Gamification, Part Deux

So, we were at a friend's place this weekend, and they had a new game system that had open-source type games.  Without getting into the details, the game system and game that they chose to play had no instruction manual, no explanation of what the game was about, no reference to how to score points, what the points did, how to achieve merits and badges, how to find the power ups, where to find the power ups, how to use the power ups or any information around the power ups that would help the kids choose the merits of using a power up in any given situation.

Here is what I pieced together:

The snowboarder in this game was racing.  Then, he was being chased by something that turned out to be the Grim Reaper.  There were gold coins.  Some of the objects on the course knocked him out of the game if he touched them and others just stunned him.  There were random meteor showers, sharp barriers that hurt him, outhouses and snowbanks that he just bounced off, exploding mines, Pterodactyl powers ups that picked him and and flew him high above the course, a power up that changed him into a giant wrecking (snow)ball, a jet pack power up, and jumps and trick moves that gave the player bonus points if they figured out how to use them.  Also, the longer he lasted on the course, the more points he gained.

Whew, that was a lot for me to take in.  When I played video games, I scoured through the instruction manual.  This manual always included the background story for the game, instructions, tips and tricks to excel with, the point scoring system, and a detailed map of what buttons were needed for what moves on the joystick.

This game had nothing.  Of note, it took the kids under a minute to figure all of this out, to beat the high score and then do it again, over and over.  They figured out not only how to jump, but how to add in sweet snowboarder moves for extra points--flips, tail grabs, 360s, etc.

And, here is what else I saw...

• The kids working together to "decode" the game
• The kids not just sharing important information, but pooling it together to improve their experience
• A single-player game become a group experience
• Complex problem solving
• A shared language develop right before my eyes, along with a shared rubric for success
• Individuals supporting each other
• Stronger players assisting (and celebrating the success) weaker players, in a mixed group of 9 kids, boys and girls, 5 years old to 13 years old.
• 9 kids sharing one controller, taking turns one at a time
• Laughing
• Good sportsmanship (one boy was given a bum-steer which led to a quick end of his turn, to which kids all laughed and then cheered "re-turn" because they made him fail and didn't want him to feel jilted)

...and, all of this was done with a 100% chance of failure.  The "Game Over" banner kept scrolling across the screen and they kept eating the game up.  No one had any real success.  No one defeated the game.

But, they kept trying...with smiles on.

All the adults did was institute a "3 attempts per kid" rule before they handed it off to the next one waiting in line so that each person's turn wasn't mere seconds long. 

They failed, over and over and over again.  Sometimes, almost instantly.  They failed because they didn't understand the objectives of the game, because they didn't understand the rules of the game, because they weren't good at the game, because they didn't know which buttons (tools) to use, because they didn't know when to use a power up (resources), because they didn't pay attention enough when they were waiting, because they forgot to ask for help, and they failed because they were often talking when they should have been listening.  But every time, they jumped into the driver's seat with vigour and energy.  Every time, they dusted themselves off, got back up and tried again.  And after 3 failures they gave it up to the next in line for a turn, but not before giving them some tips and tricks from the experience that would help their friend do better than them on the next play.

I sat back watching all of this, wondering how fast I could destroy all of this enthusiasm for learning by:

• making them sit in rows without talking or looking at anyone's work
• having one adult demonstrate the game, explaining each (boring) detail at the level of the lowest (and youngest) learner
• calling kids up--one at a time--to try, and then go sit down while the others watched quietly
• scoring them on their success based on my criteria, that may or not have been shared with them up front or during the process
• telling them how important this "irrelevant thing" (kid words) was going to be for them in the "real world" (adult words)
• scolded the ones waiting for not paying attention (while they sat quietly, keeping their eyes and hands to themselves, waiting for their turn)

My guess is not very long.

And, don't worry; after everyone cycled through their turns twice, the game was shut down and the kids bundled up and sent outside to play in the snow for a few hours.  A learning experiment is one thing, but a video game will never replace the kind of learning that happens when a bunch of kids go outside and play in the snow.  More on that one later... :)

Gamification

Gamification of learning activities is a strategy that "rewards players (learners) who accomplish desired tasks.  Types of rewards include points, achievement badges or levels, the filling of a progress bar, and providing the user with virtual currency" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification).

 A colleague introduced me to gamification this week.  He works in a virtual environment where they are having great success.  He said that if he returned to a "regular" school he would gamify everything.  He would create student "houses", and give out rewards for individual achievement and for groups achievement.  He would give out helper points.  It wasn't, however, the use of badges and banners that got me excited (blogger's note:  I am still scarred from a keynote by Alfie Kohn, around the time of the release of his book Punishment by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's. Praise and Other Bribes), but his observations that led him to this strategy.  You see, he was watching his grandson play video games and noticed the following things:

• Why will a child try a video game over and over, even though they continue to fail?
• During this "trying" they are engaged, and not a behaviour problem.
• They like the badges and rewards that they earn on their quests, and feel great success when the complete a task and "level up".
• They work hard learning how to win, and in the process they learn how to lose.
• Games have built in cheats, and the kids work incredibly hard researching and learning the cheat codes to do better in the game, all the while learning new things.

This reminds me of another Principal who looked at the skateboarder culture.  He watched kids try a trick over and over again for hundreds of hours.  He tried and tried and tried again, and in the process scraped skins off his body, bruised his muscles and broke his bones.  He tried despite a 100% failure rate until he finally achieved success.  Then, he started the process over with a new trick.

Hmmmm...

...and here at school, kids fail once and then never want to do it again...

They fail once, and the "are done".

Somehow, we have to tap into these classic examples of intrinsic motivation.  Somehow, we have to allow the process to be more engaging to the students than it is to us.  Somehow, we have make learning something that makes failure worthwhile, so that students will come back over and over and over again until they master the tasks that we have set out for them. 

Somehow, we have to make "the learning" something that they want to do. 

Thoughts?  I'd appreciate anything to add to my own new thinking to this topic.