> Good games, they say, are like art: engaging players deeply and emotionally (not sure how Grand Theft Auto fits in here).
A lot of people have had very emotional reactions to Grand Theft Auto...
At the risk of oversimplifying something I'm not an expert on, I think games fall into two general types: the kind you win by being very good at one skill, and the kind you win by balancing several skills.
The first kind isn't that interesting in the long run because either you're no good at it so you stop playing because you always lose, or you're really good at it so you stop playing because you're better than the game is.
If you want to gamify something, make it a game that requires balance. Maybe every time you check in somewhere, you raise your potential score for that place by one point. When you check in with a large group, your permanent score gets increased by your potential score times the number of people who checked in with you, so, you get a lot of points by going to a place a lot and bringing your friends there.
I wouldn't say that games rely on skill too much. Games are meant to be won regardless of skill. They are meant to provide challenges, but never roadblocks. This possibly excludes arcade style games.
Also, managing my bank account requires a serious amount of computer skills already, so maybe we don't need to artificially enhance that. Any action that would trigger my XBox to display some "achievement", would trigger a barrage of swearwords if it occurred while I was trying get work done. Without rewards, there is no need for artificial challenges.
My understanding of gamification is that it aims to make things simpler and faster (playful, game-like), not more complicated.
When someone does something that is already complicated or that is positive to the site, "reward" them for it. But it has nothing to do with adding challenges to an existing site or making the site more difficult.
That is true. What I meant was single player games. Multiplayer games are of course competitive by nature and very much skill-dependent. Then again, I would not want to call my banks website MMO. Facebook though, maybe.
A lot of people have had very emotional reactions to Grand Theft Auto...
At the risk of oversimplifying something I'm not an expert on, I think games fall into two general types: the kind you win by being very good at one skill, and the kind you win by balancing several skills.
The first kind isn't that interesting in the long run because either you're no good at it so you stop playing because you always lose, or you're really good at it so you stop playing because you're better than the game is.
If you want to gamify something, make it a game that requires balance. Maybe every time you check in somewhere, you raise your potential score for that place by one point. When you check in with a large group, your permanent score gets increased by your potential score times the number of people who checked in with you, so, you get a lot of points by going to a place a lot and bringing your friends there.