作者：Sande Chen

2年前我参加了一个有关新兴领域游戏化，或者说添加游戏元素到服务和应用中的大会。通过给予人们一些奖励，你便能够激励任何你想要的行为—-导航至下一页，留下评论或学会乘法等。

当别人在庆祝这一高招时，作为游戏设计师的我却非常担心。我倾入一生的媒介被简化为对刺激物，操作性条件反射以及海豚训练的基本行为反应。即只是关于点击，cookie（游戏邦注：一些网站会在你的计算机上以小文本文件存储信息，这种文件便是cookie），重复。

这些游戏化专家歌颂所有来自游戏的肤浅，短期的心理诱惑，以及毫无意义的乐趣与满足。他们因此也忘了玩家也是人的事实。

就像我们在设计《SuperBetter》时，我们便想要证实游戏不只是多巴胺注射器，玩家也不只是化学机器。

《SuperBetter》提供了一种选择去替代游戏化。比起使用来自游戏的心理诱因和操作性条件反射，我们使用了它们让人满足的性能—-如代理，情感和及时反馈等去帮助人们做些自己真正想做的事：感觉更好，实现目标，与别人交流，更有意义地活着。我将其称为是富有游戏性的设计方法。

所以这一方法在实践中的表现如何？以下是我们如何将其应用于设计中的不同要点。当然，并不是所有将自己称作游戏化公司的人都能够做到所有的这些要点，但至少他们能够做到大多数。

我们可以做得更好。

目的

游戏化

让你做公司想要你做的事

游戏性设计

帮助你做公司想要你做的事

背后的游戏设计

你玩游戏是因为这是你想做的事。没人命令你这么做，也没人给你钱去游戏。没人举着抢要求你去游戏。你是受到内心的激励。内在动机意味着你在活动中感受到了乐趣。

如果你什么都不想做，那么再多的奖励，徽章以及再高的排行榜名次或点数也不会对你有吸引力。

刺激用户

游戏化

基于操作性条件反射（奖励，惩罚）

游戏性设计

利用游戏的优势（反馈，代理，情感）

背后的游戏设计

你并不是为了点数或徽章而玩游戏—-这只是帮助你提升技能的进程指示器（很让人兴奋）。人们喜欢游戏是因为他们能够控制并影响游戏世界（这便是所谓的代理），因为他们能够做出有意义的选择和有趣的决策。他们玩游戏是因为游戏有趣，具有挑战性且充满了明确的目标。操作性条件反射忽视了所有的这些内容，只是尝试着利用人类最基本的本能（而非复杂的深度）去刺激我们玩游戏。

在《SuperBetter》中

《SuperBetter》的核心元素（任务，升级，坏人和盟友）让人们感觉到自己真正掌控着命运并能够改变它们（这便是代理）。比起为你设置目标，我们让你能够选择挑战目标，我们确保你能创造各种方法去唤起积极的情感，同时还能控制那些足以吸引你回到游戏中的内容。

整合

游戏化

添加到一个现有的平台，课程或服务中

游戏性设计

从头开始整合到设计中

背后的游戏设计

所有游戏都是关于教学。所有游戏和所有的乐趣都是关于学习。如果系统的整体是“留下评论，获得徽章”，人们便会更快速地学习，而一旦他们掌握了系统，它便失去了魅力和乐趣。如果利用像徽章或排行榜等内容，那么在人们达到最初用户粘性时，系统便会变得让人厌烦，更糟糕的是，人们将会彻底选择离开网站/服务。

奖励

游戏化

使用外部奖励

游戏性设计

使用内部奖励

背后的设计

奖励只会激励人们去获得奖励。这里有一个关于外部奖励的真实故事：喜欢音乐的孩子开始学习钢琴。她的妈妈为了鼓励她的兴趣便决定在她每次演奏钢琴时给予适当的奖励。但是当妈妈停止给予奖励时，这个孩子便不愿再弹琴了，因为奖励系统她最初对于钢琴的好奇与内在的渴望逐渐消失了。

永久的行为改变是源自内在。为了让人们做某事而给予奖励有可能玷污了他们原先想要做这件事的本性。即使这是他们想要做的事，为此获得奖励会减少他们的内在动机，并最终导致他们产生没有奖励就不再做下去的想法。你给予某人奖励的时刻，也是在降低其持久改变的可能性的时刻。

在《SuperBetter》中

内在奖励是非常微妙的。在《SuperBetter》中，当玩家报告行动时，我们便会提高他们的恢复力分数。但是恢复力并非一个编造的内容—-它不只是虚拟的“点数”，它也是真实且经过验证的心理原则的反应。你所获得的奖励是能够立刻且清楚地看到自己的前进，而不是分数本身。《SuperBetter》还让你能够追踪自己的改变，而随着时间的发展看到自己的变化本身就是一种奖励。最重要的是，玩家是因为作乐这些行动而获得的奖励，如此他们便会更加努力去朝着目标前进。

