Actionable Gamification
Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards
15 Years of Gamification Design Experience and Research in one book. Companies pay thousands of dollars to learn Yu-kai's Octalysis Framework. Get it all here.
The author is letting you choose the price you pay for this book!
15 Years of Gamification Design Experience and Research in one book. Companies pay thousands of dollars to learn Yu-kai's Octalysis Framework. Get it all here.
About
About the Book
"Yu-kai is at the cutting edge of the field of behavior design."
-Nir Eyal, Author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.
This book is not about why gamification is amazing. It is not about how gamification is the future and how inspiring life could be with it. It is not necessarily for the late adopters who are simply curious about what gamification is. It also does not focus on what the gamification industry is doing as a whole, especially when that is continuously changing every month. Rather, this book is about *implementing good gamification design* into your products, workplace, and lifestyle.
It is a deep exploration into what makes a game fun and how to apply those fun and engaging elements in real-life productive activities. It is about how you can use gamification and scientifically proven methods to improve your company, your life, and the lives of those around you.
Effective gamification is a combination of game design, game dynamics, behavioral economics, motivational psychology, UX/UI (User Experience and User Interface), neurobiology, technology platforms, as well as ROI-driving business implementations. This book explores the interplay between these disciplines to capture the core principles that contribute to good gamification design. I will be sharing my observations in multiple industries and sectors based on my 12-year journey of passionately and relentlessly pursuing the craft of Gamification.
Chapters of this book tend to build on previous chapters, so skipping around is not suggested. That said, if you have been an avid reader of my work and viewer of my videos, you might already have a firm grasp of the 8 Core Drives within the Octalysis Framework. In that case, feel free to skip to a section that you want to hone in on.
If you are extremely busy (which chances are - you are) and aren't sure if you want to commit to this book, I recommend starting off with Chapters 3, 5, 10, 14, and 15 to decide whether you would like to read the entire book.
Within the book, there will be many every-day scenarios to illustrate the potential of these Core Drives and the flexibility of their applications beyond traditional “gamification” examples. I myself still constantly gain new insights and revelations when I reflect and speculate upon the various possibilities contained in the 8 Core Drives. I hope you do too.
As this book is titled “Actionable Gamification,” my goal for this book is to become a strategy guide to help my readers master the games that truly make a difference in their lives. If you absorb the contents of this book, you will have literally obtained what many companies pay tens of thousands of dollars to acquire.
My ultimate aim is to enable the widespread adoption of good gamification and *human-focused design* in all types of industries. I care deeply about creating a world that is sustainably more enjoyable and productive. In that world, there no longer will be a great divide between what people have to do and what they want to do - our lives become better as we spend time enjoying everything we do.
I'm excited for you to dive into the contents of this book so that we can start to build a world that harnesses the *power of play together*. Let's begin.
Yu-kai Chou (Written February 14th 2014)
“Yu-kai’s reputation precedes him in the field of gamification. His Octalysis framework is both elegantly simple and intricately complex. His book is not only extrinsically rewarding to read, but intrinsically motivating to apply; it’s wickedly effective, and yet divinely true. Octalysis brilliantly unified all these seemingly conflicting aspects of gamification into a single cohesive framework with a hidden twist in the middle of it—it’s sensational.”
-Michael Wu, Chief Scientist @ Lithium
Feedback
Price
Pick Your Price...
Minimum price
$9.00
$15.00
You pay
$15.00Author earns
$12.00Author
About the Author
Yu-kai Chou
Yu-kai Chou is an Author and International Keynote Speaker on Gamification and Behavioral Design. He is the Founding Partner and Chief Creation Officer of the premium consulting/design firm The Octalysis Group, as well as Co-Founder and Chief Experience of Metablox – an NFT platform powered by Real World Places and Real Life Memories.
Yu-kai is the Original Creator of the Octalysis Framework, and the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. Yu-kai has been a regular speaker/lecturer on gamification and motivation worldwide, including at organizations like Stanford/Yale/Oxford, Google, Tesla, IDEO LEGO, BCG, the governments of UK, Singapore, Kingdom of Bahrain, and many more. His design work has empowered over 1 Billion users’ experiences across the world.
