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Jonathan Peters

When it comes to creating gamified or game-based learning experiences, most practitioners throw game mechanics at a program without a methodology or rational strategy. They assume that what is fun for them will be fun for their learners. The results are hit-or-miss.

When budgets and time are in short supply, organizations cannot afford to simply apply game mechanics without a purposeful approach that predicts which game mechanics will appeal to this specific audience.

This session outlines a practical approach to determining which game mechanics will motivate a targeted audience. You will learn how an empirically-based taxonomy of core human desires predicts what will be "fun" for specific participants, why some people like competition while others prefer quiet concentration, and still others let it all ride on black.

Attendee Benefits

Following this session, participants will have:

A basic understanding of the work of Dr. Steven Reiss and the Reiss Motivation Profile

A grasp of a theory of fun that proposes that a game mechanic is "fun" because it satiates one or more core human desires

A practical approach for choosing only the game mechanics that will appeal to a specific audience

An ability to predict which game mechanics will cause a specific audience to disengage

A list of 99 Game Mechanics along with the Core Desires each mechanic satiates.