What is “gameful”?
Oct 10, 2010 at 1:51 am by Jane McGonigal
What is Gameful?
We invented the word gameful! It means to have the spirit, or mindset, of a gamer: someone who is optimistic, curious, motivated, and always up for a tough challenge. It’s like the word “playful” — but gamier!
Gameful games are games that have a positive impact on our real lives, or on the real world. They’re games that make us:
- happier
- smarter
- stronger
- healthier
- more collaborative
- more creative
- better connected to our friends and family
- more resilient
- better problem-solvers
- and better at WHATEVER we love to do when we’re not playing games.
We propose recognizing gameful games in four categories:
- Life-changing: a major positive personal impact, for people who play the game
- Reality-changing: positive impact on a space, group, organization, neighborhood, or other community
- Game-changing: positive transformation of a process, tradition or institution
- World-changing: positive impact on a global challenge
We rate Gameful games according to four criteria:
- Positive Emotion & Engagement: increasing the positive emotions, happiness, health and well-being of players
- Relationships: building positive relationships with friends, family, colleagues, neighbors
- Meaning: connecting players to something bigger than themselves: a purpose, a mission, a collective goal or endeavor
- Accomplishment: giving players opportunities to do something that matters, to achieve in their daily lives
These categories are called “PERMA” for short, and they’re derived by the scientific research on “flourishing” led by Dr. Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center.
What kind of games count as ‘gameful’?
As long as the project has a stated goal of making our real lives, or the real world, better — and not just to entertain us — then ANY kind of game counts: computer games, videogames, mobile games and alternate reality games; commercial games and indie games; serious games and art games; board games and iPad games; crowdsourcing and innovation games; street games and new sports; education games and activist games; health games and productivity games; and just about any other kind of game you might think of!
Join us the on the wiki to help identify and sort into four categories, and to rate on a scale of 1-10, the games below: EVOKE, Fold It!, The Epic Win App, Flower, Code of Everand, SuperBetter, The MP Expenses Game, Budgetball, the Pokéwalker, Quest to Learn, Little Big Planet: Gamechangers, World Without Oil, Seek ‘n Spell, Goal Mafia,and Conspiracy for Good.
Love your book “reality is broken”
I joined here when you mentioned this site in the Gamification Summit… The talk was awesome Jane… and also this site… Buddypress converted into a game!!!! Interesting.. Want to find out how .. and like to contribute in developing this
I just joined in because this seems to be exactly what occupies most of my mind. Loved the TED speech you gave Jane!
One thing I would like to add to this discussion: quite often “fun” isn’t the main motivator for people to keep playing games at all – usually there is a fine balance between fun and frustration to make players want to keep playing. I think frustration is also one of the key elements that will be the trigger to changes in behaviour in the real world as well as in the game. Without frustration, a game will just get boring. Without frustration, there is no motivation to change anything, really!
Currently I am developing an educational game about Dutch history for young teenagers, where frustration plays an important part as well. Check out our blog to know more about it
http://www.designforplayfulimpact.nl/?cat=9
\o/
I’m really excited to see the actual games that will come out of this community; they will surely be unique and full of awesome!
I love the focus on flourishing, joy, and positive impact, and the rejection of bullying. Bravo!
Congrats for the successful launch guys and girls and looking forward to Gameful becoming THE place on the web for world-changing game development.
If not the biggest motivator
M’i gnikool drawrof to cultivating more gamefulness here too….
.dlrow \retteb\ a ngised pleh dna yppah ,lufemag su peek taht seciohc ekam ot yalp fo tpecnoc ruo egnahc dna sdrawkcab dnuora nrut ot evah ew semitemoS
This’ll be fun regardless of success.
I’m excited to see where this goes!
I’m eager to learn and help out somehow. So many creative people, overload!
This is exciting and cool for us. We work with communities with populations who need to participate in more regular physical activity. We make the actual activity engaging but need a “doing it for a greater good” component that entices “gamefulness.’ I hope to learn a LOT while being in this project.
Hi!
Would love to take a better look at the work of Seligman, which of his articles have had the greatest impact on your work? Doing the research for the psychological foundation of our project so would love to dig deeper
I think I’ve had my fill of building narratives- now I want to build worlds. This seems a more than appropriate venue. As for community size, i’ll let D.H. Lawrence do the talking for me: “O, if there weren’t teeming swarms of mankind / And we were less lonely.”
This is going to be fun.
Hi Simon! Great to see you hear. Good question about community size. Certainly there are examples of very large communities, and very large worlds… So maybe it is a matter of designing what to show and when – hiding the noise.
I fear that this might get too big. There seems to be an optimum size for a community. Not sure what that is though! I find massive communities difficult to handle in many ways. I’m being deliberately vague! I also seem to be writing in very short sentences.
Yes and there would be ways to tell when this is happening!There are mathematical tools available as well.(I ran into an article on small world network).
But Simon, we hope you will say it load and clear when you get that feeling.
While everyone may not agree on what makes the world a better place, the fact that we’re all here and willing to collaborate and explore together is fantastic. What a great opportunity to bring together people who care and who want to make change! Yay!
@quixotic – that’s a great question about lurking. I tend to be a lurker myself — in other communities that is. I think it depends on your definition of lurking. I think favoriting and tagging and quick status updates are great ways to participate without having to write anything.
There’s nothing wrong with being mostly a lurker is there?
I’m just really excited to be involved in a community that is devoted to such an important goal and have the privilege to interact with so many creative people.
Fiero \o/
Finally a place that might be mostly user oriented and stil be commercial viable. Great to C how things are progressing at the hum of the start lets keep up the enthousiasm and commitment 2gether. I have been allways strong on the fact that if you make things you make them for the users and only annoy them when its needed for the game ;-/ part. Easy going makes not only games but all tech stuf a better place and do we know we are depending on them so why not make it enjoyable!
Gameful has already made a positive impact on my life: met a couple of new people already and discussing some new possible projects. It’s great to be able to meet some like-minded professional designers during this pre-launch period.
Keeping the positive spin on what games are and can do is a serious superpower of yours, Jane. Glad you and the construction monsters are providing this platform for connectedness.
GAMEFUL is looking fairly gameful
Sometimes a game can make the world a better place simply by being a vehicle for allowing people to tell the stories they want to tell. Some of the best games out there are the ones that give players the tools and let them express their own creativity.
I am learning a lot about “teaching” how to use the game space prior to play – very cool
Great work so far. Can’t wait to see how this community develops.
\o/
Don’t forget to “free” the fun. The best games for me are the ones where the players fundamentally influence the game play and narrative by organically responding to the game with great latitude to influence and change it. Devs responding to players as much as players responding to Devs: True Collaboration. Or, even, empathy.
If making the world a better place involves play I’m up for it!
Thank you for designing such a gameful space.
I love the concept of games that make the world a better place, and I can’t help but wonder what happens when we start to sift through what a “better place” means. I can imagine not all people will agree about what will make the world better. But maybe there’s a game for that!
People might disagree about the details about what makes a “better place”, but I suspect that there’s an overwhelming amount we agree on: healthier people, in environments and groups they feel connected to, pursuing activities that are personally meaningful. Most of all, I’m excited about the power of gameful systems to change what people believe is possible of themselves and others.
Color me excited.
True – But having a large group of people whose goal is to help make the world a better place will create a positive element.
Don’t forget to include the Theory Of Fun!
http://thefuntheory.com/
Great site Luis, interesting how “fun” can become such a strong motivator.