The Princess Rescuing Application: Slides
[Games can be played immediately and they steadily increase your skills over time, shortening the learning curve.]
[Games are fun because they employ exploratory learning: there is a goal with no indications of how to achieve it, players can faill and be told that they failed, they can also succeed and it feels good when they figure it out alone, during the learning process they explore the possibility space.]
[Games are built of STARS atoms that create learning feedback loops: Stimulate the player to experiment with Skills to discover Tools and Actions that play out within the environment's Rules.]
[Games assume that the people change, that the player at the beginning is not the same as the player at the end because of the skills they picked up along the way. Apps could adapt themselves to the dynamic people who use them, rather than providing a static set of tools for everyone.]
[Apps could be organized into levels based on the experience of who uses it, people advance through gated environments where they can safely practice important skills, they continue after mastering.]
[Rather than presenting all possibilities the same way forever, games employ a 'items' or 'powerups' or 'widgets' or 'addons' or 'extensions' pattern that celebrate modular bits of functionality earned with experience.]
[Quests are easy to understand and provide to reason to try each activity. LinkedIn has 'profile completeness' and prompts people to 'add a picture' and 'ask for a recommendation'.]
[The score provides a simple always-visible metric of progress.]
[Some games progress from a more guided 'advancement' mode to an 'elder' mode where the player needs to figure more out on their own.]
[Games have three skill types: 'pre-existing' are used in the first few minutes and help the interface feel intuitive; 'rewarded' are finite and not initially known but taught through STARS atoms via punishment and reward; 'emergent' are potentially infinite and not rewarded.]
[Gamification is profitable because it combines delightful experiences with ease-of-use and depth.]