A revolution is happening in the world of design: we’re waking up to the fact that just about anything can be made more enjoyable. And some people have figured out that game designers have special knowledge in this regard. But does this mean we should make everything into a game? The right ways to make experiences more pleasurable are subtle and tricky, and game designers have insights about how to improve learning experiences — whether you are “gamifying” these experiences or not!

Participants in this session will see ways that the nature of design of everything (learning included) is shifting from being about efficiency to being about pleasure and enjoyment. You’ll learn about some counterintuitive findings of game design (fun is not #1, rewards can punish) and see how you can use a game designer’s mindset to improve any experience, even if the experience ends up nothing like a game.

In this session you will learn:

  • The real reasons people find games enjoyable
  • How to use game-design methods to make learning experiences more engaging
  • The reasons that most attempts at “gamification” fail — and how to do it right

Handout(s)

Recording