The Virtual Gardener
The place where I explore online community cultivation, propagation and harvesting techniques.
I've been working as head of consultancy at Sift for the last four years. The business supports all organisations looking to respond to a Web 2.0 world and truly engage with their audience - and has been doing so for the past 10 years.
This blog originally started out as a comment on a conference I attended about online communities. I'm now using it as a thought-bin for related stuff. Any gaps in posting doesn't mean I've stopped thinking ...
Putting the fun in functional: Applying game mechanics to social software
I knew Amy Jo Kim from when I was working in Germany. At the time, around 2000, she brought out what is probably still the seminal work on online communities Community building on the web. And here she is talking about games at a community conference.
Always have thought that game thinking should underpin all good interaction on the web. My first venture in an online start-up involved creating multiplayer games.
Amy’s definition of a game helps to clarify its appropriateness - typically it is a system where players engage in artificial conflict with an outcome (e.g chess), however, it can also be a structured experience with rules and goals that’s fun (e.g. the Sims or YouTube). In other words, it’s about being entertained. It has all the good characteristics of individually created content, social infrastructure and the sharing of tools. Games tap into primaeval response patterns of reinforcement - it’s boggling how long people sit at those slot machines. The best games get the right balance between our skills and the challenges.
