Gaming for everyone

I know, I know. The latest buzz words are games and gamification. But I have to tell you, I love games. I have always been a gamer of some sort. In fact, the original game of Might and Magic on PC swapping in and out 5 1/4" floppy disks was the reason my career has been in Information Technology the past 23 years. I programmed on the Commodore 64, played pong and Pitfall on Atari, and dropped quarters in Star Castle at the arcade. In more recent years, I have enjoyed some team building online with Battlefield 1942 and City of Heroes.

And though I have spent countless hours with video gaming across the PC, Playstation, Nintendo and other platforms, I also like non-video games. My son and I play a card game with each other called Magic the Gathering. We have hundreds of cards now that we mix and match to build a deck to conquer one another. (I have even been known to buy some cards off of ebay to try and get the upper hand). We have chess boards in the house where we can sit down on a moments notice and go for the best two out of three. In these more recent years, I have enjoyed sharing the fun of games in all kinds of forms with my son.

But there is a big difference between my son and I. I can be highly competitive, and he generally is not. In fact, given the choice he would prefer to play cooperatively and be on the same team as opposed to one of us having to come out the loser in a contest. At first, I found this to be curious, even odd. I remember my oldest daughter playing Monopoly at age 7 and refusing to explain a rule to my father in law in hopes he would make a mistake she could capitalize on. And I thought to myself, "right on". I thought maybe I could work on this inability to compete with my son and perhaps help correct his behavior. It didn't take me long to realize that it did not need correcting at all, but this skill of his needed encouragement. It is not a flaw. It is his strength.

With this profound discovery of mine, I have found it curious in the manner by which many companies are engaging in gaming tactics to motivate people. Often the formula is simply to get people to compete for status. However, as I have found, not all gamers are equally motivated by the same things. Throwing competitive gaming elements together will not engage all possible participants in a one size fits all strategy. It is necessary to accommodate the competitive and the cooperative types. The meek and the assertive. The passive and aggressive style players. There are more than just competitive people who enjoy the fun of playing games.

Gamification needs to be fun at its core and engaging for all types of players. The individual who prefers Solitaire and crossword puzzles should not be left out. A rich playing experience incorporates storytelling and character development for some types of players. Game mechanics are fun when the level of difficulty matches the skills of the player. When gaming elements are too easy, they quickly become boring and erode their engagement qualities for the player. Why not let players determine those boundaries for themselves. It is my wish that software developers and designers who are incorporating gamification go beyond the short term quick hit earn points and badges model. I wish for them to implement more experiential frameworks that allow openness for players to explore the game elements in the style they are most attuned with. Not having to feel defeated or even having to engage with others socially if they prefer not to. But to enjoy gamification for the pure love of playing the game, however they choose to interact with it.