• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
HCI Games Group

HCI Games Group

Researching Affective Systems and Engaging Interactions

  • Home
  • Blog
  • People
  • Opportunities
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Teaching
  • Contact
  • CLICK ME!!!
The HCI Games Group in 2020.

The Gameful World

You are here: Home / News / Book Review / The Gameful World
August 7, 2015 by Gustavo Tondello
The Gameful World

The Gameful World is a book that aims to examine the key challenges of gamification and the ludification of culture, or, as presented by the editors, the Gameful World. It contains essays from more than 50 acknowledged experts representing both academia and industry. The collection is edited by Steffen P. Walz, Associate Professor and Director of the Games and Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab) at the School of Media and Communication at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Director of RMIT’s GEElab Europe in Karlsruhe, Germany, and Sebastian Deterding, Assistant Professor in the Game Design Program at Northeastern University, and associate at the international design agency Hubbub.

The book begins with an introduction to the Gameful World, in which the editors review the historical context for the rise of games and gamification in modern culture. From then on, the analysis is organized in three broad parts. The first part, “Approaches”, presents several different views used to frame and define gamification, which include the ludic century, behavioural psychology, motivation, economics, ethics, and aesthetics, among others. It also boldly includes a sceptical essay arguing that gamification is “bullshit” (an extension of the previous well-known article from Ian Bogost), inviting the reader to engage in critical reflection. This perspective also reinforces the novelty of the gamification concept, serving to remind readers that this research is largely exploratory, and still lacks a concrete definition or formal system of terminology. As I read through each chapter, I understood that the Gameful World concept can manifest itself in many different forms, depending on what basis it is analyzed. A few chapters even contradict some points from others. This is a result of the novelty of this research area, and the absence of universally accepted definitions. This realization tells us that, when talking about gamification, it is important to recognize which perspectives generate particular characterizations. One chapter that stood out for me was “Playing the Good Life: Gamification and Ethics” by Miguel Sicart, which inspires the reader to think how gamification may be used to aid us in becoming better human beings.

The second part, “Issues”, breaks down many of the key challenges and open questions regarding this new world and its relation to capitalism, culture, media, governance, privacy, morality, and technology. This section emphasizes that the relation of the Gameful World to established societal traits is still being studied, and although preliminary knowledge has been obtained, we cannot claim to possess a complete understanding of the global impact of large-scale gamification. The chapter “Gamification and Culture” by Rilla Khaled, for example, questions how basic values can vary between cultures, and how this can affect users’ attitudes towards common gamification mechanics. Cultural orientations are presented as dimensions represented by autonomy versus embeddedness, egalitarianism versus hierarchy, and harmony versus mastery. Thus, mechanics which foster independence may be well-received in cultures that value autonomy, but less comfortable in cultures that value embeddedness; mechanics of competition may appeal to hierarchical cultures, but may be strange to egalitarian cultures; and mechanics that nurture mastery may not be easily accepted by cultures that value harmony. One concludes that many specific studies will be needed to assert how the population from each cultural background responds differently to each implementation of the Gameful World.

The third part, “Applications”, surveys existing research on some of the major application domains: design, business, social media, science, governance, urbanism, environment, health, and learning. Each chapter does a great job in presenting how the Gameful World is already being applied to each domain, as well as ideas and possibilities that are yet to be explored. Several case studies are described along the chapters, giving the reader a clear notion of the current applications of gamification. For example, in “Gamification and the Enterprise” by Ethan Mollick and Kevin Werbach, the case of LiveOps is presented. LiveOps is a virtual call-center outsourcing company with agents that work independently from home. The implementation of a gamified system that improved performance measurement and increased the enjoyment of a potentially tedious job led to reduced call times, an 8 to 12% increase in sales, and an average of 9% higher customer satisfaction. In “Gamification and Health” by Sean Munson, Erika Poodle, Daniel Perry, and Tamara Peyton, the case of the American Horsepower Challenge (AHPC) is presented. The AHPC is a pedometer-based fitness game for children in secondary schools. It creates an environment where children earn points for exercising (i.e. walking or running, as measured by the pedometer) during their spare time. The points of all students are aggregated by school, and schools compete between themselves on a rank system. An evaluation of the program showed modest increase in student physical activity. However, researchers have also noted that the competition encouraged cheating to artificially increase activity measures. For example, some children lend their pedometers to more active colleagues, or even placed them on active pets or younger siblings to earn more points. This case study reminds us that mechanisms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation merit further inquiry to understand their effectiveness, and that gameful design methods have yet to evolve, because we are only beginning to identify the potential and the pitfalls of commonly used gamification mechanics.

boy runningIn each part, chapters are interspersed with position papers. While chapters synthesize and critically reflect the existing literature, position statements act as counterpoints, providing the subjective voices of practitioners, theorists, and activists that have been formative for the gameful world. The book ends with the position paper “I’m not Playful, I’m Gameful” by Jane McGonigal, which for me was especially interesting to understand the difference between playfulness, the purposeless exploration of possibilities, and gamefulness, the motivation to seek out the accomplishment of goals and challenges. The paper closes the book by summarizing what it means to be gameful: “having the positive traits of a gamer” (or a game), such as strong motivation and goal orientation, confidence in one’s own capabilities, enjoying the pursuit of new challenges, perseverance in the face of obstacles, and a passion for learning new skills.