徽章/成就/奖励

游戏化

有限的意义/社交环境

游戏性设计

有意义/定制的奖励

背后的游戏设计

但是等等，我刚刚应该不是说奖励只是糟糕的吧？庆祝成就（的“奖励”）和刺激行动（的“奖励”）是有所区别的。而这里我们所说的是关于前者！

获得奖励会产生一个很棒的感受—-特别是当你为之努力时，当你觉得它对自己很重要且很特殊时，当它代表在适当的挑战中获取成功时。庆祝成就没有什么错；只要你所做的事是有价值的，那么让大家知道这些事便是非常棒的。

当你前往一些网站时会发现，只是点击一些页面（当然你必须登录才能保存他们）便会获得一些随机的徽章。这样能让你感到满足吗？（当然不能。）

在《SuperBetter》中

尽管在《SuperBetter》中我们拥有一些自动的奖励成就，但是我们也发现创造有意义的奖励的最佳方法便是确保不是机器提供给玩家奖励。盟友能够选择给予他们的英雄奖励：创造一个头衔并定制图标，提供一个有关奖励的原因/描述。当玩家从好友手中获得奖励时，这对于他们来说是非常特别的，即涉及他们的关系以及他们的行动。这点非常重要。

社交关系

游戏化

标记社交关系

游戏性设计

创造并加强社交关系

背后的游戏设计

在许多社交游戏和社交服务中，各种机制总是会在允许你继续前进前推动着你与别人进行交流（游戏邦注：在《FarmVille》中你需要3个好友去扩展你的土地）。这是一种标记化，只考虑你进行了多少次交流，而不考虑类型，深度，持久性或任何能够实现独特人际关系的其它元素。几乎每一款社交游戏都是如此。甚至连Twitter也是这样。

标记化并不具有真正的社交性。对于那些真正具有社交性的内容来说，游戏体验将根据游戏对象发生变化。从机制上来看，社交性意味着其他人将从某种意义上影响着游戏；他们也会做出有趣的决定和富有表现力的选择，而因为他们的独特贡献使得我的游戏也变得很特别。

再一次地，这归根究底也是让我们记住人就是人，而不是DAU或CTR图表中的一员或愚蠢的点击机器。

在《SuperBetter》中

当你邀请盟友加入自己时，我们会让你给对方一个任务—-一些对你有帮助且是针对盟友特殊才能的任务。我们同样也会要求你每两周与对方进行一次心对心或面对面的交谈。这并不是帮助你达到其它某些目标的一些数字；你与盟友间的关系很重要，并且会对你在游戏中的发展带去真正的影响。每个好友都是独特的盟友。

挑战和技能

游戏化

几乎不需要技能

游戏性设计

提升玩家所选择的技能

背后的游戏设计

这与学习一个系统紧密相连—-当发展技能被当成是学习时，那么精通便可以说是基于知识或技能的。大多数使用游戏化的服务都不具有挑战性或乐趣。它们对技能并没有要求。就像在频繁的飞行里程例子中：点击航班计划是否有趣？在Delta救起Virgin是否具有挑战性？不，当然没有。

不管你相不相信，我们都喜欢一个有趣的挑战—-即在80%的游戏时间里我们都是遭遇失败。我们喜欢这种感觉！我们喜欢失败，努力，并利用自己的技能去获取成功的感觉。我们玩游戏便是因为它们具有挑战性。而当游戏失去了这种挑战性时，我们便会失去兴趣。

在《SuperBetter》中

在《SuperBetter》中，你将选择如何提高自己的技能，整款游戏都是关于如何变得更加强大。动力包是为挑战量身定制的，并专注于不同技能，包括社交，物理，情感和心理。挑战不够？添加另外一个动力包。挑战过猛？休息下，或一天只是做些简单的行动（3个任务，1次战斗，3次升级）。

病毒性

游戏化

任意且频繁地向任何人推广分享

游戏性设计

在主要时刻对重要的人进行有意义的分享推广

背后的设计

玩家擅于回避不相干的信息，如果他们不断接收到同样的信息，他们便不会被吸引到。新颖性是用户粘性的最大组件，并且是能够提升游戏价值的独特内容。你可以在必要的时候让玩家添加他们自己的信息并推广病毒性：当玩家完成一些具有难度的挑战时，当他们传达一些独特的内容时，当他们创造出一些不同的结果时。但这并不适用于所有玩家。

重要意图

虽然我只列举了一些例子，但是我希望这些内容能够帮助我们明确游戏化与我们所谓的源自游戏（游戏性设计）的正确“方法”之间的区别。着眼于以下列表，这是下一次你在尝试着设计真正优秀的游戏体验时需要记住的要点：

保留游戏的本质

玩家也是人

代理，代理，代理

现在进行游戏性设计

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Gameful Design (Part I)

by Sande Chen

In Part I of this article, game designer Chelsea Howe explains the difference between gameful design and gamification.

