”
Any behaviour focused intervention needs to have a clear focus, otherwise, you have no hope of
solving your problems. You need to have a clear understanding of why you need to make a
change. Is there an issue with people using a system? Are people not doing what you expected
day to day. Are people not donating to your charity site when you thought they would?
Very often the answer to the initial what is “We want to improve engagement”. However, that
still begs the question “why?” Not just that, it also creates the new question “What is
engagement?”
What needs to change to fix it?
To be successful you must identify what the root problems are, and what needs to change to fix
them. If you have decided that people are not using your system because it is too complex, you
must ask the question “what needs to change”
What may have looked like a behaviour issue, people were not using the system properly, may
be a usability issue. That requires a totally different solution.
You will cycle between What and Why for a while until you have solid answers to the questions.
You can also talk yourself in circles, so need to be pragmatic and occasionally start from
scratch!
How do we do that?
Once you have got your solid answers to
“What is the problem”
“Why do we need to fix it”
“What needs to change to fix it”

you can start to look at how to make those changes and gamification may form part of that.
Then you can move onto the next phase.
Gamification Design Thinking
This is another process I make a lot of use of and is the base for my workshops. This is my
interpretation of Design Thinking – a very well-known framework I have mixed it with a few
well-known lenses for innovation – again, nothing new. It is presented here just as an aid for
those who may not already be using it.
First, here is the basic process of design thinking.

Figure 77 Gamification Design Thinking Outline

Define and understand the actual problem. Very often, the initial brief does not hold the problem
that needs solving! Question, question and re-question and if needs be, re-frame the problem
totally.
Empathise with the various people involved. Design thinking is all about putting the user first.
So, consider what types of user you will have, this is not the same as User or Player Types; this
is what people need from the system. Who are the users, why are they using the system? What
does Mavis, 83 from Wales need, compared to Dave, 23 from Leeds?
Sometimes it is good to survey potential or current users to get an idea of whom they really are
and then come up with some average users to role-play with!
Also, do not forget the stakeholders’ needs in this. What do they want to achieve by gamifying
the system? How will they react to it and your ideas?
Ideate – come up with ideas! Propose solutions and then analyse them (more in that in a
moment). This is part of an iterative process, at this stage though there is no right answer.
Experiment with the best ideas. Pretotype, prototype, and do it again until you have something
you think is worth taking forward.
Test your pretotype or prototype with the target audience and with the stakeholders. Iterate
between testing and experimentation until you are ready to release at least a minimum viable
product (MVP).
Whilst this is set out as a systematic process it is all iterative. At any point, you could go back to
the start, but by the time you are into the experimentation phase, you should have a solid idea of
where you are going.
 Figure 78 Gamification Design Thinking Expanded
Now, this is all great, but even high innovation must have a reality check from time to time. That
being the case there are three common “lenses” that can be used to drive and balance innovation.
Innovation Lenses
Desirability: Is the product or solution you are looking at desirable to the users or the
stakeholders? It may be great in your mind, but does it hit all the points they need?
Feasibility: Is your idea possible with current technology and skills? Can it really be done?
Viability: Can it be done within the constraints that reality often put upon us. Can it be done to
budget and is it sustainable long term?
 Figure 79 Innovation Lenses
Applying these lenses to the Ideate, Experiment and to a lesser extent, Test phases can save a lot
of pain in the long term.
Really, by the time you are hitting the test phase, you should have a clear view of each lens!
Using this sort of process is very common in this day and age of constant innovation, but it can
help focus your thoughts and designs, especially early on in your processes. Just as gamification
should be, it all puts the user’s experience first.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Digital
It is easy to be left with the impression that gamification is all about digital or online creations.
Whilst it is true that digital enables a great deal more flexibility and collaboration in systems, it is
not the be all and end all!
There are many examples of analogue gamification, but here I share a simple system I use with
my daughters.
The concept of reward charts is well known in parenting circles. You give your child stickers on
a chart as they behave in the way they are meant to, or at least in the way you ask them to. It is a
nice idea and can work, but as explained in the section about Overjustification effect, they can
backfire if used for too long.
Once reward charts stopped working with my eldest daughter, I created a simple Behaviour
Meter that is now stuck to our fridge. It has a scale of 0 to 10 and that’s it.
Figure 80 Simple analogue example of gamification
Throughout the day, my wife and I alter the position of the arrow depending on how my daughter
is behaving. We don’t tell her what the current reading is – she must look at the feedback for
herself. Of course, this is on top of other verbal feedback we are giving her as well. However,
this gives her a fixed reminder of how we feel she is doing.
There are no rewards attached to her rating on the chart, it is just there as a way of giving her
relevant feedback. After about a year of using the chart, my daughter added a second arrow. The
second arrow represents where she feels her behaviour is on the scale. If there is a difference, we
discuss why and what needs to be done to close the gap. It is very simple, but as with a lot of
gamification, just giving feedback can solve many issues.
I mentioned earlier a similar example I created to get my youngest daughter to eat more
vegetables! Looking more like the traditional reward chart, this focused on a story. Over the
summer holiday she had to defeat some of Batgirl’s greatest foes, by eating certain vegetables.
Each bad guy had a vegetable associated to them. She could choose who she was fighting that
day and had to eat a portion of that vegetable. Once she had eaten the specified amount, she got
a small reward and defeated that bad guy. Once she had defeated all the bad guys, she got to take
on the Joker by eating a meal with at least three of the vegetables on her plate.
 The End

