Written Assignment 3 for Coursera Gamification Course - showing the use of the referenced Game Design Framework.

1. Assignment by Andrew Woodward, 21apps
Background to Gamification Assignment
This was the output from the 3rd written assignment on the fantastic Coursera Gamification Course
led by Kevin Werbach.
The course is a new form of teaching and learning under the banner of Massive Open Online Course
(MOOC) that attracted over 80,000 students from 150 countries with more than 9,000 completing
the course and taking the final exam. CNN did a small piece on MOOC – and yes that is me with the
headphones on 
This document is my submission for the final written assignment and hopefully gives you an insight
into what the course taught.
The benefit and focus for me was “How do I apply gamification techniques, in the right way, to help
change the way people work”
It provided a foundation of academic rigor to the concepts that I had already started to explore and a
framework for approaching these in the future. This is an example of the framework applied to the
scenario:
Screnario
You are approached by Cheyenne Kendrick, the CEO of Go Digital Press (GDP), a global publisher of
electronic books for devices such as the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. She knows you are one of the top
experts on gamification, which she has heard can revolutionize publishing. She asks you to present a
proposal for a gamified system to take her business to the next level.
GDP concentrates on the trade segment of the book market, i.e. non-fiction publications that would
traditionally appear in bookstores, rather than mass-market paperbacks. Approximately 50% of its
titles are targeted at business professionals; 25% are educational resources on technical topics such
as computer programming; and the remainder address a variety of different subjects.
As a pioneer in e-book publishing, GDP faces the challenge that many users, even in the U.S., do not
yet own reader devices. As of April 2012, only 21% of American adults reported that they had read an
e-book in the past year, although those numbers are increasing rapidly. Kendrick tells you that
another concern is that the device manufacturers and their associated distribution platforms control
the sales process, making it difficult for publishers such as GDP to obtain data or develop direct
customer relationships. On the positive side, an e-book is a flexible digital asset, which can offer
interactive features beyond any physical book. Kendrick asks you to propose a way to gamify the
distribution or consumption of e-books, or both.
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2. Assignment by Andrew Woodward, 21apps
Gamifing eBooks at Go Digital Press
EBooks are changing the way people read; adding new capabilities and interactions that take the
experience to a new level with integrated video, animation, narration and social features. These new
capabilities are of significant value in the non-fictional trade sector where reading is seem as a key
activity people use to increase knowledge, develop skills and explore new ideas and trends.
Go Digital Press (GDP) CEO, Chyenne Kendrick, would like to understand how a gamified system could
take her business to the next level.
Business Objectives
As of April 2012, 21% of American adults reported they had read an e-book in the past year, with the
number increasing rapidly in part fuelled by the introduction of new models and lower prices. In the
target market for GDP, predominately business professionals and as educational resources such as
computer programming, the % of eBook readers is predicated to be higher.
GDP as a pioneer in e-book publishing is looking to achieve the following from a gamified system
 Increase sales in eBooks by promoting the benefits of e-books over traditional format
 Build a relationship with its customers; gaining a deep understanding of the reading
behaviours of its customers enabling it to better
o promote related books through social sharing and customer insights
o improve the quality of the books through reader insights, engagement, sharing and
feedback
Gamified System
The gamified system will be designed to focus specifically on the social, influencer elements. Specific
care will be taken to ensure the gamification does not de-motivate people by replacing any intrinsic
motivation they have for reading.
At the heart of the gamified system will be the reader; they will have choices relating to the aspects
of the system they wish to interact with once they have signed up.
Authors will also be part of the gamified system, engaging with readers of their books and
participating in the further development of ideas and concepts they have written about.
In reference to the Bartle Player type model this gamified system focused on the Socializers and
Achievers.
The system will support the following activity loops
On-boarding
Supporting new GDP readers to engage in the system is key to delivering the business objectives.
 Sign up will be integrated with existing social networking sites, allowing people to sign in
using Facebook or Twitter.
 Free e-book provided on sign up gives extrinsic motivation
 The system will guide new users to complete 1st actions and reward them with feedback via a
getting started progress bar
o Start reading
o Share an interesting paragraph or quote
o Link additional social networks
o Link to friends who are already signed up to see what they are reading
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3. Assignment by Andrew Woodward, 21apps
o Provided gifts/rewards based on certain actions (not visible to the users) to bring an
element of surprise – for example, free book on a similar subject
Recommendations
Recommendations are the primary driver for continued use and value from readers once they have
signed up. The gamified system will look to amplify existing behaviour where people already make
recommendations
 Invite friends – leveraging the social network used to sign up, the system will encourage
readers to invite friends to see their reading list (e-books purchased)
o Bonus offers could be offered to those invited (similar to Dropbox that offers free
space to the invited and inviter)
 Recommend books – when a book is finished prompt the user for feedback and
recommended yes (facebook like)
 Promote related books
o Based on recommendations for wider community
o Based on fiends reading lists and recommendations
Personal Goals and Challenges
Fitocracy is an example of gamified system where the people set their own fitness goals, track
progress and share with friends. It is recommended that a similar system is introduced, initially
aimed at the educational users, where they are able to set goals and measure progress.
