{"id":956,"date":"2010-07-12T18:18:13","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T17:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/?p=956"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:45:02","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:45:02","slug":"make-work-fun-examples-of-the-practical-application-of-user-experience-in-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/12\/make-work-fun-examples-of-the-practical-application-of-user-experience-in-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Make work fun \u2013 examples of applying the UX of games"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write this blog out of personal interest. It never really seems like work, and so I\u2019d be unlikely to blog more often if I received points for doing so (although I do like free things!). However this isn\u2019t always the case \u2013 sometimes there are jobs you just have to do, regardless of how you feel about them..<\/p>\n

Since my recent post on using mechanics from games to make dull tasks fun<\/a>, a couple of upcoming applications have taken the step of applying some of the lessons from gaming, to make work fun. Epic Win is a \u2018to-do\u2019 list disguised as an RPG, and Dev Hub is a website creation tool with points. I\u2019ll look at what these applications are, how they apply game mechanics, and how successful we can expect them to be at making dull tasks fun.<\/p>\n

Epic Win<\/h4>\n

The new iPhone ‘game’ Epic Win<\/a> is a productivity application (essentially a to-do list?) mixed with an RPG. After inputting your list of tasks (such as wash the dishes, or write a blog post), the game will reward you with XP for completing each task, allowing you to level up your character, as well as granting special items and other rewards.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Dog

Achievement Unlocked: Made Dog Useful<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

There is a trailer for Epic Win here<\/a>, which may explain the theory better.<\/p>\n

Essentially, through giving you points for achieving tasks in the real world, the game aims to incentivise the player to perform the real world tasks, by applying a common game mechanic.<\/p>\n

DevHub<\/h4>\n

DevHub<\/a> is a website creation tool, focusing on automating the process for creating blogs for niche topics (like this one?) and allowing authors to monetize their site (maybe I should be interested\u2026)<\/p>\n

\n
\"No

Me, writing this blog<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the initial implementation, they found they had a problem. People were making only the simplest sites, using a small range of DevHub\u2019s features. So to incentivise people to use a fuller range of features, they added game mechanics.<\/p>\n

Now tasks like blogging, or linking your site to your facebook profile accrue points, which can then be spent on improvements to the site, such as new templates or widgets. This gives a gradual reveal of the site\u2019s features, and gives the owner (player?) a sense of progression.<\/p>\n

Thus game mechanics help DevHub\u2019s users discover, and utilize a wider range of features than before.<\/p>\n

Are they fun?<\/h4>\n

The game mechanics in both of these new applications seem to be simpler than those outlined as successful in the \u2018Just Add Points\u2019 presentation I covered recently<\/a>. Both use points as a mechanic to incentivize players to repeat actions, or go further than they normally would. Points allow the clear construction of goals, and for progress to be measured. I imagine competition will become a key part of these two applications, as social media will allow players to compare and compete on points.<\/p>\n

However many of the problems outlined in Sebastian Deterding\u2019s presentation<\/a> still apply.<\/p>\n