Confirmation Bias and How to Embrace Being Wrong – #UX

Confirmation Bias Confirmation Bias and How to Embrace Being Wrong 8211 UX

When we design anything, be it user experiences, gamified experiences or even just Lego buildings – we become emotionally involved with what we are doing. We invest ourselves in the process and the outcomes of the process.

Because of this, it can be very hard for us to accept someone telling us that they think we may be wrong. When they tell us you should really have used a 4 block not a 6 block on that side of the wall to make it stronger, but we have already finished the wall – the last thing we want to accept is that they may be right and taking apart the wall would lead to a better end model! So we engage our Confirmation Bias to help us justify continuing on what may well be the wrong path. Read More ...

Client vs User Needs – The Solution Sweet Spot

Solution Sweet Spot Client vs User Needs 8211 The Solution Sweet Spot

I have spoken a great deal about looking carefully at the needs of a project and exploring what the real issue is that you are trying to solve. The aim has been to get you to consider the Why of a solution more than that What or the How!

I wanted to give you one more way to consider this question, I just can’t stress how important it is for the gamification industry as a whole for us to get better at answering it!

When you are doing your research, you will discover and analyze the needs of the client, and you will discover and analyze the needs of the users. During this process, you will be looking to understand what each side of the solution is looking for. Read More ...

Gamification as a Strategy

Gaas header Gamification as a Strategy

The world loves a good aaS. Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, Cloud as a Service. Everything these days seems to be “as a Service”. That means, of course, that Gamification platform providers have started to speak about Gamification as a Service. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, though I do find some juvenile amusement at the acronym of GaaS. For me, it just smacks of making it easy for people to implement gamification really badly!

Hear me out. I have nothing against being able to use gamification in a simple way. You will see Gamification as a Service on this site in the form of Captain Up. I have not implemented it brilliantly, it is there for those who want to see it and can be ignored by those who don’t. It actually goes against some of my core messages about designing gamification in from the start. However, there is something to be said for being able to just paste a line of javascript into a page and have gamification up and running straight away. If nothing else, it gives people the opportunity to get involved. Read More ...

User Experience, Gamification and Consistency

Decision 1460448570 User Experience Gamification and Consistency

So, once again toilets have taught me something, this time about consistency, and I wanted to pass that on to you. It will seem really simple, but it is something that happens on a regular basis and is annoying as hell. Let me tell you a quick story.

I was at Heathrow airport, as I often am these days. One of my first activities was using the toilets. I followed the signs, turned left into the male section and thought nothing else of it. That is until I needed the loo a few minutes before boarding. Read More ...