Ayogo Games

Health Gamification FAQ: How do sensors fit into gamification?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:00:36 +0000

In today’s video, Ayogo’s CTO, Paul Prescod, talks about how senors fit into gameplay and health gamification.

Ayogo’s Health Gamification FAQ series tackles some of the most commonly asked questions we get at conferences, industry events, and online. If you have a question, give us a shout : @ayogogames or info@ayogo.com

Health Gamification FAQ: How can we identify which areas gamification is best applied to?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

In today’s video, Ayogo’s CEO, Michael Fergusson, answers a Twitter question from John Mardlin about how to identify areas best suited for gamification.

Health Gamification FAQ: How can games improve health outcomes?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:08 +0000

In today’s video, Ayogo’s CTO, Paul Prescod, talks about the reasons behind medical non-adherence, how games can increase patient engagement in a variety of ways, and how this increase in engagement can lead to better health outcomes.

Ayogo’s Health Gamification FAQ series tackles some of the most commonly asked questions we get at conferences, industry events, and online. If you have a question, give us a shout.

Learner perspective in games

Shehani Kay — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:00:12 +0000

When designing games for learning, most design starts with the learner playing the main character in the game, making decisions and experiencing the consequences within the game world. This makes sense…designing games for practice means that the learner needs to actually DO something, repeatedly, to gain experience and improve performance with repeated exposure and application of knowledge and skills.

Are there good design rationales for NOT putting the learner in first person perspective within the game? Absolutely.

One game that we designed from a third-person perspective was The Change Game. The organizational problem was employee resistance to change and the game was designed as a reflection on resilience factors that, when missing, would contribute to change resistance. Putting the learner in a first-person role ran the risk of making the game too personal…instead, the learner observed other character interactions from a third-person perspective, then identified which of the seven resilience factors the characters were not exhibiting. After observing the character scenarios, learners were asked to reflect on similar situations they had experienced and how they responded, encouraging them to learn about resistance and resilience from the game scenarios and then apply that knowledge in thinking about their own behavior. In this way, the third-person perspective allowed the game to achieve the learning goals without making learners feel defensive or accused of bad behavior.

Recently, discussions with organizations who are looking at games to address the subject of mental health within the workplace have led to similar proposed game structures. Because mental health topics sometimes carry negative stigmas, approaching them in less personal or less potentially confrontational ways is important.

Whenever a topic has the potential for the learners’ emotional response to get in the way of achieving the learning goals, changing the player perspective within the game can distance the learner from feeling the game is about him or her and allow for better insight and perspective on the information and learning you are ultimately designing the game to convey.

About the Author
Koreen Olbrish, Ayogo VP of Learning Design, creates games that demonstrate the untapped potential of immersive learning design.

Ayogo Q&A: How do you make gamification fun?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:00:41 +0000

Ayogo’s Associate Producer, Michelle, answers @ianGon’s Twitter question about how we make gamification fun.

Ayogo Q&A is a video series that answers questions about gamification and health. If you have any questions, ask us! @ayogogames or info@ayogo.com

Audience Q&A – The Great Gamification Debate (part 6/6)

Shehani Kay — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:00:23 +0000

Once the debate ended and the trophy got handed out, the crowd got a crack at the debating duo. The audience questions were astute, giving Steve and Michael the opportunity to open up the topic, and discuss a variety of issues, including the moral factors involved in making addictive games; examples of bad gamification; the gamification of business applications, such as tax forms; and different types of revenue generation models.

Recorded live Feb 2nd 2012 in Vancouver’s Gastown.

Credits:

On cameras: James Darby, Alan Burns, Jesse Spink and Shehani Kay

Post-production editing: Alan Burns

Ayogo Q&A: Gamification of health sounds promising, but is our reliance on tech going too far?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:00:45 +0000

Ayogo, CTO, Paul Prescod, answers a twitter question from @socialmediavcr. She asks, “gamification of health sounds promising, but is our reliance on tech going too far? Any foreseeable issues? Exercise extinction?” Paul gives us examples of how games and technology can make us connected and active at the same time.

Ayogo Q&A is a video series that answers questions about gamification and health. If you have any questions, ask us! @ayogogames or info@ayogo.com

Should gameplay be ubiquitous? – The Great Gamification Debate (part 5/6)

Shehani Kay — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:00:04 +0000

Ding. Ding. Ding. We’re tied going into the Final Round!

Steve argues in favour of ubiquitous gamification because happiness is the removal of boredom. He claims it’s more fun to think of it as making people happy. As long as it’s voluntary, fitting, and intrinsically motivating, we should do it. “If you do it wrong, gamification is like trying to find the right hammer to pound in the right screw. It’s not the right fit,” said Steve, “but if done right, we could make people more fulfilled and happy.”

Michael argues gamification poses several risks and he doesn’t recommend applying it everywhere. He goes on to give examples of how applying extrinsic rewards to activities has had negative effects on motivation. “There’s also a danger that gamification can infantilize us,” he said, “but gamification when applied properly gives us the opportunity to become more empowered because we can choose our own goals and work towards achieving them.”

Watch and find out who wins!

Recorded live Feb 2nd 2012 in Vancouver’s Gastown.

Credits:
On cameras: James Darby, Alan Burns, Jesse Spink and Shehani Kay
Post production editing: Alan Burns

Ayogo Q&A: How can you best deliver a sense of competence in a gamified health system?

Shehani Kay — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:00:01 +0000

Ayogo CEO, Michael Fergusson, answers a question from gamification expert Scott Dodson (@gamebiz). Scott asks: how can you best deliver a sense of competence in a gamified health system? Michael calls this a problem of mastery. We need a system of rewards to drive people towards healthier behaviour.

Ayogo Q&A is a video series that answers questions about gamification and health. If you have any questions, ask us! @ayogogames or info@ayogo.com

Does gamification require specialized knowledge and skills? – The Great Gamification Debate (part 4/6)

Shehani Kay — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:00:28 +0000

Ding. Ding. Ding. Round 4!

Steve argues that gamification does require specialized knowledge. “There’s no cookie cutter approach you can take to gamify environments. You can”t copy and paste ideas people have used and make those designs work. You can’t Zynga your way through this.”

Michael counters with a story from his childhood of a time he gamified a car trip with no specialized skills at all. Michael argues that there’s no gating factor for understanding what’s fun, what works and what motivates us towards our goal.

Recorded live Feb 2nd 2012 in Vancouver’s Gastown.

Credits:

On cameras: James Darby, Alan Burns, Jesse Spink and Shehani Kay
Post production editing: Alan Burns