

Why You Should Not Integrate Game Mechanics Into Your Service - ryanelkins
http://www.gauravonomics.com/blog/why-you-should-not-integrate-game-mechanics-into-your-service/

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robobenjie
As a game designer I get a little frustrated when people use the phrase "game
mechanics" to very specifically mean giving our points, badges and
achievements that are publicly displayed to a group of social connections
online. Using this definition neither chess nor Super Mario have any "game
mechanics".

I guess it is too late but I wish we had some other phrase for them. "social
status notifications?"

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chc
But Twitter doesn't have points, badges or achievements, so using that
definition, Twitter doesn't have any "social status notifications."

The thing is, nobody is claiming that those are the entirety of the category
"game mechanics" (just like you're not claiming that's everything that could
ever be termed a "social status notification"). They're simply a set of game
mechanics that happen to be easily and commonly introduced into websites.

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bitwize
I associate game mechanics with sites that are supposed to be more "fun". For
example, I can totally groove with seeing Newgrounds using "experience points"
in order to encourage participation, but if I see "Achievement Unlocked!" at
the bottom of the timesheet app I use I risk punching the monitor.

~~~
ryanelkins
Have you seen Ribbon Hero from Microsoft Labs? It actually does add points and
achievements to Office. It's actually pretty cool. Their focus is on making
_learning_ how to use Office more fun. They run you through "challenges" that
ask you to format things a certain way, or other things that you do through
the ribbon. I think it's a pretty neat way to teach people and encourage
exploration in what can sometimes be a rather daunting tool.

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ryanelkins
There are some good points here - and this is coming from a founder of game
mechanics platform (iactionable.com). Like any piece of a design, you can't
just throw it in blindly, you have to approach it with a well thought out plan
and goals. Some sites are a better fit for game mechanics than others. Even
when it's a good fit if the system is designed poorly it can do more harm than
good. It will be fun to see the ideas behind game mechanics mature over the
next year or two.

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harscoat
One possibility is to give your service so that other applications, via your
API, can provide game mechanics they believe would be relevant. Then Darwinian
selections of which game mechanics work out. Ie. Focus on what your service
and its core benefit(s)/reward are about and outsource to your ecosystem the
game mechanics layers.

