Pomegranate LAB at the Games for Brands event

Playing zombie tag in a basement at nine in the morning was befitting of the upcoming holiday but by far the least interesting thing we partook in on the 27^th of October.

Being at the Games for Brands 2011 conference put us in touch with over 60 experts in the gaming industry as well as numerous business owners and employees all forging the way forward for in game branding and gamification.  With speaker’s like Tom Chatfield (Fun Inc.), Ville Heijari (Rovio), and Sebastian Deterding (Coding Conduct), we have heard enough exciting thoughts to fill up several blog posts but after sifting through the clever nuggets that we could gather we’d rather share our key takeaways for the moment:

1. Gamification is still defining itself and will probably always continue to do so

We heard as many different definitions of Gamification as we heard speakers at the conference, and these were not simple quibbles about appropriate techniques over the correct application of a methodology. This was ideological stuff about core philosophies and approaches, questions that are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. In the meantime we are already starting to see gamification begin to split itself into further sub-genres (Nicholas Lovall provided an excellent breakdown of the current terms in his final presentation) and it will be interesting to see which ones stick and which ones wither by the time we get round to games for brands 2012.

2.  Gamification needs to look beyond the individual to the social

As an anthropologist it is a point of frustration when I see people asserting that we need to use psychological tools to understand social phenomenon (for us a more appropriate and useful tool for this task is sociology, or indeed anthropology where the significance of group dynamics and relationships is given proper focus) So it is nice to be able to see a theme that came out loud and clear today was that gamification and gaming are both social phenomenon and that gamification needs to base itself in social research and social understandings if it is going to succeed. Brands are all about collective beliefs; getting people to play and interact together through games can be a powerful way of helping to shape and reinforce those beliefs.  

3.  Understanding the limits of gamification is key to unlocking its potential

This ties in to point one in that it is all about understanding where the limitations of gamification lie. Part of doing that is knowing what it can’t do as well as what it can do. Many brands are attempting to use gamification as a means of attracting new followers but it is increasingly apparent that games are not good at this, unless you are lucky enough to create an exceptional game (the angry bird’s of this world) a brand game will find it difficult to draw market share away from other more established and purely entertainment driven games. However what they ARE very good at is audience retention, maintaining audience interest and engagement over long periods of time.  Directing your existing audience to a game or gamified system, if executed correctly, will provide them with a new means of interacting with your brand and provide them with a reference point through which they can also interact with each other.    

4. Gamification is here to stay

The language, reward structures and user experiences generated by digital games are embedded in an entire generations way of thinking and they have set their expectations accordingly. The pervasive social nature of the web has been accompanied by an equally pervasive need to keep score, to earn badges and to unlock achievements. Many of these things speak to rather more fundamental human needs and motivations but it is the way these needs are articulated right now that is important and gamification happens to be an effective way of doing so.

Gamification is about much more than badges, a point the conference was unanimous in it’s agreement upon, but the place badges have in combination with the many other mechanics and techniques evidenced at the conference, and the appropriate methodologies to apply those mechanics and under what circumstances is still dynamically and vibrantly up for grabs.

If you want a copy of Jamie's presentation from the event do get in touch and we will send over some genius in powerpoint!