Two years ago I attended a conference on the emerging field of gamification – or adding game elements to services and applications. Just by giving people a bit of reward, you could incentivize any behavior you wanted — navigating to another page, leaving a comment, learning multiplication.

Others celebrated this silver bullet, but I, as a game designer, was worried. The medium I’d dedicated my life to was reduced to basic behavioral response to stimulus, to operant conditioning, to dolphin training. Click. Cookie. Repeat.

These gamification experts extolled all the superficial, short-term psychological hooks from games and none of the meaningful, metaphysical joy and satisfaction produced from playing. They forgot that players are people.

As we designed SuperBetter, we wanted to prove that games are more than just dopamine injections, that players are more than chemical machines.

SuperBetter offers an alternative to gamification. Instead of taking the psychological hooks and operant conditioning from games, we use their deeply satisfying properties – things like agency, emotion, and immediate feedback – to help people do what they really want to do: feel better, reach their goals, connect with others, and live with meaning. We call this a gameful approach to design.

So, what does this look like in practice? Here are a few key differences in how we approach design. Of course, not everyone who calls themselves a gamification company hits all of these points, but too many do.

We can do better.

PURPOSE

GAMIFICATION

Makes you do what companies want you to do

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Helps you do what YOU want to do

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

You play games because it’s what you want to do. No one is telling you to play, no one is giving you money to play, no one is holding a gun to your head making you play. You’re intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation means you take pleasure in the activity itself.

If you don’t want to do something, no amount of awards, badges, leaderboards, or points is going to make you do it – not long term, not sustainably.

MOTIVATING USERS

GAMIFICATION

Relies on operant conditioning (reward, punishment)

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Harnesses the good of games (feedback, agency, emotion)

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

You don’t actually play games for points or badges– those are just progress indicators that help you contextualize your improvements/skill (which is exciting). People love games because they are in control and can affect the world (this is called agency), because they can make meaningful choices and interesting decisions. They play because games are delightful, challenging, and filled with clear goals. Operant conditioning ignores all of those things, and tries to motivate using our most basic human instincts instead of the complex depth that makes us human.

SEE IT IN SUPERBETTER

SuperBetter’s core elements — quests, power-ups, bad guys, and allies — help people feel more in control of their lives and capable of changing them (this is agency). Instead of setting goals for you, we let you choose goals that challenge you, and we make sure you’re creating a toolbox of ways to spark positive emotions in your life while identifying and gaining control over those things that hold you back.

INTEGRATION

GAMIFICATION

Added to an existing platform, curriculum, or service

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Integrated into design from the ground up

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

All games teach. All play and all fun is learning. If the entirety of a system is “Leave Comment, Get Badge” people will learn that very quickly, and once a system is learned, it loses its charm, its fun, its pleasure. Tack on something like badges or leaderboards, and after an initial engagement spike, the system suddenly becomes a transparently irrelevant annoyance – or worse, an unavoidable reason to leave the site/service altogether.

THE REWARDS

GAMIFICATION

Uses extrinsic rewards

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Uses intrinsic rewards

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

Rewards only motivate people to get rewards. Here’s a true story about extrinsic rewards: A child with a love for music starts playing the piano. Her mother, wanting to encourage her interest, begins rewarding her every time she plays. When the mother stops rewarding, the child stops playing, her initial curiosity and intrinsic desire to play diminished by the reward system.

Lasting behavior change comes from within. Giving someone cash to do something taints the nature of whatever they do. Even if it’s something they wanted to do, getting a reward for it decreases intrinsic motivation, and actually makes people less likely to perform the behavior without reward. The moment you give someone a reward, you’re decreasing the likelihood of lasting, sustainable change for them.

SEE IT IN SUPERBETTER

Intrinsic reward is a fine line and hugely nuanced. In SuperBetter, when players report actions, we increase their Resilience score. But Resilience isn’t a made up thing – it’s not just magical, virtual “points” – it’s a reflection of a very real, validated principle of psychology. You’re rewarded by seeing your progress in an immediate, tangible way, but not by the points themselves. SuperBetter also lets you track changes to your well-being, so over time seeing the difference is its own reward. Most importantly, players are rewarded because as they do these actions, they really do start to feel better and reach their goals.

