GAMIFICATION OF INNOVATION
PROCESSES BY BRINGING “WORLD OF WARCRAFT” TO THE REAL WORLD
Camilla Gyldendahl Jensen
University College of Northern Denmark, Department of Architectural Technology and Construction Management and Aalborg University, Department of Education, Learning
and Philosophy, capo@ucn.dk / caja@learning.aau.dk (Denmark)
Education in innovation-competence requires the students' desire and willingness to go with the flow trough an open mind characterized by curiosity, playful and exploratory behavior.
This loss of control can be experienced so cross-border that it for some students becomes a primary barrier to be motivated to attend classes.
Bored om
Exciteme nt
Optimum Work Zone
Within motivation and flow theories Michael Apter have developed "reversal theory".
Apter states that when we are in a playful and exploratory mode, we feel safe.
Teaching in innovation
Relaxation
Anxiety
Video games ability to suppress the fear of failure through a platform or framework that serves as a kind of safe zone is markedly different from the conditions that apply to problem- and process-oriented teaching, where errors
often lead to a lack of motivation.
There is even a culture of games where the process is repeated until the goal is reached. This behavior leads the users to continually forcing errors to develop new
solutions that create momentum in the game.
The use of gamification changes the teacher's role towards a much more framing and organizing position.
For a successful use of the concept gamification, it is essential to have a holistic view of the "game design" as it is critical to the user experience and the quality of
the integrated content.
State of the art
It is precisely the creation of this framework that MMORPG is an answer to, as this sort of game,
contain some
interesting motivational aspects. When social collaboration around achievement, dungeon,
quest, and level up systems suddenly is the
focal point, it creates new challenges and opportunities for the organization of teaching
in innovation.
MMORP Games
Self- efficacy Social
acceptance
Group identity
Collaboration mechanisms
Role play Realistic
scenarios Built-in
Trouble shooting
Quest A holistic Game Design
What impact does the use of
principles from MMORP Games for facilitation of behavioral persistence,
process understanding, and
motivation in innovation workshops?
"World of Warcraft" is with its 10 million users one of the biggest games in the genre MMORPG .
The game's popularity has given rise to several anthropological studies where especially the book "My life as a night elf priest" by Bonnie A. Nardi has illustrated how motivational principles like Quest
and levels creates behavioral persistence
"World of Warcraft" is designed in a way where the gaming activities take a long time to complete as they are built around hard and tough
challenges.
Dewey's definition of “Aesthetic experience” is used to explain the relationship between the game design behind the World of Warcraft
and its user's behavioral persistence and motivation.
MMORP
G
“Aesthetic experience” can be defined as active participation towards a final goal, which at the same time also are experienced as a satisfaction through interacting with
the environment.
Dewey also speaks about "successive phases that are an emphasis on varied colors of aesthetic experiences" where activities can be seen as sequential structures
Nardi argues that the complex structure of “World of Warcraft” through a series of unique quests at each new level, create an “Aesthetic experience” and thus the feeling
of motivation
Another important element that is central to the gameplay of "World of Warcraft" is the principles of Dungeons.
A Dungeon is a defined and enclosed area or zone where a group of players through a coordinated effort must overcome specific monsters or challenges.
Dungeons are characterized by containing a specific content that requires specific skills and systems to succeed. Moreover, they are constructed in a
way that requires cooperation through a focused effort.
This paper argues that Dungeon may be considered as what Professor James Gee from Arizona state University would call "semiotic domains." that are defined trough the variety of activities which people treat in a certain way.
Thus, it is a form of practice that draws on more than one modalities regarding communicating different types of meaning
Dungeons
Quest Crafting
Achievement Dungeon Levels Wiping
6 design principles are identified
–Methodology
- This paper is based on a case-oriented research design containing the following selected design principles; Quest, Levels, crafting, Dungeon, “wipe”
and Achievement known from the computer game World of Warcraft .
- The case study is chosen as it allows to reveal events with little control and contemporary phenomenon within holistic and real life events with the desire to
understand complex social phenomena
- Specific quest depending on their level status.
- A scoreboard contributes to a form of self-monitoring
about the progress - Quest content is typically
focused on idea generation and process understanding
Process understanding and progress through QUESTING principle
-- Quest principle contributes to the group
increases level's - Each level can be considered as an Aesthetic
experience.
Motivation trough LEVEL principle –
- Dungeon provide participants with specific
knowledge acquisition within the innovation workshops professional
context.
- Each dungeon has its own learning goals and
objectives independently of the main program.
Knowledge and practice acquisition through DUNGEON principle -
- Strategic Achievement works as a reward system
regarding the innovation workshops primary learning
objectives.