Formerly, Yu-kai was Head of Creative Labs as well as Head of Digital Commerce for HTC, pioneering innovation in VR/AR and the Metaverse. He was also the Chief Experience Officer of the Blockchain company Decentral, working with the Co-Founder of Ethereum Anthony Di Iorio to create delightful Blockchain experiences. Yu-kai is also the creator of Octalysis Prime, a Gamified Library of all his work and research.
Yu-kai was one of the earliest pioneers in Gamification, starting his work in the industry in 2003. In 2015, Yu-kai was rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE, and was also awarded the “Gamification Guru of the Year” Award multiple years in a row by the Gamification World Congress and the Gamification Europe Conference. He has helped a variety of companies, from seed stage startups to Fortune 500 companies such as LEGO, Uber, Porsche, Walgreens, Microsoft, Fidelity Investments, AIG Japan, Verizon, and more. His work has also been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The World Journal, PBS, NBC, and many more.
Yu-kai is an Investor or Board Advisor for many organizations and companies, including Mighty Bear Games, LuckyDiem, Incentive Games, GoalSetter, Motion Auto, and many more.
Yu-kai is a follower of Christ, and his other hobbies include playing/teaching chess, writing/playing string quartet pieces, rating high quality movies, though he rarely has time for these hobbies. Yu-kai is the proud father of his twin daughters, Symphony and Harmony.
Secret Keyword: Rightful Heritage (#46)
Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: When the Surreal Blends into our World
- How a Game changed my Life
- The First Game I Designed
- Why Gamification?
- Human-Focused Design: The Better Term for Gamification
- The Conquests of Gamification
Chapter 2: The PBL Fallacy
- A Story about Social Media
- An Obsession with Grunt Work
- Secondhand Sushi Making
- A Trojan Horse without Greek Soldiers
- The Threat and Opportunities in Gamification
- The Story of the Good Designer vs. Bad Designer
Chapter 3: The Octalysis Framework
- A Gamification Design Framework for Everyone
- The 8 Core Drives of Gamification
- Left Brain (Extrinsic Tendency) vs. Right Brain (Intrinsic Tendency) Drives
- White Hat vs Black Hat Gamification
- How to Apply Level 1 Octalysis to Actual Systems
- Quick Intro to Level II Octalysis and Beyond
Chapter 4: Putting Gamification in its Place
- The War on Words
- Semantics vs. Value
- Tomato: Fruit or Vegetable
- Explicit Gamification: Games that Fulfill Non-Game Purposes
- Implicit Gamification: Human-Focused Design that Utilizes Game Elements
- Implicit vs. Explicit Gamification
- 4 Application Fields of Gamification
Chapter 5: The First Core Drive - Epic Meaning & Calling
- The Core Drive High Above
- The Encyclopedia that Pwned Me
- Newton’s Legacy is Beyond a Fruit
- Mjolnir is Not Just a Tool
- Your Parents are Bigger Than You!
- Game Techniques within Epic Meaning & Calling
- Core Drive 1: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 6: The Second Core Drive - Development & Accomplishment
- Development & Accomplishment in Games
- The First Gamification Site that I was Addicted to
- “I overpaid for my product. Take that, suckas!”
- Never make Users Feel Dumb
- Star of Bethlehem - Guiding Users Forward
- Limitations of eBay’s Design
- Wait, that’s not new!
- Game Techniques within Development & Accomplishment
- Core Drive 2: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 7: The Third Core Drive - Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
- The Computer Game that Became a National Sport
- Gamification Fatigue?
- Tic-Tac-Draw
- The General’s Carrot in Education
- Folding into the Crowd
- The Elysian Stairs to Health
- Empowerment and Creativity in the Corporate Space
- Draw a Gun for Bad Endgame Design
- Game Techniques within Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
- Core Drive 3: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 8: The Fourth Core Drive - Ownership & Possession
- Wait, it’s mine? Hold on, I do care then!
