Michael Cilla

1] What is Gamification?

• Sebastian Deterding, et al, From Game Design Elements to Gamefulness: Defining “Gamification”, Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference, 2011 (Academic paper offering a straightforward definition of gamification)
• Jesse Schell, Design Outside the Box, 2010 DICE conference presentation video. (Hilarious and provocative talk about the potential of gamification, which jumpstarted interest in the concept.)
• Deloitte, The Engagement Economy: How Gamification is Reshaping Business (A nice overview of gamification as a business technique by a major consulting firm.)

2] Games

• Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (A comprehensive description of the core concepts of games and play, targeted toward game designers. A dense but rewarding read.)
• Sam Anderson, Just One More Game…, New York Times Magazine, April 8, 2012 (Looks at the growth and appeal of online casual and social games in recent years.)
• Adam Penenberg, How Video Games are Infiltrating — and Improving — Every Part of Our Lives, Fast Company, December 13, 2010 (An early report on the gamification trend and some of its implications.)

3] Game Thinking

• Jesse Schell, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (An exhaustive yet fun compendium of digital game design techniques and concepts.)
• Nicole Lazzaro, Why We Play Games: Four Keys to Emotion Without Story, March 8, 2004 (Influential research-based framework describing different types of fun in games.)

4] Game Elements

• Robin Hunicke, et al, MDA: A Formal Approach To Game Design and Game Research, Proceedings of the Challenges in Game AI Workshop, 2004 (Details of Marc LeBlanc’s framework.)
• Greg Costikyan, I Have No Words & I Must Design, Interactive Fantasy #2, 1994 (An early effort to highlight the essential elements of game design.)
• Bing Gordon, Hacking Gamification, 2012 (Presentation by venture capitalist and game industry legend Bing Gordon on key gamification techniques)

5] Psychology and Motivation I: Behaviorism

• David Freedman, The Perfected Self, The Atlantic, June 2012 (A defense of modern online behavioral techniques. Not specific to gamification.)
• Tom Chatfield, 7 Ways Games Reward the Brain, TEDGlobal 2010 (Video illustrating ways games design rewards to motivate behavior.)

6] Psychology and Motivation II: Beyond Behaviorism

• Alfie Kohn, Studies Find Reward Often No Motivator, Boston Globe, January 19, 1987 (A powerful challenge to behaviorist reward systems.)
• Richard Ryan & Edward Deci, Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions, Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 2000 (Overview of self-determination theory concepts by its primary developers.)
• Sebastian Deterding, Meaningful Play: Getting Gamification Right, Google Tech Talk, January 24, 2011 (Presentation explaining the Self Determination Theory case against behavioral approaches to gamification.)

7] Gamification Design Framework-Design Choices

• Amy Jo Kim, Smart Gamification: Seven Core Concepts for Creating Compelling Experiences, 2001 (Presentation describing an approach to gamification based on game design insights.)
• Amy Jo Kim, I (Heart) Collaborative Gaming, Google I/O 2012 Ignite Talk video (Presentation stressing the importance of using collaboration, not just competition, in gamification and game design)
• Scott Nicholson, A User-Centered Theoretical Framework for Meaningful Gamification, June 2012 (An attempt to synthesize an approach to gamification focused on meaningful design.)

8] Enterprise Gamification

• Ross Smith, The Future of Work is Play, 2011 (How Microsoft’s testing group uses gamification and more broadly applies concepts of play in the workplace.)
• JP Rangaswami, Talk at 2Way Summit 2011 (Video by the Chief Scientist of Salesforce.com on how gamification relates to leading-edge trends in the digital enterprise.)
• Rypple, Work Better. Play Together? On Enterprise Gamification, March 11, 2011 (Presentation on how to apply gamification concepts effectively in the enterprise.)

9] Social Good and Behavior Change

• BJ Fogg, A Behavior Model for Persuasive Design, 2009 (Summary of BJ Fogg’s framework for behavior change.)
• ROI Research, “Gaming for Good” report, register to download at http://www.roiresearch.com/register.asp (Overview of social good applications of gamification.)

10] Critiques and Risks

• Margaret Robertson, Can’t Play, Won’t Play, Hide&Seek Blog, October 6, 2010 (The blog post that spawned the “pointsification” critique of gamification.)
• Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games: Exploitationware, Gamasutra, May 3, 2011(Critique of gamification as a form of exploitation, discussed in the lectures.)
• Sebastian Deterding Pawned: Gamification and its Discontents Playful 2010, September 24, 2010 (Presentation identifying major critiques and dangers of gamification.)

11] Beyond the Basics

• Seth Priebach, The Game Layer on Top of the World, TEDxBoston 2010 video (A vision of gamification becoming more pervasive in the physical world.)
• Any Kamenetz, The Power of the Prize, Fast Company, May 1, 2008 (Description of the potential of inducement prizes.)
• Vili Lehdonvirta, Virtual Item Sales as a Revenue Model, Electron Commer Res, 2009 (Why people pay real money for virtual goods, and different attributes they can employ.)