BADGES/ACHIEVEMENTS/AWARDS

GAMIFICATION

Limited meaning/social context

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Meaningful/customized awards

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

But wait – didn’t I just say rewards can be bad? There’s a difference between celebrating accomplishment (“award”) and incentivizing actions (“reward”). This is about the former!

Getting an award is a great feeling – when you’ve worked for it. When it feels relevant and special to you. When it represents success at something appropriately challenging. There’s nothing wrong about celebrating accomplishment; it feels great to be recognized for what you’ve done, as long as what you’ve done is actually something worthwhile.

If you go to certain sites you’ll find yourself with random badges for seemingly no reason at all, after just clicking through a few pages (and of course, you have to sign up to keep them). Is that satisfying? (No.)

SEE IT IN SUPERBETTER

While we do have a few automatically awarded achievements in SuperBetter, we found the best way to make awards meaningful was to ensure it wasn’t a machine giving them to you. Allies have the option to give achievements to their heroes: to create a title and customize the icon and provide a reason/description for the award. When players get awards from friends, it means something unique to them, their relationship, and their actions. It matters.

Gameful Design (Part II)

In Part I of this article, game designer Chelsea Howe explains the difference between gameful design and gamification. In Part II, she lists more reasons why gameful design is more compelling than what’s popularly known as gamification.

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

GAMIFICATION

Tokenizes social relationships

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Creates & strengthens social relationships

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

In many social games and social services, gates are put onto mechanics that force you to be viral and connect with other players before you’re allowed to continue (for example, you need 3 friends to expand your land in FarmVille). This is tokenizing – or only considering how many connections you have, and not the type, depth, duration, or any number of other facets that make each human relationship unique. Almost every social network game is like this. Even Twitter is like this.

Tokenizing is not actually social. For something to be truly social, the experience of playing has to be different depending on who I’m playing with. Mechanically, social means other people impact the game meaningfully; they’re making interesting decisions and expressive choices too, and my game is unique because of their unique contribution to it.

Again, this comes down to remembering that people are people and not numbers in a DAU or CTR graph or mindless click-machines
.
SEE IT IN SUPERBETTER

When you invite allies to join you, we ask you to give them a mission – something unique that you need and would be grateful for and something specifically suited to that person’s talents. We also ask that you check in – that is, have a heart to heart or face to face conversation with them – at least once every two weeks. These aren’t just numbers helping you towards some other purpose; the strength of your relationships matters and has a real and measurable effect on your well being. Each friend is a unique ally.

CHALLENGE AND SKILL

GAMIFICATION

Requires little to no skill

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Trains up skills of players’ choosing

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

This is closely linked to learning a system – when developing skills is seen as learning and mastery can be either knowledge-based or skill-based. Most services that employ gamification aren’t challenging or fun to do. They require no skill. In the tired example of frequent flyer miles, for instance: is it fun to click on a flight scheduler? It is challenging to pick Virgin over Delta? No, of course not.

And believe it or not, we love a good challenge – 80% of the time we’re playing, we’re failing. And we love it! We like failing, struggling, and utilizing our skills to succeed. We play games because they challenge us. And when they don’t? We just stop caring altogether.

SEE IT IN SUPERBETTER

In SuperBetter, YOU choose how you want to improve, and the whole game is about getting stronger. Power Packs are custom tailored to challenges, and focus on different skills across the board: social, physical, emotional, mental. Not challenging enough? Add another Power Pack. Overwhelmed? Take a break, or just do a single move (3 quests, 1 battle, 3 power-ups) a day.

VIRALITY

GAMIFICATION

Promote sharing indiscriminately, constantly, to everyone

GAMEFUL DESIGN

Promote sharing meaningfully, at major moments, to whom it matters

THE GAME DESIGN BEHIND THE SCENES

Gamers are great at tuning out irrelevant information, and if they’re constantly spammed with the same canned messages, they’re not going to get engaged. Novelty is a huge component of engagement (it’s something new to figure out, to learn, to master) and unique content adds value. As much as you can, let players add their own messages, and prompt virality when it matters: when the player has accomplished something difficult, when they’ve expressed something unique, when they’ve really made a difference. And don’t blast it to everyone if it doesn’t apply to them: send it to the people to whom it matters most.

THE BIG IDEAS

Phew! Long post! Those were just a few examples, but I hope they helped clarify the difference between what most people call gamification and what we consider the “right” way to borrow from games (gameful design). Looking over the list, here are the three key bullets I’d pull out next time you go out and try to design a great experience:

Keep it intrinsic

Players are people

Agency, agency, agency

Now go make it gameful(source:blogspot)