The Gameful World fulfills its promise of presenting the current key challenges of gamification. It inspires the reader to imagine new and exciting applications that may help build a better future. At the same time, no definitive conclusions are presented, leaving open questions and research prospects that need to be investigated and answered before this future can be realized. It is a magnificent compilation of the approaches, issues and applications surrounding a new, thriving research area.

The book does not present simple definitions or methods to implement gamification. For those who are seeking quick ways to acquire information concerning the design and implementation of gamification, other instructional materials would be more well-suited. However, for researchers or those interested in the gameful world, seeking to verse themselves in the current state of the art, and willing to find the inspiration to create their own contributions, I would say that The Gameful World is essential reading.

The Gameful World

 

The Gameful World: Approaches, Issues, Applications
Edited by Steffen P. Walz and Sebastian Deterding
The MIT Press, 688 pp., January 2015.
Hardcover: $50.00. Ebook: $35.00.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/gameful-world

 

 

 

 

 

Gustavo's Profile Pic
Gustavo Tondello
Co-Founder, Software Engineer, Gamification Specialist at MotiviUX | Website | + posts

Dr. Gustavo Tondello was an instructor and support coordinator for the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He was a Ph.D. student at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke and Dr. Daniel Vogel and a graduate researcher at the HCI Games Group. He is a co-founder of MotiviUX and a member of the International Gamification Federation. His research interests include gamification and games for health, wellbeing, and learning, user experience in gamification, and gameful design methods. His work focuses on the design and personalization of gameful applications. His publications advanced the current knowledge on player and user motivations in games and gameful applications and introduced new frameworks and approaches to designing personalized gameful applications and serious games. He periodically blogs about gamification for the HCI Games Group and on his personal blog, Gameful Bits. Before coming to Canada, Gustavo earned his M.Sc. in Computer Science and his B.Sc. in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and worked for several years as a Software Engineer in Brazil. Gustavo is also a Logosophy researcher affiliated with the Logosophical Foundation of Brazil and North America.

  • Gustavo Tondello
    https://hcigames.com/author/gustavo/
    The Use of Games and Play to Achieve Real-World Goals
  • Gustavo Tondello
    https://hcigames.com/author/gustavo/
    The HCI Games Group will be at CHI PLAY 2015
  • Gustavo Tondello
    https://hcigames.com/author/gustavo/
    Playful Interactions at CHI PLAY 2015
  • Gustavo Tondello
    https://hcigames.com/author/gustavo/
    Repidly: A Lightweight Tool for the Collaborative Analysis of Biosignals and Gameplay Videos
Category: Book Review, News, Social Media Update/BlogTag: gameful world, gamification

About Gustavo Tondello

Dr. Gustavo Tondello was an instructor and support coordinator for the Cheriton School of Computer Science. He was a Ph.D. student at the University of Waterloo under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke and Dr. Daniel Vogel and a graduate researcher at the HCI Games Group. He is a co-founder of MotiviUX and a member of the International Gamification Federation. His research interests include gamification and games for health, wellbeing, and learning, user experience in gamification, and gameful design methods. His work focuses on the design and personalization of gameful applications. His publications advanced the current knowledge on player and user motivations in games and gameful applications and introduced new frameworks and approaches to designing personalized gameful applications and serious games. He periodically blogs about gamification for the HCI Games Group and on his personal blog, Gameful Bits. Before coming to Canada, Gustavo earned his M.Sc. in Computer Science and his B.Sc. in Information Systems from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and worked for several years as a Software Engineer in Brazil. Gustavo is also a Logosophy researcher affiliated with the Logosophical Foundation of Brazil and North America.

Previous Post: « The Ultimate First Person Shooter Game Simulator
Next Post: Flashlights Off! – A Left 4 Dead 2 Game Review »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • HCI Games Group’s Field Guide to CHI 2021
  • The Challenge of Knowledge Translation
  • An Interview With Horror Sound Designer Orest Sushko || Part III – What Horror Games Can Learn From The Sound Design of Horror Movies

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015

Categories

  • Book Review
  • Conferences
  • Game Design
  • Games User Research
  • Gamification
  • Gaming Experiences
  • HCI
  • Interviews
  • News
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Research
  • Social Media Update/Blog
  • Talks
  • Teaching

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015

Categories

  • Book Review
  • Conferences
  • Game Design
  • Games User Research
  • Gamification
  • Gaming Experiences
  • HCI
  • Interviews
  • News
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Research
  • Social Media Update/Blog
  • Talks
  • Teaching

Archives

  • May 2021
  • February 2021
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • March 2015

Categories

  • Book Review
  • Conferences
  • Game Design
  • Games User Research
  • Gamification
  • Gaming Experiences
  • HCI
  • Interviews
  • News
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Research
  • Social Media Update/Blog
  • Talks
  • Teaching
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 · HCI Games Group · All Rights Reserved. We acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. We wish to honour the ancestral guardians of this land and its waterways: the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat, and the Neutrals. Many Indigenous peoples continue to call this land home and act as its stewards, and this responsibility extends to all peoples, to share and care for this land for generations to come.