Recently, I had an interesting discussion with Jarryd Verdan from ALM201, Gamified Media, where we talked about our own experiences with gamification – the application of game-like rewards and perceivable progress to activities that would otherwise not traditionally incorporate elements of entertainment or competition. You can find the podcast right below!
While interviewing Jarryd I learnt about an experience he’d had with reading where his mother promised him five dollars for every book he read outside of the school curriculum, an effort from Jarryd’s mother that encouraged him to enjoy reading. Interestingly, what had caused Jarryd to avoid reading in the first place was the fact that school made it seem as if reading was just a chore. In a sense, Jarryd’s mother gamified his education more effectively than school could. Along with the well known benefits of reading that Jarryd received from this experience, Jarryd also encountered something else from the experience that was quite memorable: upon reading the first Harry Potter book he realized that the cliche ‘the book is always better than the movie’ was in fact true. While Jarryd’s mother’s monetary incentive seemed to work quite well I also got the sense that Jarryd eventually began to read for the enjoyment of it and in his words… reading “opened [him] to a new world”.
When it was Jarryd’s turn to interview me I spoke about my time spent in China at high school. By year 9 it was my second visit to China and we stayed for 6 weeks in total, quite a long time for a school trip. To me, the whole experience felt gamified and enriched with insights that would make me want to continue Chinese language as a subject in school and possibly in VCE. While the cultural insights I mentioned were countless, including restaurant dining, free time in foreign cities and opportunities to stay with Chinese families, I was surprised by the rewards we got for simply venturing into another country for 6 weeks and being the first participants in a government program aiming to improve Chinese cultural education and bilingualism in Australian kids. Upon return to Australia I remember receiving three different certificates from the Chinese schools we studied at along with an invitation to lunch with the Premier among other things such as conferences and a special lunch at school. For the first time in my education, me and my friends who went felt like we had done something prestigious and now had a huge advantage over every other student trying to learn Chinese.
In conclusion, Jarryd and I both have fond memories of learning something and being exposed to a new world in the process. While it is evident that we gained our educational benefits from these experiences due to different incentives, Jarryd’s incentive coming from the incorporation of ‘game mechanics’, a gift in this instance, and mine from ‘game dynamics’, awards and status, as categorized by Sarıtaş and Yıldız (2015), it can be deduced that we both gained satisfaction from our experiences and in the end adapted to the entire premise of games; to explore a new world.
I also did a second interview with Jarryd where we talked about some other gamified experiences we’d had. You can find the podcast he posted on his WordPress blog in the tweet below!
would love to know your thoughts on my mini podcast about our experiences on gamification! @BigOboyy #ALM201 #imadesomemedia https://t.co/ifIy3TMU8G
— Jarryd V (@jarrydverdan) July 25, 2018
References:
Sarıtaş & Yıldız 2015 as cited by Mert, Y & Samur, Y 2018, ‘Students’ Opinions Toward Game Elements Used in Gamification Application’, Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 70-101, doi: 10.17569/tojqi.364130
Nice post, I liked the interview discussing Jarryd’s experience transforming his reading habits (who doesn’t love money!). You draw out some good insights in your analysis and use some imagery to break up the content well. It may make sense to split this into two different posts, one on Jarryd’s experiences and one on yours. It wasn’t clear in your example where the gamification came in. There wasn’t any mention of rewards or achievements before the trip, only after and I assumed you didn’t know about them? I was looking for instance some form of points / progress / competition / unlocking items or content, which seemed to be missing. I like the reference to Jarryd’s blog, it got me reading more content. If you do split this into two blog posts you should look at adding a reference to it in a similar way.
Hi Glenn, thanks for the support and for reading the blog post first of all! I like the idea of splitting this up and I can see how this could definitely be stretched into two blog posts. As for your point about the apparent lack of points / progress etc. in my example, I think it comes down to the fact that the trip wasn’t so much about competition and progress but was a less quantifiable experience, something I did for the thrill of learning and wandering into a new culture.
Hi Oscar!
I really enjoyed reading various aspects of both of these stories! In particular, how you have recognised the difference and incorporation of both ‘game mechanics’ and ‘game dynamics’ – the inclusion of this reference has made me understand the different types of gamification and the whole concept on another level! I also found it really interesting that the satisfaction gained from your experiences – the exploration of a new world – was in Jarryd’s case figurative, and in your case, quite literal. It also raises the question of ‘Are you more likely to involve yourself in gamification if the incentive or encouragement comes from a loved one rather than technology?’ I personally think so. Another thing to note is that whilst Jarryd knew the reward he was going to receive, you were surprised. Which do you think is better? Are you more likely to make a bigger effort if you know, or don’t know, the reward? Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading and offering a great reply first of all! To answer your first question, thank you for prompting a thought about gamification I may write about later… I think you’re absolutely right that the validation and admiration of peers and family is a much more powerful motivator than any technological reward system. Secondly, I think the surprise element that can be used in gamification can be good or bad, it really depends on how well the system/organizers know their audience so they are able to tailor their reward and in turn the audience is only going to opt in for a surprise reward if they know the provider won’t disappoint.
Hi Oscar,
I really liked the podcast! It was a really interesting version of gamification and one that I would never have thought of. Incentives are always going to have some sort of gamification involved and getting a meeting with the state premier seems like a pretty good reward to me! In terms of the podcast, overall, I really thought it was well made but at times it seemed as if you weren’t totally prepared and there were awkward pauses something that I know I did too when I made my first podcast. It is hard to rehearse but still feel natural. Overall I really enjoyed the content!
Thanks
Annalie
Hey there, thanks for the support! Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I know what you mean about the podcast and it’s something that I trying to be more conscious of by actually writing down my ideas and plans before I make media, something I rarely do before most attempts. I think you really understood what I meant in the podcast as well about the meeting with the premier and the sense of exclusivity it gave us. Also thanks for linking your website so I can check out your blog posts!
Hey Oscar, it was good to see you sharing your experience with people. he tour that you took to China was really brave that you and your friends were going to a country that had different culture and different language. I can see that to you the gamification would be different to the others. It was focusing on the experience more but not the results. It was just as you said,”gained our educational benefits from these experiences”. Although, I would not chose to use money as the first external motivation in Jarryd’s case, but that was a fair choice since money had always been one of the best external motivation at all time. I am looking forward to your next blog. Cheers.
Thank you very much Roger! It’s interesting because we had an example of a primarily intrinsic motivator and secondly a primarily extrinsic use of motivation. What would you recommend instead of money in Jarryd’s case for a different motivator?
Hi Oscar! After listening to the podcasts you interviewed, I realised that the gamification had such a significant influence on education. I think the award is an important position and status in the gamification elements. As you said, when you finished six weeks of high school in China, you were invited by the Prime Minister to eat and talk. This gives you a greater sense of superiority and pride so that you have the motivation to continue learning Chinese. At the same time, Jarryd’s mother made him fall in love with reading through monetary rewards and even changed his mind about reading. It is also a good reward. Great work! I hope that you will learn well in the future.
Thanks very much! It’s taken me a while to get back to you here but I appreciate the support!
In the end I actually didn’t continue the subject due to the fact that coming back to the style of teaching in VCE just did not compare with the experience, a boring chore of repeating phrases and practicing writing without any kind of cultural learning or regular conversational practice.