- Stamps of Sanity
- How Stoned Can You Be
- The First Virtual Pet Game
- The Endowment Effect
- Identity, Consistency, and Commitments
- Game Techniques within Ownership & Possession
- Core Drive 4: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 9: The Fifth Core Drive - Social Influence & Relatedness
- The Mentor that Stole My Life
- We’re all Pinocchios at Heart
- The Average Person is Above Average
- Social Influence vs. Epic Meaning within a Team
- Corporate Competition as an Oxymoron
- Game Techniques within Social Influence & Relatedness
- Core Drive 5: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 10: The Sixth Core Drive: Scarcity & Impatience
- The Lure of being Exclusively Pointless
- The Value of Rare Pixels
- The Leftovers aren’t all that’s Left Over
- Persuasively Inconvenient
- Curves are better than Cups in Economics
- “This guy’s not expensive enough.”
- “I Don’t Feel Good When My Pocket Is Too Full After A Purchase”
- Game Techniques within Scarcity & Impatience
- Great! So now what?
- Core Drive 6: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 11: The Seventh Core Drive - Unpredictability & Curiosity
- And, Now it’s Fun
- The Core Drive in a Skinner Box
- Sweepstakes and Raffles
- A Lucky Day with Lucky Diem
- Suspense and Mystery in a Blender
- Faking your Way to Virality
- Google’s Curious Second Button
- Woot! Creates Midnight Cinderella’s
- Game Techniques within Unpredictability & Curiosity
- Core Drive 7: The Bigger Picture
Chapter 12: The Eighth Core Drive - Loss & Avoidance
- Cropping your Losses
- Affection Held Hostage
- “Why don’t you take all my money?” in Poker
- The Good Chasing the Bad
- Zombies Make you Skinnier
- Flipping other Core Drives Off
- Ultimate Loss vs Executable Loss
- A Caveat: Avoiding the Avoidance
- Game Techniques in Loss and Avoidance
- Core Drive 8: The Big Picture
Chapter 13: Left Brain vs Right Brain Core Drives
- Using Octalysis in the Real World
- Left Brain vs. Right Brain Core Drives
- Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Motivation
- Slight Semantic Differences with the Self-Determination Theory
- Motivation Traps in Gamification Campaigns
- The Problem with Educational Systems
- Pay to Not Play
- How Market Settings Reverse Social Settings
- The Advantages of Extrinsic Motivation Design
- How to Make an Experience More Intrinsic
- Left Brain vs Right Brain Core Drives: the Bigger Picture
Chapter 14: The Mysteries of White Hat and Black Hat Gamification
- Origins of the Theory
- The Nature of White Hat vs Black Hat Core Drives
- Zynga and Black Hat Gamification
- Black Hat with a Clear Conscious
- Gamification, Manipulation, and Ethics
- When to Use White Hat Gamification Design
- Careful Transitioning between White Hat and Black Hat
- No Buyer’s Remorse from TOMS
- What about Core Drives 4 and 5?
Chapter 15: Understanding Other Gamification and Behavioral Frameworks with Octalysis
- Scientific Research and Game Studies
- Octalysis View of Self-Determination Theory
- Richard Bartle’s Four Player Types
- Nicole Lazzaro’s 4 Keys To Fun
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow Theory
- Fogg Behavior Model
- Jane McGonigal’s Theories
- The World is Your Playground
Chapter 16: Level I Octalysis in Action
- Octalysis Review of Facebook
- The Score is a Smoke Screen
- Octalysis of the Speed Camera Lottery
- Octalysis of the Waze Navigation App
- The Endgame Phase of Waze
- The Next Step: Identify Potential Improvements for Waze
Chapter 17: Designing a project from scratch with Octalysis
- Redesigning Yukaichou.com
- The Octalysis Strategy Dashboard
- Level I Octalysis Ideation Process
- Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling
- Repeating the Octalysis Process
- Summary of Level 1 Octalysis in Action
Chapter 18: The Journey Goes On
Wall of Gratitude
- Those who directly contributed to the book
- Those who impacted who I am today
Contributor
About the Contributors
Get the free sample chapters
Click the buttons to get the free sample in PDF or EPUB, or read the sample online here
The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.
You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!
So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earned over $14 million writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Write and Publish on Leanpub
You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!
Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.
Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.