That’s pretty much it. My sympathies if you have read this far, especially if you
already had the first edition! This is where we shall part ways. My Master has
nothing left for me, so read these last pieces of advice and start creating. I have my
own work to finish.
Just as all good stories must have a beginning, they must also have an end. I hope this book has
given you enough of an insight into the many faceted worlds of gamification to be able to start
making use of it in your own projects.
I wanted to leave you with a few last tips and things to think about.
The first is don’t be bogged down by definitions. I spent time at the beginning of the book
explaining Game Based Solution Design and why I feel it is helpful; however, the reality is we
will never fully agree on the answer to the question “What is gamification?” A better question is
“Does this solve the problem”, or “Is this the best solution for the users?” It doesn’t matter if you
use gamification, games or Ninja Monkeys.
As a gamifier, you are a problem solver. Your job is to solve an issue the client is having. The
likelihood is you will favour a solution with a game like flavour – but I would hope that you
would not reject a solution just because it is not what you would consider “proper” gamification.
Never reject an idea that may be better than yours, just because you don’t know how to
execute it. If the answer is to create a game, it doesn’t matter if you think that is true gamification
– it is still the answer and you should do what you can to facilitate it!
Finally, I will leave you with my seven essential tips for gamification glory!
Figure 81 7 Top Tips

The End
 GLOSSARY
Autonomy: Freedom/agency to act as you wish.
Engagement: Active, focused and intrinsically motivated participation.
Extrinsic Reward: Something that is external, such as monetary rewards for doing something.
Fiero: An Italian word that is used in gamification to describe a sense of great achievement or
triumph over adversity – the sort that has you fist pumping in the air!
Flow: A concept described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In gamification, we talk about it as a
place between boredom and frustration where the skills of the player match the level of
challenge. They lose all sense of self and time seems to go by much faster.
Game Aesthetics: The experience of the end user.
Game Dynamics: Emergent activities of the users as they interact with mechanics.
Game Elements/Components: These are bits that are taken from games, such as progress bars,
missions, points, badges etc.
Game Mechanics: Explicit sets of rules that define the outcomes of user activities.
Game Based Solution Design: The use of games and game-like approaches to solve problems
and create better experiences.
Gamification: The use of Game Based Solution Design to create more game-like experiences.
Intrinsic motivation: Personal/internal reasons to do something. Relatedness, Autonomy,
Mastery and Purpose are examples of this.
Loyalty: Allegiance to something, for example, a brand, that goes beyond normal interest.
People loyal to a brand will go out of their way, ignoring value and convenience to own products
from that brand.
Mastery: Achieving something such as learning a new skill.
Naches: A Yiddish word that means “feeling of pride at the achievement of your children”. In
gamification, we use this word to describe the feeling people get when people achieve something
thanks to the help they have given them.
On-boarding: Refers to the first steps taken in a new system, for example, an interactive tutorial.
Overjustification Effect: The decrease of intrinsic motivation to perform a task or tasks when
an extrinsic reward is introduced, and the reward becomes more important than the original task.

Player: Also called the user, the target person who will be using the gamified system.
Player Journey: Defined in this book as four or five phases that the user goes through whilst
using a system, Discovery, On-boarding, Immersion, Mastery and Replay
Purpose: three variations.
1. A sense of direction, such as goals or story-lines/narratives.
2. Epic Meaning: the feeling that you are involved in something with greater meaning
or purpose.
3. Altruism (selfless acts for the benefit of others).
Relatedness: Social connection to others.
Serious Game: A real game that is built primarily for purposes other than pure entertainment.
Underjustification Effect: The decrease in motivation to perform a task or tasks when
supposedly motivational techniques are applied in place of perceived air compensation or
treatment.
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 INDEX
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Theory of Games, Play and Gamification
What is Gamification?
What Are Games and Play?
What Are Game Mechanics?
What is Fun?
What is Game Based Solution Design?
Game Based Solution Design in Practice
Ethical Considerations of Gamification
The Science of Gamification
What Motivates Us?
The Intrinsic Motivation RAMP
What is Flow and Why is it Important?
User Types in Gamification (The HEXAD)
The Neuroscience of Gamification
Building Gamified Solutions
How to Start with The User Journey
How to Use Points, Badges and Leaderboards
How to Set Clear Goals
How to Design Good Feedback and Reward Systems
How to Design a Simple Gamified System
How to Understand Emotions in Gamification Design
How to Use Narrative to Create Deeper Experiences
How to Create Playful Experiences
How to Handle Cheating
How to See it From the User’s Perspective
Gamification Mechanics and Elements
Learning from Games: Exclusivity & Fortnite
Planning and Implementing your Gamification Design
Gamification Design Framework
 How to Keep the User Engaged
How to Balance a Gamified System
Keeping it Simple
Tying Loyalty into Gamification
Modelling Gamified Systems
Final Thoughts
Five Steps to a Happier Life with Gamification
Other Design Tips
The End
Glossary
References
Index
About the author
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrzej is a father of two, husband (of one – because bigamy is frowned upon
apparently...), reasonable guitarist, games lover, Batman nerd and Star Wars geek.
Over the years, he has had a few jobs, from web designer to learning technologist to consultant.
What has always remained the same is his belief that games have much more to offer the world
than just entertainment.
This led him to getting involved with gamification in his spare time. Now he is a recognised
expert on the topic, writing a regular blog about gamification, keynote speaking, consulting on
and designing solutions – and writing the occasional book.
Following the publication of this book, Andrzej went missing again for several weeks. This time
his wife found a small ninja mask and a horse shoe with a note.

“ Even Unicorns Dream of Flying ”