The goals would include
 Number of pages read per day/week/month
 Reading books outside of current interest
 Completion of in-book challenges and quizzes
There would be opportunities to build challenges that could be completed by one or more people, as
a way to encourage teams to collectively build knowledge. This aspect of the gamified system would
leverage some of in-book elements such as competing end of chapter quizzes to help demonstrate
learning.
This aspect of the system should be optional as it may be deemed as distracting to certain readers, in
particular business users may see this as a distraction.
Progression and Mastery
Social networking sites like LinkedIn, Stackoverflow and Klout demonstrate how gamification can
support the desire for people to be recognised for their knowledge and for some a desire to be seen
as influencers.
The e-book gamified system will build this through progression loops that allow readers to
demonstrate their knowledge and value. The ultimate goal, to be seen as a subject matter expert on
in a particular field which could be achieved via the steps
 Reading a range of books on a particular subject
o Each book, based on it’s categorization, would count towards a the journey
 Sharing quotes, content and annotating books
o Value can also an attributed to the number of friends shared with and also how
often the comments and annotations are shared socially. These are key activities in
driving additional sales – especially where the reader is regarded as influential
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4. Assignment by Andrew Woodward, 21apps
 Feedback and discussions
o How engaged the reader is in discussing elements of the books they have read.
There is a need to embed the discussions into the book reading experience as
current book related web sites seen disconnected or simply a way to provide
additional material
 Book Reviewer, providing formal reviews for books at the request of the author or publisher
o The opportunity to review new books can be based on the influence and
engagement with other books in a similar subject area.
o Reaching this level the reader has demonstrated they have a knowledge and valid
input into the area and authors look to them to provide insight and value
o Being quoted as a reviewer should also be hi-lighted with a badge and influencer
points
 Author
o When a reader becomes an author – they are making a claim about their influence
and opening themselves up to review and discussion
The journey would be display as a graphic view showing progress towards mastery and influence in
each of the subject areas of the books read. The chart would also be visible to other friends and also
the authors of the book when they review comments and feedback.
Not forgetting the fun
The act of reading in and of itself can be classified as fun; in Le Blanc’s 8 Kinds of Fun it could be
classified as submission – a game as a pass time. However this is more likely relevant to fiction
where the reader is looking for an element of escapism.
This gamified system looks to introduce the following element of Fun
 Sharing – this is a core element of the system where people get value from sharing insights
and information with friends and wider community.
 Collecting – the collecting of books is key to achieving the business goals of increasing sales
and the collection of points and badges related to the reading
 Recognition – Being seen as an influencer and having reputation that is rewarded when
authors ask for reviews
 Surprise –providing the reader with gifts / discounts at points – can also encourage the
reader to Explore new areas of knowledge
 Exploring – not in the traditional sense, but exploring new knowledge and subject areas.
Could also be used to link multiple books into a wider body of knowledge that can be
explored
 Customising – building your own reading lists, adding annotations to books to make them
your own
 Problem Solving – in book challenges that readers complete and get rewards for
The system
The system will require two key technical elements in order for it to work effectively
 The website will be the primary system used to
o support registration
o updating profiles
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5. Assignment by Andrew Woodward, 21apps
o following friends
o reviewing progress against goals
o viewing badges, points and leader boards
o viewing recommendation
o discussions and feedback
o notifications of achievements, recommendations, requests
 In book integration to support the core aspects of the system and allow easy interaction.
The information displayed in book will be obtained from and sent to the website
o Helping indicate key on-boarding actions to engage the reader
o Sharing annotating and comments
o Tracking reading activities (time, pages, chapters)
o Completing quizzes
o Discussions – highlight areas of book being discussed and allow interaction
o Progress towards any goals or challenges
Conclusion
The gamified system has been designed to amplify the benefits of reading books. It allows the
reader to socialize their learning and share experiences with others to widen the learning
experience. It builds on the collective knowledge of all readers to improve the quality and relevance
of the books that are read.
Ultimately the gamified system promotes that value of e-books over more traditional formats,
encourages sales of related books and provides GDP with value insight into its customers, their
reading habits and that of their friends helping deliver on the specific business objectives of
increased sales and more customer engagement.
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