- Achievement contributes to the feedback situations, processes of reflection and distribution of Obstructions.
Metareflesion through ACHIEVEMENT principle -
Participants farm tools;
like stimuli, knowledge, tools and equipment,
materials e.g.
Through a "Bazaar", the students sell their own
ideas as well as buy neighboring groups'
ideas.
The application of stimuli through CRAFTING principles -
- Selected quest must be completed in time to
trigger points.
- A timer rings when time is up, and if the group is not finished with the task, they
are "wiped".
- The consequence of a
"wipe", means that the students must start over
and discard any written productions.
Metacognition through ”WIPE” principle -
The research design was tested during four innovation workshops at the education of Architectural Technology and Construction Management, University College of
Northern Denmark, where a total of 150 Danish and international students regularly participated.
The empirical data were retrieved from 115-hour video observations. Randomly selected project teams were equipped with a GoPro camera during the workshops
for capturing the entire process.
Based on a review of the video material, relevant project teams were selected for in-depth qualitative focus group interviews.
A qualitative content analysis is used on the collected and transcribed data. The processing of the collected data builds on the Philip Mayring interpretation and
understanding of a qualitative content analysis.
Data collection
The Innovation
workshop is built
around teamwork
Through score boards students keep track of points,
achievement and
levels
A physical card indicates the students' current
level
Through innovation workshop, the students work with accessibility.
The embedded dungeon gives
students the opportunity to experience the feeling of being disabled on their
own body
Progress / Momentum
Through a content analysis, the following four main categories have been identified; motivation, momentum, exploratory and
playful behavior and process understanding.
Structure of analysis
Motivation Process
Understanding Behavioral
persistence
Exploratory and
playful behavior
Student 5: I would say it worked well to start with
Student 6: I think so too. In the beginning, and because it was a game, people got into it because there was a little contest element to it.
Student 5: Exactly, when you had completed some quests.
Student 6: But this is also where it puts an end to innovation.
Student 7: Innovation was slightly put aside to start with, but it comes
unconsciously when doing those quests, as it was really fun because you had to have some points and it was difficult.
Motivation
Student: NOW is was so much (Name) who was in the group, he was reasonably skilled
this (red. Creating points), and he had even though a negative fair – that is actually what I think.
Interviewer: His work effort?
Student A: Yes, there was nothing wrong with that!
The other students even try to explain the phenomenon through the word "grind."
Student: If you wanted to, then you could easily have “grinded” through and then
created an awful lot of points, but now it was not just our goal. It was more important to reach a product instead of points.
Interviewer: Now you use the word grinder what does that mean?
Student: It is when you keep running the same and the same - if there are made 200 cards with ideas.
Interviewer: Could there have been an advantage to have done that? Let's say that you had made it.
Student: We had gone to a higher level and then have gotten some other tools and might have turned our generation of ideas another way.
Progress /
Momentum
Student: I also think that the tools we got could be used regarding developing something it was so that it was something we had to achieve something that came up. During the innovation week so we came up to this big table, and there was just 27 different tools and card, games, and I do not
know what. You stranded there a little while thinking, well, I'll just take a little of everything, and then you come back and look at it all and nothing seemed to work. Moreover, it was all tied to a real assignment, a real task. It
made it much easier for me anyway.
Student: yes well, I could easily see it. The longer we came up the levels, the larger and better tools we got somehow.
Process understanding
Videoobs: The whole group walks towards the Dungeon of the Library, they know what Dungeon means, and they are making scary noises as they go.
Student 2: I do not understand why they call this a dungeon when they have turned off the light.
Student 1: yes yes, there is always dark in a dungeon and a dragon somewhere
Student 3: yes, it is probably sitting on the ceiling boards somewhere Video obs: Student 2 put the camera a the floor
Student 2: I think it´ll look more like a dungeon from here
Exploratory and playful behavior
The facilitating of an innovative learning process through the use of quest and levels lead to increased motivation through factors such as competition and reward systems.
A vulnerability related to maintaining a high degree of motivation if the quest- and level design is based on a weak rewarding system.
The use of the six principles repeatedly showed to be crucial in situations where innovation processes were running sluggishly where the educational design trough
gamification principles seemed to be a form of catalyst for the progress
The game designs scoring system should thus have a focus on rewarding the students' efforts on a meta level and not only just the single activities.
A clear tendency of an increased understanding of the process by preventing cognitive overload though particular the use of quest and level.
The embedded Dungeon contributed significantly to bringing students into a playful and exploratory mode.
Conclusion and findings
If you have any feedback, need further information or have questions about the presentation
of this paper, please contact me through mail
capo@ucn.dk
