TED Talk Review (Jane McGonigal) & PBL Gamification

PBL Gamification

And Jane McGonigal TED Talk Review

Quick review of Jane McGonigal TED Talk

• Gamification is adding game elements to non-game situations

• Jane McGonigal added game elements to her efforts to live with a severe concussion

• She "gamified" her healing process

Some major points of her talk:

• Top five regrets people gave on their death-bed

• Post-traumatic growth and its connection to the above

• The four areas of resilience to emulate post-traumatic growth without undergoing actual trauma

Multiple Choice

McGonigal researched what people regretted on their death-beds because she...

• was concerned about having encouraged people to play more games

• wanted to prove playing games is a waste of time

• had a terminal illness

Multiple Choice

96% of the hospice patients regretted wasting time on things like sports and video games.

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

Death-bed patients regretted working too much, not spending time with friends, not letting themselves be happy, not sharing their true selves, and...

• not selling enough shoes on E-Bay

• not going to enough dances in high school

• doing what others expected rather than following their dreams

• not making enough money

Multiple Choice

Post-traumatic growth is when a person has flashbacks and panic attacks due to a traumatic event in their past.

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

Post-traumatic growth is when people grow after a traumatic event, improving their happiness, relationships with others, work/life balance, ability to express themselves, and...

• ability to make more money

• desire to do what others want them to do

• willingness to follow their dreams

• productivity at work

Multiple Choice

In her research, McGonigal found four strengths that contribute to post-traumatic growth.

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

Physical resilience is built by...

• working out at least one hour three times a week

• being able to bench press twice your body weight

• eating healthy and drinking water

• moving in any way at least one time per hour

Multiple Choice

Mental resilience is built by tackling a tiny challenge without...

• help from other people

• giving up

• leaving your seat

Multiple Choice

Emotional resilience is built by experiencing ____ positive emotions for every ___ negative emotion in an hour. (Even if the positive is from looking at baby otters.)

• 3 (positive emotions for every) 1 (negative emotion)

• 5 (positive emotions for every) 1 (negative emotion)

• 2 (positive emotions for every) 1 (negative emotion)

• 7 (positive emotions for every) 2 (negative emotion)

Multiple Choice

All of the following are ways to build social resilience EXCEPT...

• being grateful for people in your lives

• shaking someone's hand for six seconds

• getting people to follow you on social media

Multiple Choice

McGonigal "gamified" her concussion healing by adding these four components to her non-game situation: a super secret identity (avatar); battle the bad guys (challenges); power-ups (levels) and...

• roll the dice (chance)

• recruit her allies (teams)

• count her blessings (points)

Part 2 of Gamification: PBL

Points, Badges, and Leaderboards

Most Gamification in Business is NOT Game Development

Most businesses are not in the business of making games. They want to improve their market, improve their customers' experiences, and improve their brand awareness. Of course, there are other goals, but these are the three that gamification can benefit.

The most common gamification in business is PBL

• It is also becoming increasingly popular in websites of all sorts

• Healthcare is also using PBL a lot to help motivate patients to make difficult lifestyle changes

PBL is NOT building an entire new game. Instead, it is adding leaderboards, points, and badges to a non-game situation, such as an exercise app or a shopping website.

(or almost anything)

Functions of Points

• a way of keeping score*

• determine how well someone is doing in the game*

• can connect to rewards

• provide feedback

• provide data

• can be used to represent anything (fungible)

Functions of Badges

• represent achievement

• flexible

• convey style

• signal importance

• function as credentials

• support collections

• social display (status symbols)

Functions of Leaderboards

• ranking

• form of feedback on competition

• personalized leaderboards (allow you to compare yourself with your community

CAUTION about Leaderboards

• zero sum game (for someone to win, someone has to lose)

• can easily demotivate

The PBL Triad

• PRO: popular and easy

• CON: can be cookie cutter

• PRO: it's effective (research shows it helps businesses meet their goals)

• CON: can be seen as unoriginal/unimaginative

Not all rewards are fun; not all fun is rewarding. Gamification can work, but it has limits...

• know the audience and why you are doing what you are doing

• avoid "cookie cutter" PBL

• consider other gamification elements that might serve your goal better (meaningful choices, puzzles, mastery, community, etc.)

Multiple Choice

The PBL Triad in marketing stands for...

• pivot, balance, lead

• points, badges, and leaderboards

Multiple Choice

All the following are functions of points that can be applied to marketing and other non-game areas EXCEPT:

• provide meaningful choice

• be connected with rewards

• provide data

• can be used to represent anything

Multiple Choice

Speaking of something that can be used to represent anything, what''s the economic term for this?

• fungus

• fugility

• fungible

• funtastic

Multiple Choice

Functions of badged that can used in marketing or other non-game instance include all the following EXCEPT:

• flexible

• convey style

• represent achievements

• can be used to exclude the unwanted

Multiple Choice

A zero-sum game refers to a game where...

• the objective is to NOT earn points and stay at zero

• in order for someone to win, someone must lose

• there are no points (ie, there are zero sums of points to add)

Multiple Choice

Leaderboards can be demotivating if...

• your users are not competitive

• your users have no chance of winning

• the leaderboards are not personalized and include everyone

• all of these are true